Today, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) welcomed news from the Biden-Harris Administration that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Labor (DOL) will double the number of available H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker visas available for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 to nearly 131,000. The additional 64,716 H-2B visas that will be available is on top of… Read more »
Maine First District Congresswoman Chellie Pingree today welcomed news that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), is allocating $5.4 million through the Shelter and Services Program (SSP) for Maine. This funding, announced today as part of a $380 million nationwide allocation, will… Read more »
Senior House Appropriator Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) today led a bipartisan amendment to the Fiscal Year 2025 Homeland Security Appropriations bill to increase the cap on seasonal labor visas, or H-2B visas. The amendment, co-led by Pingree alongside Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), comes as Maine enters its busy tourism season and continues to face a worker shortage.… Read more »
Read my op-ed in the Portland Press Herald
What do Manhattan and Maine have in common?
Most would say not too much. Typically, they would be right.
Yet the Big Apple and the Pine Tree State face a pair of common challenges today: historically tight labor markets and an influx of people desperately seeking asylum.
Like other cities and states coming out of the pandemic, Maine is… Read more »
Tonight, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) accepted the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project’s (ILAP) 2023 Policy Leader award in recognition of her work and leadership in Congress to speed up asylum seeker work authorizations. Pingree accepted the award at an event in Portland on Wednesday night, where she dedicated the award to her Portland-based constituent services team.
“I’m… Read more »
Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) released the following statement after House Republicans voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas:
“House Republicans have done absolutely nothing this Congress to reform our immigration system. In fact, House Republican leadership won’t even allow us to vote on a historic immigration bill that Republicans… Read more »
U.S. Senators Angus King and Susan Collins, and U.S. Representative Chellie Pingree, are requesting that if Congress provides additional funding for the Shelter and Services Program (SSP), that the 45-day limitation on that aid be increased to 180 days. In a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary (DHS) Alejandro Mayorkas, the Maine Delegation is requesting an extension of the… Read more »
Maine First District Congresswoman Chellie Pingree on Wednesday fought back against a punitive, shortsighted Republican bill, H.R. 5283, that would prohibit federal funding for shelters to house migrants on land controlled by Federal Land Management agencies. It would also void a lease between the Federal government and NYC to authorize the use of Floyd Bennett… Read more »
Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) today announced two federal grants totaling more than $1,000,000 for the Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center (GPIWC). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement awarded GPIWC $776,000 over three years to support existing GPIWC programs, help coordinate ongoing work with other service providers,… Read more »
Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) is calling on the Biden Administration to reform the burdensome requirements preventing cities and organizations like those in Maine from accessing the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA’s) Shelter and Services Program (SSP) funding. In a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and FEMA… Read more »
