[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 42 (Tuesday, March 30, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E479-E480]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      SAVE THE SUMMERS ACT OF 2004

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. DON YOUNG

                               of alaska

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 30, 2004

  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I introduced the Save the 
Summers Act of 2004, which will temporarily increase the cap on the 
number of skilled overseas workers allowed into the United States. For 
the first time and without advance warning, the Department of Homeland 
Security announced that the cap of 66,000 H-2B visas had been reached 
just six months into the current year--leaving summer employers 
stranded. This one-year emergency fix will increase the number of H-2B 
visas by 40,000 for fiscal year 2004 only. This bill will also require 
that the Department of Homeland Security provide Congress with 
quarterly reports on the number of H-2B visas issued and an annual 
report providing a statistical analysis of the program.
  The H-2B visa program allows foreign workers to come to the U.S. for 
short periods of time (up to 10 months) to fill seasonal or temporary 
jobs. The fishing industry in Alaska, tourist and resort industry along 
much of the East Coast, the Upper Midwest, and the Rockies, swimming 
pool management companies across America, catfish, timber and sugar 
industries in Louisiana, crab processors in North Carolina, and the 
shrimp industry in Texas are just a few that depend on the H2-B program 
to bring in needed workers.
  Fishing in Alaska supports nearly 20,000 jobs, and is estimated to be 
a billion dollar-a-year industry with nearly 700 million dollars-a-

[[Page E480]]

year in exports. The processors and vessel owners rely on these 
temporary workers who are Japanese technicians specifically trained to 
the standards required for Alaska Ikuro products to be sold in the 
Japanese market. Their skills are not otherwise available in the Alaska 
or U.S. labor pool and they are not taking work from U.S. workers. My 
state relies on these workers and I believe the H-2B visa program is 
vital to the survival and economic growth of the fishing industry in 
Alaska. The potential for lost revenue in Alaska is extremely high if 
the industry does not have these skilled technicians to aid with the 
processing.
  This is a serious matter that requires immediate legislative action. 
I ask my colleagues in the House of Representatives for their support 
and urge them to swiftly pass this emergency legislation, which 
directly affects the economy in many of our districts.

                          ____________________