Hillary Invites Foreigners To Help Keep America at the Technology Forefront

During a campaign stop in Silicon Valley, Sen. Hillary Clinton outlined her plan for making higher paying technology jobs that will keep Americas dominant on the technology front.

This plan by the Democratic Presidential hopeful includes increasing the number of H1B visas that are used in recruiting highly educated workers from the world to companies located in California's Silicon Valley. These visas help lure software developers from countries like Russia, India and China; however, the H1B visas are temporary and workers with these visas must return to their home country when the visa expires.

"If you think you have a skills shortage now, project it out a decade and we're going to be in real trouble," Clinton said to applause from more than 200 executives attending a half-day CEO Summit by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group. "We need to guide immigration reform to attract and retain foreign-born students who want to work in the United States."

It would appear Sen. Clinton has more confidence in foreigners than she does in the American people because Hillary did not mention how she was going to entice Americans workers towards these high paying technology jobs. The key elements of Sen. Clinton's plan includes: -Increasing the budgets of the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy's Science Division, and the Defense Department by 50 percent over the next ten years. Sen. Clinton plans to triple the number of NSF fellowships while at the same time creating an award platform in the hopes that people working in engineering and science fields will be encouraged to teach and mentor students. -The establishment of a $50 billion "Strategic Energy Fund" to create a research agency that would have the goal of working on a way to reduce global warming. Sen. Clinton plans to fund this agency by closing tax loopholes and ending subsidies for oil companies. -Give tax incentives to increase the number of homes equipped with broadband access. The erstwhile Presidential hopeful spent the morning of this meeting holed up in a private fund raiser were she was trying to raise money for her campaign. Not once during this stop was the subject of U.S. involvement in Iraq mentioned. It was excepted a Thursday night private fundraiser was going to draw the attention of protesters who are outraged at Hillary's current stance on supporting the war in Iraq. Silicon Valley executives who attending the meeting said Sen. Clinton was right on the mark when discussing her plans on keeping the U.S. at the forefront of technology.

"We are clearly on common ground," Adobe Systems Inc. CEO Bruce Chizen said.

Carl Guardino, CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, said this group does not endorse any political candidate. Mr. Guardino said he encourages all Presidential hopefuls to come and speak in front on the SVLG. Mr. Guardino also made a point to note Republican Presidential hopeful John McCain addressed his group several weeks ago.