Earlier this week, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree’s bipartisan effort to safeguard H-2B visas was unanimously approved in the Homeland Security Appropriations bill for Fiscal year 2026.  Pingree recently urged her colleagues to support her amendment, which she introduced with Congressman Andy Harris, MD (R-MD) explaining how vital these seasonal work visas are to Maine businesses and the tourism industry.

“We are going to have endless debte today ad it is all related to the fact that if we don’t straighten out the neds that goes on in our counry:  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 the people they need to do the job, said Congresswoman Pingree.  “I have examples of a famly here, who had a family-owned business 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….because they don’t have enough people.”