H-2B Relief Approved by Senate Committee

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. October 14, 2008

WASHINGTON, DC, May 16, 2008. The Senate Committee on Appropriations approved an amendment offered by Sens. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Judd Gregg (R-NH) to a supplemental spending bill today that will renew the H-2B relief for three years, and is retroactive to October 1, 2007.

The Mikulski-Gregg H-2B Amendment will renew policy which had been in effect since 2005 but expired on September 30, 2007. This policy exempted returning H-2B workers from the arbitrary limit of 66,000 workers that are allowed to participate per year. Because this provision was not renewed, the limit of 33,000 workers for the first half of the fiscal year was reached three days before the fiscal year began and the second half limit of 33,000 was met four months before the second period began.

Although the amendment was overwhelmingly approved in by the committee, the bill must now be passed by the full Senate and a final bill negotiated with the House of Representatives. The Mikulski-Gregg Amendment must be retained through the entire legislative process to ensure H-2B relief is enacted.

AH&LA's governmental affairs department has been a leader in pressing for the renewal of H-2B relief and will press to ensure H-2B relief remains in the final bill. To strengthen AH&LA's lobbying efforts, all hoteliers should immediately contact their representatives in Congress through AH&LA's website or call them directly and urge them to support the Mikulski-Gregg H-2B Amendment in the final version of the supplemental spending bill.

For more information, contact AH&LA senior vice president for Governmental Affairs Shawn McBurney at 202-289-3123 or smcburney@ahla.com.