Mr. Speaker. I rise in opposition to the H2B riders included in the FY2016 Appropriations Omnibus. These provisions. which were included without debate or advanced warning. would more than triple the number of H2B foreign worker visas available for the coming year. negatively impacting working families in districts like my own in Houston and Harris County. Texas. The H2B Program was created by Congress to provide temporary. nonagricultural workers for American companies when there were no qualified American workers available to fill a position. The Program. unfortunately. is not working as intended. Instead. it is being used by some employers to hire cheaper. foreign workers. leaving too many highlyskilled American workers out of a job. Mr. Speaker. this is simply wrong and a terrible holiday surprise for the thousands of working families in our country who will be left out of a job next year by the expansion of the H2B Program. These antiworker provisions in this legislation will degrade wages and conditions for workers in hazardous industries and gut standards that ensure that U.S. workers can fairly compete for jobs. I call on my colleagues to join me to protect American workers from unfair foreign worker competition and eliminate the expansion of the H2B Program.
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H2B visas