Bill Gates testified before the Science and Technology Committee of the United States House of Representatives on Wednesday, March 12. He advocated increases in funding for research as well as science and technology education.

Gates also emphasized the need for additional H-1B visas, noting that 60 percent of the science and engineering graduates from top U.S. schools are not U.S. citizens and may not be employable in the United States.

“In the past, federally funded research helped spark industries that today provide hundreds of thousands of jobs,” Gates said. “Even though we know that basic research drives economic progress, real federal spending on research has fallen since 2005. I urge Congress to increase funding for basic research by 10 percent annually for the next seven years. I fully support Congress’s efforts to fund basic research through the America COMPETES Act.”

Bill Gates: Testimony before the Committee on Science and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives, via: SPIE