We are in the final hours of having the House letter, circulated by Reps. Bergman (R-MI) and Keating (D-MA), signed. We are still awaiting signatures from the Colorado representatives listed below. Please reach our to your representative if they are on this list, and ask them to sign the letter as soon as possible. The deadline to sign is 2:00 PM Mountain time, so please call now and ask to speak with the staffer listed below.

• Diana Degette - 1st District; Phone: 202 225-4431; Staff member - Tom Woodburn
• Joe Neguse - 2nd District; Phone: 202 225-2161; Staff member - Lindsey Garber or Bo Morris
• Scott Tipton - 3rd Distsrict; Phone: 202 225-4761; Staff member - Liz Payne
• Ken Buck - 4th District; Phone: 202 225-4676; Staff member - James Hampson
• Ed Perlmutter - 7th District; Phone: 202 225-5645; Staff member - Tia Bogeljic

We need to keep up the pressure on Congress to include H-2B cap relief in any upcoming spending bill. One way to do that is to get as many members of Congress as possible to sign on to the letter.

Background:
Congress continues to debate annual spending bills to fund the federal government. As with past years, “must-do” appropriations bills offer the best opportunity to pass temporary H-2B cap relief, while we work toward a permanent solution to the H-2B labor crisis. We need your help to ensure that cap relief is included in a final spending bill.

Since October 1, the Federal Government has been operating under a temporary spending bill or continuing resolution that runs through November 21. Congress is likely to pass another short-term funding bill to keep the government operating through December.  

To date, little progress has been made in discussions between House and Senate leaders on final spending bills. The Senate has yet to pass most of the annual spending bills, including those that fund the Departments of Labor (DOL) and Homeland Security (DHS).

The Senate version of the DOL funding bill continues the previous provisions of law that prevent DOL from enforcing the corresponding employment and 3/4 guarantee provisions of the 2015 regulations, allows for a 10-month season, allows for the use of private wage surveys and allows for staggered crossing of seafood workers. The Senate Committee’s version of the Homeland Security funding bill does not currently contain any H-2B cap relief.

The House passed its version of the Fiscal 2020 Department of Labor (DOL) funding bill during the summer. The bill would allocate H-2B visas proportionally on a quarterly basis. The House Appropriations Committee-passed the Fiscal 2020 DHS funding includes language similar to last year’s language that allowed DHS to release some additional H-2B visas, but it takes away some of DHS’ discretion by changing the word “may” to “shall.”

As the House and Senate work to create a funding package beyond November 21, we continue to urge the lawmakers to include H-2B cap relief and extend the existing DOL regulatory provisions in any final spending measure for Fiscal 2020.