Barbara Mikulski

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. I thank the Senator from Virginia. I accept the challenge. If it takes two of you to take me on, so be it.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays on my amendment.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I rise to ask my colleagues to support cloture on the amendment I offered last week on the H-2B visas. This amendment is desperately needed by small and seasonal business throughout the United States. This amendment is identical to the bipartisan bill I introduced in February called the Save Our Small and Seasonal Business Act. It is designed to be a temporary solution to the seasonal worker shortage that many coastal and resort States are facing. My amendment helps keep American jobs, keep American companies open, and yet retains control of our borders. Small and seasonal businesses all over our country are in crisis. They need seasonal workers before the summer can begin so they can survive. For years they relied on an H-2B visa program to meet their needs. The program allows businesses to hire temporary seasonal foreign workers with a mandated return to their home country when no other American workers are available. But this year they can't get temporary labor. They have been facing this for the last couple of years because they have been shut out of the program because there is a cap and the cap is reached by the wintertime. My amendment will help these employers by doing three things. One, it temporarily exempts good actor workers from the H-2B cap so employers can apply for and name employees who have already come back and forth to the United States. It protects against fraud, and it provides a fair and balanced allocation of the H-2B visas between winter and summer people. Let me be clear about my amendment. First, it protects American jobs. Second, it is a short-term remedy because it is only a 2-year solution. What it does is exempt seasonal workers from the cap. That means there are no new workers. There are no new immigrants. It means no more new guest workers. It means people who have worked here before, who have played by the rules and gone back home, are the only ones who will be eligible. They have to have been here in the last 3 years, worked in absolute compliance with the law, and returned back home to Mexico as required. So it is not new people who will be exempt. It is an employment program for them and for us. The employer has to go through the whole Department of Labor and Homeland Security process so we are in compliance with labor rules and we also ensure our national security. Like my colleagues, I worry about fraud, so we have very strong antifraud provisions. We also make the system better by creating this fair allocation. We recognize that States need them in the winter, but summertime people need them, too. There is a crisis. Thousands of small businesses are affected by this. Hitting the cap so early had a great impact on my own State of Maryland. We had a lot of summer seasonal business, particularly over there on the Eastern Shore, working that wonderful, fabulous Chesapeake Bay I share with my colleagues from Virginia. Many of our businesses used this program year after year. First they hire all the American workers they can find. Then they turn to the H-2B to find additional workers. I could give example after example, but I can tell you, if they don't get this legislation, they will have to either lay off their permanent workers or close their doors. So what my legislation is all about is a simple legislative remedy with strong bipartisan support. It is realistic. It is specific. It is narrow. It stands up for American companies, protects our borders. I know there is great urgency about this. We absolutely need it. Many of my companies have been around for 100 years working in the Chesapeake Bay. Many of them provide the livelihoods not only on the Eastern Shore but because of our fabulous seafood processing industry. We provide jobs also in Baltimore and Bethesda and other parts. We have to pass this legislation because if they can't start to hire within the next few weeks, we are going to close American companies and end up with an even more porous border. I urge the adoption of my amendment, but now I urge my colleagues to vote for cloture. I yield the floor.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, there is no further debate on the amendment. I yield all of my time and, therefore, request a vote on my amendment, as amended.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Less than a minute.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I understand that negotiations are ongoing on all of the immigration provisions. I am sorry I have to do this, and I will be very glad to withdraw this cloture motion if we are able to come to an understanding. Amendment No. 430 I now ask unanimous consent that the Senate resume consideration of the Byrd amendment.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I ask for the regular order with respect to my amendment.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. I have no objection.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Reserving my right to object, may I ask what the Senator would like to do?

