[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 4 (Thursday, January 7, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H105-H106]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         VISAS AND WORK PERMITS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Alabama (Mr. Brooks) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BROOKS of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, Washington has, once again, 
undermined and betrayed struggling American workers who seek jobs that 
pay enough to support their families.
  In December, on less than 72 hours' notice, Congress and President 
Obama shoved down the throats of Americans a 2,000-page, financially 
irresponsible, $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill that not only risks 
America's solvency, it also threatens American jobs for American 
workers.
  Under old law, 66,000 H-2B foreign worker visas could be issued each 
year. Buried deep inside the 2,000-page omnibus spending bill, on page 
701, is an obscure provision without even a heading that, according to 
labor expert John Miano, increases available H-2B visas up to 264,000 
per year, effectively quadrupling visas for low-skilled, temporary 
nonagricultural foreign workers.
  Making matters worse, on New Year's Eve, while America focused on 
football games and celebrations, President Obama issued a 200-page 
proposed rule to illegally bust statutory green card immigration caps 
by approving unlimited numbers of work permits for foreigners who don't 
have green cards. This White House action is yet another brazen display 
of contempt for immigration statutes, the rule of law, and American 
workers.
  The White House argues importing foreign labor is necessary because 
of a claimed shortage of American labor. Similarly, House Speaker Paul 
Ryan claims increasing foreign worker visas ``helps small businesses 
who cannot find labor when there's a surge in demand for their labor, 
like seafood processing or tourism.''
  This claimed labor shortage is unsupported by jobs or wage data and 
is political bunk. Per Federal labor statistics, 57 percent--57 
percent--of Americans without a high school diploma had no job in 
2015's second quarter. That bears repeating. Fifty-seven percent of 
Americans without a high school diploma had no job in 2015's second 
quarter. That is a lot of Americans who would love to have those jobs 
President Obama and Congress denied Americans and gave to foreigners.
  Economics 101 explains that wages rise if there is a labor shortage 
and fall if there is a labor surplus. According to Census Bureau data 
from 2007 to 2014; wages for security guards went down 6.1 percent, for 
cooks down 4.4 percent; for janitors down 1.2 percent; for ushers, 
lobby attendants, and ticket takers, down 7.1 percent; for hotel, 
motel, and resort desk clerks, down 7 percent. The list of falling 
wages for low-income American workers goes on and on. This falling wage 
data is compelling evidence that there is no shortage of American labor 
and, to the contrary, that there is an oversupply of American labor 
that demands cutting foreign labor, not expanding it.
  Mr. Speaker, while these surges in foreign worker visas and foreign 
labor work permits is a huge victory for special interests that profit 
from suppressed wages, it is a debilitating loss for struggling 
American families.
  Unemployed and underpaid Americans desperate for a good-paying job 
have every right to be angry at a Federal Government that takes 
American jobs from American citizens and gives

[[Page H106]]

them to foreigners. Americans have every right to be angry at 
Washington elected officials who care more about special interest 
campaign contributions than American voters who elected us. I hope 
those Americans will remember their anger during 2016's primary and 
general elections. That is the way to force Washington to represent us.
  Mr. Speaker, I can't speak for anybody else, but, as for me, Mo 
Brooks from Alabama's Fifth Congressional District, I fight for the 
economic interests of American citizens and against policies that 
undermine the struggling American voters who sent us here. That is part 
of the reason why I voted against December's financially irresponsible 
omnibus spending bill--and am proud of it.

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