King Leads Letter Urging Senate Leadership to Help Maine Small Businesses Hard Hit by H-2B Visa Cap

Press Release

U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) has led a group of his colleagues, including Senator Susan Collins, in sending a letter to Senate leadership urging them to come to the aid of Maine businesses who are in desperate need of seasonal workers. In the letter, Senator King and his Republican colleagues strongly urged the Majority and Minority Leaders to implement cap relief within the H-2B visa program for businesses that need extra help during their peak seasons. The letter was also signed by Senators Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Roy Blunt (R-Missouri), and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska).

Under current law, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services distributes 66,000 annual H-2B visas to seasonal businesses -- 33,000 for each half of the Fiscal Year. That cap was reached on March 13th of this year, with many small businesses in Maine still in need of seasonal employees to support their operations as the summer months approach.

"Without prompt passage of cap relief for this and the next fiscal year, many employers in our states will be without the critical seasonal workforce they need to operate during their peak seasons. These businesses might fail to fulfill contracts, could be forced to turn away customers, and may, in turn, lay off U.S. workers whose jobs are supported in part by H-2B workers. In some cases, these businesses may even shut down their operations entirely because of their inability to hire H-2B employees," Senator King and his colleagues wrote.

"We urge you to give strong consideration to provide H-2B cap relief for businesses who need extra help during their peak seasons, and who are trying to do the right thing by using established, legal avenues to hire temporary workers," the Senators continued. "This relief is urgently needed so that small and seasonal businesses in our states can continue to operate, provide American jobs, and contribute to our economy."

Earlier this month, Senator King introduced legislation -- along with Senator Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) -- that includes a "returning worker exemption" provision, which allows workers who have previously worked in the U.S. through the H-2B visa program to return without counting against the visa cap. There was no returning worker exemption in Fiscal Year 2017, which has caused hardship for seasonal small businesses that were not able to fill their workforce demands.

Senators King and Collins have also previously written to the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security and Labor, urging the departments to conduct an audit to determine the number of unused visas during the first half of the Fiscal Year and to also request that any unused visas be provided to eligible businesses that have been unable to secure an adequate number of workers due to the cap.

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