Ms. MIKULSKI. I thank the Senator from Massachusetts.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, reluctantly, I rise to oppose this amendment, even though I agree with many of the principles expounded in it. No. 1, to my colleagues on the Judiciary Committee, the sponsors of this amendment, I too, agree, that our immigration system is badly broken. It does fail to serve the interests of our national security and our national economy. We do need to enact the critical appropriations bill to support our troops and help people who are tsunami victims and some other important aspects. At the same time, though, the sense of the Senate really should be directed to the House. For someone like myself, who has a very serious crisis because of something called the H-2B visas, which I will explain in more detail at another time, the fact is this is our only vehicle. Immigration, as an issue, was introduced in the supplemental appropriation bill in the House of Representatives with an enormously controversial and prickly concept, the so-called REAL ID card. I know that my colleague from Tennessee has proposed some creative solutions to deal with that. I know that others want to talk about this. If we can talk about comprehensive immigration reform, I am all for it. But the question is, When are we going to do it? It has been over 1,000 days since 9/11, and we have not done comprehensive immigration reform, nor have we looked at what aspects of immigration are working. There are certain aspects that are working in certain areas of the guest worker programs; college students who come from abroad, who work in our country and learn in our country and go back home, what a tremendous exercise in public diplomacy the so-called J visas have accomplished. In my own State, the H-2B visa, which allows guest workers to come into this country for seasonal employment to take jobs that are certified as not being held by American workers, with a mandated return to their own home, has worked well. It has worked so well that the cap is now bursting at the seams. I am all for comprehensive immigration reform, but No. 4 says Congress should not short circuit the discussion by attaching amendments to this supplemental. We have had no discussion. There is nothing to short circuit. What we do have is a series of, as Senator Durbin has said, these rifle-shot crisis situations. It would be wonderful if we could have comprehensive reform. I look forward to participating in that comprehensive reform. For now, we have to look at those States that are facing a crisis because of the flawed immigration system we have now and for which we are advocating modest and temporary legislative remedies. I salute our colleagues. They have a big job ahead of them. Anybody willing to undertake comprehensive immigration reform needs to be encouraged, supported and worked with. We need elasticity in this bill to deal with those things related to our economic viability. In many ways, a guest worker program that is working needs to be addressed, and I hope to offer an amendment. I yield the floor.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, today I rise to offer an amendment. I understand my colleague from California is seeking a unanimous consent.

Ms. MIKULSKI. The Senator, again, has made an accurate assessment. This bill is only applicable to employers and guest workers who have complied with the law. If a worker has not been here before and they have not demonstrated that they have complied with the law, not returned to their home country, they would not be eligible. That is why I say we need to help American business but keep control of the border.

Ms. MIKULSKI. This is without yielding the floor.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, in the interest of following the regular order and engaging in senatorial courtesy, we really need order. I could not hear the distinguished Senator and, therefore, was concerned that we were having some slippage in our process. Amendment No. 386

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Wyoming for his comments in articulating the economic issues facing Wyoming. I have had the occasion to visit there myself and I know what a wonderful State it is. I am not much of a skier; I am built a little too close to the ground for that. But this shows this is not only a coastal State issue, and it also shows it is not only a seafood processing issue; this is an issue that affects our entire country, particularly those who depend upon summer seasonal workers. We understand some of our States enjoy-- whether it is Massachusetts, Wyoming, or Idaho--both summer and winter. Either way, the Senator knows that we depend on summer workers. We thank him and the Senator from Idaho who spoke, as well as others. Mr. President, I note that the hour is late and now that the Senator from Wyoming has spoken, I am not sure if there are other people who wish to speak. I ask unanimous consent that Senator Snowe of Maine be added as a cosponsor.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I want to get a vote on my amendment, but it is not possible tonight. Therefore, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Well, that is what we are trying to determine. That is what I am trying to determine. I would like to have a quorum call.

