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Maine First District Congresswoman Chellie Pingree’s bipartisan effort to safeguard H-2B visas was unanimously approved in the Homeland Security Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2026. During today’s full Appropriations Committee markup of the bill, Pingree urged her colleagues to support her amendment, which she introduced with Congressman Andy Harris, M.D. (R-Md.), explaining how vital these seasonal work visas are to Maine businesses and tourism industry. 

“We are going to have endless debate today, and it is all related to the fact that we don't straighten out the situation that goes on in our country: the need for workers, the need to make sure that we have legal processes for people, and the need to make sure that farmers and hospitality industry and everyone else has all the people they need to do the job,” Pingree said. 

Under the amendment, employers that have demonstrated a history of compliance with the H-2B program would have access to the highest number of visas issued to them over the past five years. 

“I have examples of a family here, who had a family-owned seafood restaurant for 17 years,” Pingree continued. “They've been able to run their business [and] support local fishermen because they have H-2B workers. Motels, when they don't have enough people, they close down a wing. They can't be open for the season that they want because they don't have enough people.”

A transcript of Pingree’s remarks is available below.

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Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to thank my colleagues who have been working on some of these H-2B related issues, and make a few remarks about how they impact Maine. 

First, I just want to say this is the Homeland Appropriations Committee, and we all have a lot of debate today related to immigration issues. And in my opinion, most of them go back to the fact that this Congress has been unwilling—during the period of time I've been here—to pass comprehensive immigration reform. Let's just get that done. 

We are going to have endless debate today, and it is all related to the fact that we don't straighten out the situation that goes on in our country: the need for workers, the need to make sure that we have legal processes for people, and the need to make sure that farmers and hospitality industry and everyone else has all the people they need to do the job.

I also want to concur, we shouldn't be authorizing [this] on an appropriation committee, but we do, and we all use it when we can, because things like this are so vital. And this amendment comes up every year. And I'm always pleased to work with my colleague Mr. Harris and so many others, Mr. Cuellar who also have these concerns. Dutch [Ruppersberger], who used to be on the committee.

If you have any kind of a seasonal industry, you know what we're talking about. And this one also includes some agriculture, which is very much the same. So, I remind you all that I represent Maine. This is our summer season. I hope you're all planning your August vacations, your opportunity to eat some lobster, have some wild blueberries, spend a little time on the ocean, and see our wonderful state.

If you want, you can come in the winter, where we also have a seasonal industry of skiing and winter sports. So we'd love to have you either time. Tourism is our largest industry, and while we're very proud of our agriculture, fishing, manufacturing, and the other things we do, we depend on tourism.

And like so many other states, we don't have enough people to do the jobs now. It's a common summer job for kids. All my kids worked in the seasonal industry. I've worked in the seasonal industry. We've owned businesses in the seasonal industry. And the challenge is, while people say, ‘Oh, what a great summer job for kids,’ by the time it gets to August, they're back to school, they're back to sports. You can't finish out the season.

And we are thrilled that our tourists stay through October or come in even early November now, but we don't have enough people to do the work. And I can list countless employers who come to visit me every year and say, what's going to be the situation? How many workers? Will I be able to get the number of people that I need?

I have examples of a family here, who had a family-owned seafood restaurant for 17 years. They've been able to run their business [and] support local fishermen because they have H-2B workers. Motels, when they don't have enough people, they close down a wing. They can't be open for the season that they want because they don't have enough people.

So without these visas that are so necessary, without these kinds of amendments that we have to sponsor, usually every year, because we're always at odds with the system, we can't do it. So I just want to support all the people who work on this. But I want to encourage us all to find an ultimate solution so that we're not here every year authorizing on this committee—and also dealing with a hodgepodge solution to immigration reform.

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