This Issue: Congress returns from recess to continue work on FY2024 spending bills
Fri,
Jul. 7th
Congress returns from a two-week recess next week to continue its effort to pass a dozen spending bills to fund the federal government for the next fiscal year, which begins on Oct. 1.
For the last 5-10 years, Congress has mostly relied on all-inclusive omnibus spending bills or continuing resolutions rather than pass each spending bill individually. But a handful of Republican House Members made passing the smaller, more focused spending bills a requirement for their support for Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker.
Specifically, we're watching the Homeland Security spending bill, which was passed out of the House Appropriations Committee with expansions of both the H-2A and H-2B guest worker programs.
The H-2A guest worker program provides an unlimited number of visas for seasonal or temporary agricultural work when an American worker supposedly can't be found to do the job. The spending bill would expand the program to include year-round jobs, primarily in dairy and timber, that are more likely to be filled by American workers since they tend to be more permanent.
The H-2B guest worker program provides 66,000 visas each year for seasonal or temporary low-skilled, non-agricultural work. The visas are most heavily used by the landscaping, construction, hospitality, and home healthcare industries. The spending bill would expand the number of visas issued in the next fiscal year by exempting returning workers (up to 264,000) from the annual cap.
Since Congress is expected to take four weeks off in August, there's little chance that both chambers will be able to pass all 12 spending bills before the Sept. 30 deadline and work out the differences. So there are already reports out of D.C. that House Leaders may push for passing a continuing resolution in July to extend current funding levels beyond the end of September.
We're also continuing to push for introduction of the House-passed H.R. 2 in the Senate. H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act, includes a number of important reforms that would end the ongoing border crisis and prevent future border surges. It would also require most employers to use E-Verify within 2 years to prevent illegal hiring and deter future illegal immigration including visa overstays.
Last month, Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) offered H.R. 2 as an amendment to the must-pass Debt Limit bill, but it failed mostly along party lines. Still, we'd like the legislation to be officially introduced in the Senate to increase the chances of it coming to the floor for a vote.
|