Ms. MIKULSKI. As I understand the regular order, the H-2B amendment I have offered is pending. I note that there are other speakers on the other side of the aisle but on the same side of the issue who wish to speak. I note the Senator from Wyoming is here and he wishes to speak. I want to continue the debate on this amendment.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, today I rise to offer an amendment that is desperately needed by small and seasonal business throughout the country. This amendment is identical to the bipartisan bill I introduced in February called Save Our Small and Seasonal Business Act. It is designed to be a 2-year temporary solution to the seasonal worker shortage that many coastal States and resort States are facing. I wish to acknowledge the need for comprehensive immigration reform, but right now small and seasonal businesses all over this Nation are in crisis and need our help. These businesses need seasonal workers before the summer begins so they can survive. For years, they have relied on something called the H-2B visa program to meet their needs. This is a temporary guest worker program. But this year they cannot get the temporary labor they need because they have been shut out of the H-2B visa program because the cap has been reached. This is a program that lets businesses hire temporary guest workers when no American workers are available. This amendment modeled after the Save Our Small and Seasonal Business helps employers by doing four things: It temporarily exempts the good actor workers--those who do return home after they have worked a season--from the H-2B cap. Employers apply for and actually name those good compliant workers who have complied with the law, they name them so that they are allowed them to reenter for this temporary period. It protects against fraud within the H-2B program. It provides a fair and balanced allocation for the H-2B visas. And it reports to Congress how the program is working and where the beneficiaries are. I urge my colleagues to help small businesses by passing this amendment and save these businesses and actually save thousands of American jobs. Thousands of small and seasonal businesses are facing a worker shortage as we approach the summer. In my home State, this is primarily in the seafood industry. This year, because the cap of 66,000 workers was reached earlier in the year, my small businesses have been effectively shut out. We have had a lot of summer seasonal business in Maryland on the Eastern Shore and Ocean City, people working on the Chesapeake Bay, and many of these businesses use the program year after year. First of all, they do hire American workers. They hire all the American workers they can find. But at this time of the year, we need additional help to meet seasonal demands. Because that cap was reached for the second year in a row, I might add, these employers are at a disadvantage. They cannot use the program. What will it mean? It will mean that some of our businesses will actually have to close their doors. My amendment is supported on both sides of the aisle. It does not change existing requirements for employers. Employers cannot just turn to the H-2B visa whenever they want. First of all, employers must try vigorously to recruit those workers. Then they must demonstrate to the Department of Labor that they have no U.S. workers available. Only after that are they allowed to fill seasonal vacancies with the H-2B visas. The workers they bring in often participate in the program year after year. They often work for the same companies. They do not stay in the United States and are prohibited by law from doing so. They return to their home country, to their families, and their U.S. employer starts all over the following year. Let me just say this: Right now in certain villages in Mexico, there are many women--mothers and their adult daughters, aunts--who are packing their bags. They are ready to come back to Maryland where they have come before to work in Clayton Seafood or Phillips Crab House, which so many of you have enjoyed in your visits to the bay, or Harrison's seafood. Some of them have been in business 100 years. Some of them are major employers. A lot of college kids work their way through college working at Phillips Seafood, but Phillips Seafood needs these guest workers to help these kids and to help the restaurant stay open. These workers are not taking the jobs, they are helping American workers keep their jobs and American companies keep their doors open and, I might add, to the delight of many of you here, to the delight of people who enjoy our products, and to the delight of the people who collect the sales tax, Social Security, and so on from those American workers. I know we need comprehensive reform, but while we are waiting for that, I have a temporary fix. By the way, working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, we looked for regulatory relief. We consulted with the Department of Labor and the Department of Homeland Security. Secretary Chao could not have been more gracious, more cooperative, more forthcoming, but when it came down to it, her legislative counsel said, you need to change the law. She could not change the regulations on this cap. What does my amendment do? First, my amendment continues to protect those American jobs. It is a short-term fix because it is a 2-year solution. This amendment will only be in place for 2 years. So it allows this comprehensive reform to go forward. What it does is exempt returning seasonal workers from the cap. That means there are no new workers. It means those people who have worked before and have gone back home are the only ones who would be eligible. In other words, in the last 3 years, they had to have worked here under the law, come in under the law, and returned home as the law requires. So it is not new people. It is not an amnesty program. It is an employment program for them and for us. These workers receive a visa, and it requires their employers to list them by name. So in all probability, they will return to the same employer. Then, at the end of the year, they will do it all over again. Remember, the only people eligible are those who have used the program in the past--the employer and the actual person coming in. I worry about fraud, too. So we have an antifraud fee that ensures that Government agencies processing the H-2B visa will get added resources in their new sanctions. The bill creates a fair allocation of visas. Some summer businesses lose out because winter employers get all the visas. This will make the system more fair. We also simplified the reporting requirements. I could give example after example of businesses that have been impacted. Clayton Seafood started over a century ago. They work the water of the bay supplying crab, crabmeat, and seafood. It is the oldest working crab processing plant in the world, and by employing 65 H-2B visa workers they have been able to retain all of their full-time workers. The Friel Cannery, which began its business over 100 years ago, is the last corn cannery left out of 300. When they could not find local workers, they turned to the H-2B visa. Since then, that business is open and thriving. Each year this program helps the company not only maintain its workforce, but 75 Americans have good paying full-time jobs in accounting and marketing and other areas, and it keeps 190 seasonal workers going and 70 farmers who would not have a cannery to go to are also able to keep their jobs. So that is what my legislation is all about. It is a quick and simple legislative remedy. It has strong bipartisan support. It is realistic. It is specific. It is immediate, achievable, and does not exacerbate our immigration problem. Every Member of the Senate who has heard from their constituents, whether they are seafood processors, landscapers, or other people in resort areas, know the urgency in their voice. They know the immediacy of the problem. Our companies feel urgency. They feel immediacy. They feel desperation. I urge my colleagues to join me in passing this amendment and keeping the doors of American companies open while we also maintain control of our borders.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Yes, without losing my floor privileges.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I am now confused. As a courtesy to the chairman of the Subcommittee on Defense Appropriations, I yielded to him so he could offer his technical amendment. Are we now laying my amendment aside?

Ms. MIKULSKI. Where are we?