House Republicans are set to approve a must-pass spending bill Thursday that would dramatically reduce the number of visas available next year for seasonal workers.
The measure does not renew a one-year, one-time expansion of the H-2B seasonal worker visa program that effectively increased the number of visas available in 2016. It was championed by lawmakers who represent cyclical tourist hubs in places such as the Colorado mountains, the Eastern Shore of Maryland and at President-elect Donald Trump’s golf courses at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., and in Jupiter, Fla.
Trump has said that he has used the H-2B program to hire workers during the busy season at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
“I’ve hired in Florida during the prime season — you could not get help,” Trump said at a 2015 primary debate sponsored by Telemundo. “Everybody agrees with me on that. They were part-time jobs. You needed them, or we just might as well close the doors, because you couldn’t get help in those hot, hot sections of Florida.”
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