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Letter to Chad Wolf, Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security - Rounds, King, Harris, Pingree, Keating, Bergman Lead Bipartisan, Bicameral Letter Urging Administration to Increase the Number of Temporary, Non-Immigrant H-2B Workers for 2020

Letter

By: Bruce Westerman, Scott Tipton, Joe Courtney, Darren Soto, Sanford Bishop, Jr., Barry Loudermilk, Lauren Underwood, Sharice Davids, Andy Barr, Jim McGovern, Chellie Pingree, John Moolenaar, Haley Stevens, Ann Wagner, Trent Kelly, Virginia Foxx, Chris Pappas, Mikie Sherrill, Antonio Delgado, Mike Turner, Frank Lucas, Chrissy Houlahan, GT Thompson, Jr., Tom Rice, Kay Granger, Henry Cuellar, John Curtis, Jennifer Wexton, Derek Kilmer, Lisa Murkowski, Cory Gardner, Todd Young, Ben Cardin, Roy Blunt, Rob Portman, Tim Scott, John Barrasso, Steve Womack, Joe Neguse, Ed Perlmutter, John Rutherford, Buddy Carter, Jody Hice, Rodney Davis, Roger Marshall, Hal Rogers, Richard Neal, David Trone, Justin Amash, Paul Mitchell, Peter Stauber, Billy Long, Greg Murphy, Kelly Armstrong, Tom Malinowski, Elise Stefanik, Bob Gibbs, Steve Stivers, Suzanne Bonamici, Fred Keller, Joe Cunningham, Van Taylor, Greg Stanton, Ken Buck, Lisa Blunt Rochester, Kathy Castor, Lucy McBath, Tom Graves, Jr., John Shimkus, Ron Estes, Cedric Richmond, Bill Keating, Jared Golden, Fred Upton, Dean Phillips, Blaine Luetkemeyer, Roger Wicker, David Rouzer, Annie Kuster, Lee Zeldin, Anthony Brindisi, Brad Wenstrup, Bill Johnson, Dave Joyce, Kendra Horn, Lloyd Smucker, David Cicilline, Jim Cooper, Bill Flores, Colin Allred, Elaine Luria, Peter Welch, Mike Gallagher, Doug Jones, Chris Coons, Jerry Moran, Susan Collins, Thom Tillis, Ron Wyden, John Cornyn, French Hill, Diana DeGette, Jason Crow, Ted Yoho, Brian Mast, Doug Collins, Mike Bost, Larry Bucshon, Thomas Massie, Ralph Abraham, Dutch Ruppersberger, Bill Huizenga, Elissa Slotkin, Collin Peterson, Emanuel Cleaver II, Steven Palazzo, Patrick McHenry, Joshua Gottheimer, Pete King, Joyce Beatty, Warren Davidson, Anthony Gonzalez, Kurt Schrader, Guy Reschenthaler, Joe Wilson, Sr., Michael McCaul, Roger Williams, Chris Stewart, Morgan Griffith, Dan Newhouse, Carol Miller, Michael Bennet, James Risch, Bill Cassidy, Tina Smith, Jeanne Shaheen, Lindsey Graham, Mike Enzi, Mike Rounds, Donald Young, Lou Correa, Doug Lamborn, Neal Dunn, Greg Steube, Rob Woodall, Mike Simpson, Susan Brooks, Brett Guthrie, Clay Higgins, Andy Harris, Jack Bergman, Tim Walberg, Tom Emmer, Vicky Hartzler, Michael Guest, Dan Bishop, Jeff Van Drew, Steve Chabot, Bob Latta, Troy Balderson, Tom Cole, Susan Wild, Mike Doyle, Jr., Dusty Johnson, Vicente Gonzalez, John Carter, Rob Wittman, Gerry Connolly, Glenn Grothman, Dan Sullivan, Tom Carper, Pat Roberts, Chris Van Hollen, Jr., Cindy Hyde-Smith, James Lankford, John Thune, Pete Olson, Filemon Vela, Jr., Abigail Spanberger, Jaime Herrera Beutler, David McKinley, Kyrsten Sinema, Mike Crapo, Rand Paul, Angus King, Jr., Kevin Cramer, Pat Toomey, Mark Warner
Date: Jan. 27, 2020
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Business and Consumers Employment and Affirmative Action Immigration

