Immigration reform bills could mean a bigger pool of workers

Proposed bills to overhaul the nation's immigration system include a move by U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) to allow more visas for American companies to hire skilled workers from overseas. MPR reports the bipartisan bill would remove any visa restrictions on those with advanced degrees from American universities.

The legislation, co-authored with Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), would nearly double the number of foreign workers granted H1B visas to 115,000 the first year and then increase by 20,000 until reaching a cap of 300,000 workers every year.

“I truly believe we have to be a country that makes stuff again, that exports to the world,” Klobuchar said in an interview, the New York Times reports. “To do that, we have to have innovation." She feels “we have been training our competition" by forcing many skilled immigrants back home after studying and working in the U.S.