Capitol Hill Lobbying with Itserve

ITServe is the biggest group of IT services companies in the United States. It has over 2,100 companies, and ITServe members generate over 12 Billion Dollars in revenue. I was given the opportunity to be a part of ITServe's Capitol Hill Day. In which over 150 ITServe members went on to Capitol Hill and met with representatives and senators. The purpose of the meetings was to lobby for the HIRE (High-skilled Immigration for Reform Employment) act, a legislation already sponsored by Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi. The legislation would double the H1B Visa cap, and remove the cap for Masters/PH.D students. This act would greatly benefit IT companies, which need more STEM employees for work. The HIRE act would also add to local employment, keeping the jobs from leaving the United States. Further adding to this, the legislation would introduce more STEM education programs, to provide a long term solution to the problem. To conduct the lobbying, ITServe members were split into groups based on state, and they only met representatives from their state. I was in the Ohio group, and we met with the offices of Senator J.D. Vance, Senator Sherrod Brown, Representative Jim Jordan, Representative Mike Carey, Representative Brad Wenstrup, Representative David Joyce, and Representative Shontel Brown. During the meetings, I spoke mainly about how the congressman or senators' policies aligned with ITServe and the HIRE Act. I also spoke about ITServe's community service activities, specifically with the youth. It was a great experience being able to lobby and advocate for such an important issue. Overall, I am thankful for this opportunity, and I learned 

a lot from it. 

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