Washington, D.C.— Late Tuesday evening a sought-after one-year extension of the return guest worker exemption for the H-2B program passed in the Senate during consideration of an appropriations bill.. H2B champion Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) was a major advocate for its passage. According to Corey Connors, ANLA Director of Legislative Relations, “Passage in the senate was just the first hurdle in a longer effort to secure this extension.” The return worker exemption, if enacted into law, would increase the number of immigrant workers from the current 66,000 to the larger numbers possible when this exemption was in place in 2005 and 2006.

As part of an appropriations package, the extension provision will now become part of joint House and Senate negotiations, subsequent to adoption by both bodies, and then must be signed by the President. According to Connors, “The challenge in the House of Representatives is significant, given recent labor union efforts to damagingly increase employer burdens for any guest worker program adjustments.”

Connors stated that ANLA will continue to seek avenues for more immediate temporary relief, while continuing to advocate for a longer term fix to the industry’s labor problems. “However, we now have some hope that we can get something done on a clean temporary extension,” Connors continued. “It is important for all industry members whose businesses and customers are impacted by access to H2B workers to encourage their Senators and Congressman to pass this extension and move onto a longer term answer to America’s labor needs.”