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WASHINGTON, DC – Last night, Congressman Michael G. Grimm (R-NYC) introduced the Startup Act 2.0 (H.R. 5893) in the House of Representatives. The Startup Act 2.0 is a bipartisan bill to create and keep jobs in NYC and the U.S.; increase America’s access to talent in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) by reforming high-skilled visa policies; and create opportunities for startup businesses with tax incentives and access to resources for innovation.

“Startup 2.0 is about creating jobs here in NYC and throughout the county. Too often we educate the world’s best and brightest in STEM fields, only to send them back to nations like India and China to open businesses and compete against us. Startup 2.0 can help jumpstart NYC’s economy now by bringing high-tech training and jobs to our city, so that we can create our own Silicon Valley right here in New York, and ultimately emerge as a global leader in technology. I will continue to do all I can to work with my colleagues in the House and Senate to ensure that this bill swiftly becomes law,” said Rep. Michael Grimm.  

Startup 2.0 helps increase America’s access to talent by creating a new set of conditional visas for 75,000 immigrant entrepreneurs and 50,000 foreign STEM graduate students, that are linked to the creation of American jobs. Research has demonstrated the positive impact of immigrants on American job creation:  More than 40 percent of all Fortune 500 companies were founded by an immigrant or the child of an immigrant, and each foreign-born advanced degree holder who stays in the U.S. to work in a STEM occupation created an estimated 2.6 American jobs.  

The bill also creates tax incentives for the creation of new businesses. Research shows that startups create 3 million jobs per year, on average. In addition, over the past 30 years, companies less than five years old have created almost all the new net jobs in America.

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