I recently finished reading the Walter Isaacson bio of Steve Jobs, and recall his account of an exchange between Jobs and President Obama several months ago. Over a dinner with other Silicon Valley executives, Jobs tells Obama that he’d like to manufacture more Apple products in the U.S., but that it is virtually impossible to do so: the Chinese have more mid-level engineers than we do, he tells the president.

The Washington Post covered this domestic brain-drain of the hi-tech labor force in great detail last month. These stories chronicle the major challenge facing would-be U.S. manufacturers. Put another way, we might be able to retain some of these jobs if we simply retain some highly trained, legal immigrants who would be willing to ply their trade here in the U.S. That, however, requires a visa extension. Enter politics.

Next week, at our offices in Washington, D.C., Gibraltar Associates will be hosting the sponsor of congressional legislation that would permit such visa extensions: Rep. Raul Labrador. We will also be joined by columnist John Fund. We are hoping that this discussion might help advance the debate about how to restore American manufacturing while tapping the talent of the thousands of highly educated immigrants living legally in the U.S. If you would like to join us, please RSVP via email here or visit our Facebook event page here.

I look forward to seeing you.