Speech #1090166848

President. I am introducing today the COMPETE Act of 2006. along with Senators CoiLINS and CORNYN. This is a bill which amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to allow certain minor league athletes and ice skaters to be admitted temporarily into the United States to compete or perform in an athletic league. competition or performance under the same nonimmigrant visa category as professional athletes. The purpose of this legislation is to level the playing field for minor league sports teams that depend on getting the best athletic talent. regardless of where in the world that talent is discovered. Under current law. minor league players and ice skaters who use the H2B temporary visa category face severe visa shortages. while major league players qualify for uncapped P1 temporary visas. This unfair discrepancy in the law needs to be remedied. and the bill we are introducing today provides a commonsense solution because it allows minor league athleteswhether in baseball. basketball. hockey. or ice skatingwho will perform competitively in the United States to apply for a P1 temporary visa as opposed to an H2B visa. By way of background. The H2B temporary visa category allows U.S. employers in industries with seasonal or intermittent needs to augment their existing labor force with temporary workers or augment their labor force when necessary due to a onetime occurrence which necessitates a temporary increase in workers. Typically. H2B workers fill labor needs in occupational areas such as construction. health care. landscaping. lumber. manufacturing. food service and processing. and resort and hospitality services. Additionally. and perhaps what people do not know. is that not only is the H2B visa category used by loggers. lifeguards. crab pickers. amusement park employees. hotel and restaurant employees. but it is also used by many talented. highly competitive foreign athletes who are recruited by U.S. teams and theatrical ice skating productions. A chronic H28 visa shortage over the last 3 years has posed challenges for all industries using the H2B visa category. In fiscal years 2004. 2005. and 2006. the 66.000 visa cap has been reached. leaving American teams and the athletes they are recruiting out in the cold.