H-2B Provision Progress Erased

Just as H-2B advocates thought the program was making progress-albeit small-getting through Congress, a setback came this morning to the returning-worker program.

A provision that would have extended the H-2B returning worker exemption three years was removed from an emergency spending package on the Senate floor. The action came a week after the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the package, sending it to the Senate floor. The dismissal disappointed Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, who co-sponsored the amendment with Senator Judd Gregg (R-N.H.).

"My amendment was a very simple amendment,” she said in a floor speech today. “There was no new law. We broke no new ground. We created no new rights or privileges. All we did was extend current law. This is a program with a proven track record. Yet Congress' failure to extend this provision is forcing small businesses to deal with devastating cuts to their workforce.”

The provision was removed from the floor when Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced a rare procedural motion-called a point of order-that was sustained by the chair.

“I remain stunned and angry that a small number of elected officials who seem to care neither for the American workers we employ nor for the American communities we serve have been able to frustrate the ambition of the overwhelming majority of Congress who support the H-2B program,” said Hank Lavery, president of the organization Save Small Business, in an e-mail to H-2B supporters.

The provision, originally called the Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act, expired Sept. 30, 2007. It exempts returning foreign workers to count against the program’s cap of 66,000.

This leaves industry advocates wondering what will happen next. There are no steps in the foreseeable future that won’t be rejected, says Tom Delaney, director of government affairs for the Professional Landcare Network (PLANET). There also is no sign of an immigration bill soon, he adds.