American workers betrayed: Funding deal hits backlash over increase in foreign worker visas

Monday, December 21, 2015 by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer
Tags: H-2B visas, job losses, Representative Paul Ryan

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(NaturalNews) More proof that many of our nation's elected leaders don't even read the legislation they vote on – whether for or against – is evident with the new $1.1 trillion omnibus funding bill, which we've now learned contains hidden provisions that will drastically expand the number of foreign work visas issued by the federal government.

A major hit for America's native work force, the disturbing language in the bill was discovered among its more than 2,000 pages, several days after Congress voted to pass it. According to The Hill, the provisions which were quietly inserted by Congress without much fanfare, threaten to further shrink the number of jobs available to American citizens.

"These foreign workers are brought in exclusively to fill blue collar non-farm jobs in hotels, restaurants, construction, truck driving, and many other occupations sought by millions of Americans," stated Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) about this betrayal of the American people by the legislative branch.

"The GOP-led Congress is about to deliver Obama a four-fold increase to one of the most controversial foreign worker programs. The result? Higher unemployment and lower wages for Americans."

Number of H-2B visas set to increase fourfold, thanks to corrupt legislators

In case you're unfamiliar with the foreign worker program, low-skilled laborers from other countries can apply for an H-2B visa that will grant them access to the U.S. for the purpose of working in a particular field or industry. This visa is supposed to offer limited access to the U.S. for short-term "seasonal" jobs, and only in certain fields.

Problems arise, however, when major corporations like Microsoft, for instance, take advantage of the program by importing massive numbers of foreign workers to fill job positions that should be occupied by American citizens. Multinational corporations save labor costs this way, but the average American suffers from decreased wages and lower job availability.

There are currently about 66,000 foreign workers in the U.S. using H-2B visas, but this number is expected to soar as a result of the omnibus funding bill's language. As many as 250,000 H-2B visas could be issued based on its language, a number more than four times higher than the current count.

Speaker Paul Ryan a traitor of the American people

Before assuming his current position as Speaker of the House, Representative Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) promised to look out for America's working class, the hardest hit group in our current flailing economic climate. But his addition of the H-2B provision counters everything he stated back in October during his swearing-in.

"H-2B visas are for low-skilled foreign workers who typically compete with people who have a high school diploma or less and these are the people who are struggling the most," stated Chris Chmielenski, a spokesman for NumbersUSA, which advocates against the abuse of immigration programs that harm American workers.

"These are the people that Ryan seemed to be referencing in his speech," Chmielenski added, referring to Ryan's seeming support at the time of his swearing-in for standing up in defense of America's blue collar workers, "and yet he sneaks in a provision in the omnibus that's going to quadruple the number of low-skilled foreign worker visas."

NumbersUSA is already working through a plan that will get the offending language removed from the spending bill. And it will then be up to the American people to clean house as far as their corrupt Congress is concerned, beginning with Ryan himself.

"The language basically rolls back protections for low-wage workers and guest workers and American workers in this industry while lowering the protections for workers," added Joleen Rivera, a legislative representative at the labor union AFL-CIO.

Sources for this article include:

TheHill.com