In addition to our education and workforce training priorities  our nation must also enact a balanced, commonsense, and comprehensive immigration plan that secures our borders and provides the workers we need to compete and win in the global marketplace.

In the absence of such a plan, states and localities are filling the void with hundreds of their own rules and regulations--often contradictory, illegal, and impossible for businesses to follow. The Chamber will continue to oppose these measures.

As a matter of principle, we need a policy that brings needed workers to American businesses and brings the American Dream to workers who accept our rules and want to legally become a part of our culture and our country. Undocumented immigrants who are hardworking and law-abiding need a pathway to normalization that includes learning English and following the rules that are established in a comprehensive immigration plan.

Congress and the president should act immediately to address the pressing visa shortage issues that are already resulting in economic damage. The government, working with business, must create an employer verification system that works and is fair and cost effective.

To be the best, American business has to attract the best talent anywhere and everywhere it exists.

Our full agenda for 2008 can be found in our State of American Business Report