Dear Acting Secretary Wolf:

We write on behalf of seasonal businesses in our states from industries such as tourism and hospitality, landscaping, fairs and carnivals, seafood processing, golf courses, reforestation, contractors and horse racing, who continue to struggle with seasonal labor shortages that are made worse by the inadequate H-2B visa cap. Under the "Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020", the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in consultation with Secretary of the Department of Labor (DOL), is authorized to provide expeditious H-2B cap relief for our local businesses' upcoming seasonal labor needs.

These American businesses depend on seasonal employment to meet the demand across many industries. Without immediate and meaningful H-2B cap relief, seasonal businesses will be forced to scale back operations, cancel or default on contracts, lay off full-time U.S. workers and, in some cases, close operations completely. By taking quick action to release additional H-2B visas, seasonal businesses and U.S. workers across the country will avoid these harmful consequences, and instead, help contribute to the American economy.

The recently passed Fiscal Year 2020 Further Consolidated Appropriations bill provides DHS with the authority to lift the existing 66,000 H-2B visa cap. The language is identical to the language that was enacted in each of the past three years. In each of those years, DHS has provided supplemental cap relief in the amounts of 15,000, 15,000 and 30,000 respectively. While these supplemental visas helped some employers who were shut out of the program, they were not sufficient to satisfy the total need for H-2B workers. Additionally, these visas were not released until well into many businesses' peak seasons, which caused significant harm to the seasonal industry. We urge you to release a significant number of additional visas as soon as possible to prevent this from happening in FY 20. According to the Department's May 2019 rule entitled "Exercise of Time-Limited Authority to Increase the Fiscal Year 2019 Numerical Limitation for the H-2B Temporary Nonagricultural Worker Program," you are authorized to release 64,716 additional visas under this language.

As you know, the first half H-2B visa cap for FY 20 was reached on November 15, 2019, almost a month earlier than previous years. The DOL has certified the need for approximately 51,000 H-2B workers with a date of need between October 1 and March 31 with approximately 2,500 petitions still under review. Therefore, between 18,000 and 20,500 needed H-2B worker positions will remain vacant without the expeditious release of additional visas.

Additionally, the Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) announced that within the first 24 hours of opening the Foreign Labor Application Gateway System for peak filing season that opened on January 2, 2020, employers filed 4,930 applications for more than 87,298 worker positions with an April 1, 2020, or later, work start date. By the end of the filing deadline on January 6, 2020, OFLC had received a total of 5,677 H-2B applications requesting 99,362 worker positions. This is more than triple the number of visa applications currently available for the second half of the fiscal year.

As a result, we urge DHS to release the maximum number of additional visas without delay. Congress was clear in the report accompanying the "Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020" that DHS rely on past rulemaking and act as quickly as possible in releasing additional visas. The report language states that, "USCIS is encouraged to leverage prior year materials relating to the issuance of additional H-2B visas, to include previous temporary final rules, to improve processing efficiencies." As you know, the FY 19 temporary final rule was only released eight months ago, and there are no new legislative authorities or technical facts to review. Therefore, additional rulemaking should not be required.

Given the continued low unemployment and growing demand for H-2B workers, as evidenced by the recent number of applications for the second half of the fiscal year, we urge the Department to promptly make available all 64,716 additional visas authorized under the law as soon as possible. These vital American businesses depend on the expeditious release of a sufficient number of additional visas. We thank you in advance for your attention to this pressing matter.

Sincerely,


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