Immigration Innovation Act: proposal to raise number of available STEM visas from 65K to 115K

Figure 5 from the Kauffman Foundation report, which “indicates the percentage of companies founded by immigrants in each of these states.”
Four U.S. senators — two Republicans, two Democrats — introduced the Immigration Innovation Act on Tuesday as talk of bipartisan immigration reform grabbed hold of the nation’s political consciousness following President Obama’s address on the subject Tuesday afternoon.

Mashable has the report on the Immigration Innovation Act:

The bill … would increase the maximum number of STEM visas available to foreign citizens to 115,000 from 65,000. The cap would be adjustable based on market demand. [more]

As Technically Baltimore reported in November, a Kauffman Foundation report found that immigrant-entrepreneurs were responsible for founding one-quarter of the technology and engineering startups in Maryland since 2006.
The proposed act comes at a time when both Republican and Democrat politicians are emphasizing the ease with which U.S. companies need to be able to hire skilled foreign workers.