Lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee heard from immigration reform proponents in the agriculture and technology industries Monday in Washington.
Industry leaders are backing a segment of the Senate written reform bill that will nearly double the annual cap on specialized workers from foreign countries.
Brad Smith is with the Microsoft Corporation. He said tech companies in the U.S. cannot fill all the jobs being created and so need to hire from outside the country.
"Unfortunately the situation is likely to get worse rather than better," he said.
Smith told the Senate this year the U.S. will only be able to fill 51,000 new computer science based jobs out of 120,000.
The bipartisan senate proposal could nearly triple the ceiling on skilled visa workers to 180,000 per year.
