Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) took to the
Senate floor this morning to urge his colleagues to take action on Startup Act, a bill to facilitate job growth through startup businesses. You can watch the video here.
Startup Act, sponsored by Sen. Moran and Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), aims to create an environment that makes it easier for startups to thrive and by doing so to boost the U.S. economy. Sen. Moran cited evidence that startups are responsible for almost all new net job growth in the last 30 years, and highlighted the fact that startup growth is slowing down for the first time in recent history -- an indicator that should prompt us to act now to pass policies that encourage the growth of this vital sector of our economy.
Among its many provisions, Startup Act aims to retain top talent in America through the expansion of entrepreneurial visas. Moran said that the danger of creating a hostile environment for U.S. businesses to retain foreign-born talent is that it will start to make more sense for them to move their operations overseas, to places like India and Brazil, where there is access to high concentrations of high-skilled STEM workers -- a situation in which
this country will lose out.
“The future of our economic competitiveness depends on America winning the global battle for talent,” he said.
Sen. Moran urged Congress to buck conventional wisdom that legislation can’t be passed in an election year and act on these urgent issues. And with an issue as important as securing a place for startups leading the American economy, we hope his colleagues heed his call and begin more work on Startup Act soon.