This Issue: DHS spending bill advances with guest worker expansions
Fri,
Jun. 23th
The House Appropriations Committee approved the FY2024 Homeland Security appropriations bill this week with the inclusion of expansions for two foreign guest worker programs.
The underlying bill establishes the spending levels for the Department of Homeland Security for the next fiscal year. But it would also expand the H-2A agricultural guest worker program to include year-round jobs and expand the H-2B non-agricultural guest worker program by exempting certain returning workers from the annual cap of 66,000.
The H-2A program allows employers to import an unlimited number of temporary or seasonal agricultural foreign guest workers. Because these visas are currently limited to temporary or seasonal jobs, the visas are typically used to bring in field workers during the peak harvest season.
But the expansion included in the Homeland Security spending bill would allow employers to use to the program to fill year-round jobs. This includes permanent jobs in fields such as dairy and timber that are more likely to be filled by American workers.
The H-2B program allows employers to import low-skilled, non-agricultural foreign guest workers to fill temporary or seasonal jobs during peak periods. The visa is capped at 66,000 per year and most often used by the landscaping, hospitality, construction, and healthcare industries. These jobs have historically been used by lesser-skilled American workers to start their career.
The Homeland Security spending bill would allow returning H-2B workers from the previous three years to not count towards the annual cap of 66,000 for the upcoming fiscal year.
Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) introduced an amendment during the committee markup that would have stripped the H-2A expansion from the legislation, but it was defeated by a voice vote. Unfortunately, no recorded vote was taken, so we don't have a record of which Committee Members supported or opposed the expansion.
The legislation will now be queued up for the House Rules Committee before moving to the House floor for a vote. The NumbersUSA Capitol Hill Team has alerted Members of Congress that we will be scoring against the legislation should the guest worker expansions remain in the bill.
We'll continue to provide updates and action opportunities as we learn more about the bill's future.
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