Policy Priorities

Access to practical training, a potential path to employment, and the option to remain in the country after graduation are powerful tools to maintain the United States' status as the top destination for global talent. The bipartisan Keep STEM Talent Act and the Keep Innovators in America Act would provide this while also addressing pressing labor shortages in this country. 

For decades, Optional Practical Training (OPT) has provided international students critical access to experiential learning and benefited the U.S. economy and the American workforce. America’s reputation as the top destination for global talent and ultimately, its preeminence in research and innovation, will take a devastating hit—particularly in STEM fields—if OPT is restricted or ended as threatened by the current administration. 

The United States’ national security, economic competitiveness, and global leadership are all advanced by the international education and exchange programs of the Departments of State and Education. These congressionally-authorized programs—which have received bipartisan support in Congress for decades—are currently imperiled by funding cuts, withdrawn funds, and staff layoffs. 

To make study abroad the norm, not the exception, for today's U.S. college students, Congress should support the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Program Act to incentivize higher education to increase study abroad and provide a cost-effective, sustainable way to ensure more U.S. undergraduates can study internationally.