-Source-Breitbart-
The GOP-run House appropriations committee voted to help business owners on Wednesday by tripling the resident population of wage-cutting H-2B workers to almost 200,000.
The H-2B visa-worker program imports roughly 66,000 seasonal workers each year, allowing seasonal companies to lower wages for American seasonal workers and for year-round staff and supervisors.
The new amendment will allow CEOs to hire H-2B workers from the two prior years without counting them under the 66,000 annual cap. That legal trick will give CEOs a population of up to 198,000 H-2B workers to help lower wages for a larger number of Americans — even though wages are climbing very slowly in the current good economy, and many younger Americans are far worse off than their parents.
The proposed H-2B population is huge — it is roughly equal to the number of new jobs added in a good month.
“The cheap-labor lobby never sleeps,” said Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies. “The only solution is the elimination of the [H-2B] category.”
The amendment was included in the House’s 2019 spending bill. If approved by the rules committee, it will likely be approved in a floor vote by business-first GOP members and by Democrats, and then be merged with a Senate funding bill.
The measure was touted as a boost for company executives by Kansas Rep. Kevin Yoder, who chairs the homeland defense panel of the appropriations committee. “As our economy grows, we’re going to need workers to continue to provide a role … I support the amendment,” said Yoder, who also used the amendment process to promote easier asylum rules for Central Americans and easier migration for Indian and Chinese foreign technology workers.
The existing cap of 66,000 is too low for business owners, Yoder said, adding, “what we have now creates a lot of uncertainty, it cripples industries … You may be totally left out and be unable to find the workers you need to continue your business.” Read more
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