NALP partnered with the Federation of Employers & Workers of America, the Seasonal Employment Alliance, and AmericanHort to host their annual H-2B fly-in on May 21-22, prior to the Department of Homeland and Department of Labor Appropriations markup.
This is our prime time to speak with legislators about the importance of the H-2B program and the need for cap relief through the appropriations process. We also speak on the importance for legislators to work together and support permanent cap relief.
Throughout the day, staff and members held meetings with members of Congress and their staff conveying the importance of maintaining the 64,716 additional visas and ensuring that the timing of their release is consistent and reliable by making a minor change of “may” to “shall” in our existing annual cap relief language.
Both would help businesses that rely on their H-2B forecast their crews’ capacities, which is invaluable when it comes to bidding for new contracts or taking on additional clients during the busiest times of the year. Our members taking the time to travel to the nation’s capital and sharing their personal stories as constituents helped our message resonate and made the day an overwhelming success.
We had folks attend the fly-in from 30 different states and north of 130 individuals participating in this year’s fly-in. Our members were able to attend multiple meetings for their state delegation totaling about 150 meetings conducted. We also had the opportunity to speak with lots of Congress members and Senators who stopped by to hear constituents from their districts/states discuss the need for H-2B workers to supplement their seasonal labor demand.
“We’re coming into a critical cycle with the 2025 budgeting process and so we want to make sure that our needs are heard and that the companies that rely on this program, like Yellowstone, have our voices heard to our congressmen and women here on Capitol Hill,” says Joseph Barnes, marketing director for Yellowstone Landscape, headquartered in Bunnell, Florida.
Thank you to our partners who collaborated on this fly-in: FEWA, SEA and AmerianHort. We also want to thank DCLRS for helping organize this fly-in. A strong thank you to Sandy Munley (OH), John McMahon (CO), and Gail Woolcott (NJ) for taking the lead in scheduling the meetings and organizing the groups from their states. Thank you all for participating and being active advocates for H-2B reform.
