safety use under medical supervision in addition to this work and also has a role in the non temporary scheduling and in this process and provides information about and also in final scheduling action. >> good afternoon.

being here.l for i want everyone present to be able to watch the hearing without obstruction. if people stand up and block the view of those behind them, or speak out of turn, it is not fair or consider it to others and opposite remove those individuals from the room. before we begin with opening statement i want to explain how we will proceed today. we have one panel of witnesses. i will make an opening statement, normally it would have an opening statement from the ranking member but due to scheduling conflicts it is my understanding that we can

proceed at this time without opening statement from them today. each a brief introduction, witness will have five minutes for an opening statement. following their statements, we will begin the first round of questions in which each senator will have five minutes. after the first round the, if any senator wishes to continue -- with questions who have a second round. with that i will go to my opening statement. hearing is a continuation of a series of hearings that this subcommittee has held over the last few months about the effect of our current immigration program on working americans. as many of you will remember we held a hearing earlier this year that highlighted the damage done to the wages and job opportunities of americans in the highly skilled segment of our economy. we also held a hearing earlier this year that establish that

our current high levels of immigration, most legal and illegal, have or are having a negative impact on wages, and job opportunities for american workers. in fact, i think very few dispute that the current large flow of labor into the country is suppressing american wages. today, we're are here to examine the effects of the h2b nonimmigrant visa program on the wages and job opportunities of american workers in the so-called lesser skilled segment of the labor market. a visa program that issue 66,000 new work visas every year to temporary, low skilled foreign labor. these are the jobs that some people say americans are not willing to do. seafood, processing, landscaping, truck driving, jobs across the hospitality industry, and others. it is important to note too that does not provide

jobs for the agricultural section. that is in the agriculture program and is not included in what we're talking about today. not only have we been told that americans are not willing to do b workers often fail, but also that until recently cannot find anyone to do them. some say they cannot find anyone is willing to drive a truck, or build houses, or commercial work in ther landscaping or clean hotels. hear today that with few exceptions this is not the case. not only are they willing americans, but they are not in short supply. according to the department of labor, the total labor force participation rate in the united states last month was approximately 62.6%. for those with a high school diploma only, it was only.imately 57%

or those with less than a high school diploma it was approximately 44%. low.isn't a historic the workforce dissipation rate is a disaster for america. we have more people in the labor force and fewer and fewer people working. make clear that there is simply not a shortage of american workers, rather there is a shortage of americans with a jobs to work. jobs, but the impact of the program is not just on the available job opportunities for american workers. it also affects the wages of american workers who actually in these find a job fields. despite all the evidence, the 66,000 four workers available forr the law are not enough the special interests who demand more. they have an insatiable demand for four labor which is easy to

exploit, easier to replace them american workers and often pay substantially less wages. feel, and they basically speaking, they have the no loyalty, to the other american workers. their loyalty, i suppose, is their bottom line and their stockholders will stop at needs to be concerned about america, what is happening to our people come our country, our economy, how many people are on welfare. how many people he to be working instead of being on welfare, how many were people's report -- retirement is the compromised. and what they like to have a pay raise every now and then is that of having flat wages for the last 20 years? instead of having an open and honest debate about increasing the actual number of visas available under the cap, the special interests have found it anier to rely on what

accounting chick of the so-called returning worker exemption. that simply does not count against the cap. any worker who is against the cap the last three fiscal years. under the returning worker exemptions, as a matter of simple math, if workers were present in each of these three 198,000 additional workers could come. in reality that number will not be so high. but it will be significant. beenof these workers have present in multiple years. others have absconded from their jobs, and others have never returned home and would not be eligible to participate. perhaps the number will not reach 198 thousand, indeed it

won't. historical evidence shows if this provision went into effect for a full fiscal year, we would likely see a doubling of the number of hb to know workers -- h two b workers. in fiscal year 2006 it was 122,000. this provision found its way into the appropriation bill back in december. h tthe congressional budget office did an analysis and predicted the inclusion of this provision would result in 8000 additional workers in fiscal year -- this fiscal year. as of may 12, immigration

services has already received enough petitions for the h-2b and as of may 13 u.s. citizenship and immigration service has already approved 11,000 returning worker provisions with another 1000 pending approval. a cbl analysis was roughly 50% off of its prediction on the effect of the returning worker provision this year. year, when itthe will be approved, it will probably double the program. fed if it manages to get them through any appropriation bill

through next year, it may increase. thep does not represent total number of h-2b workers present in the united states at any given time. according to analysis published by the u.s. department of homeland security and federal registry last year, due to extensions granted to h-2b , there aree approximately 115 thousand h-2b workers employed at any given time now in the united states. the returninge worker exemption took effect. that number will undoubtedly become higher if the provision would become permanent. in addition to the fact that we subtly do not need more h-2b workers, what we need is to get american unemployed into these jobs, the program has many other flaws. these workers come to

the united states and absconded, and at the ranks of current illegal population. according to data recently least 15,008 at hundred 54 of these individuals have absconded since fiscal year 2009. we do not know how many of these individuals actually go home. these are people who absconded from the employer at the work site. what we don't know is we do not know how many people left the country when their employment ended. we have no entry exit visa. the simple fact of the matter is that the h-2b program, like so many of our immigration programs is not serving the national interest, the people's interest.

not seeing how many foreign workers we can bring to the united states. chairmaned that the could join us. always a pleasure to have you with us. giving you any time you have now to make a statement. to put my statement into the record. i think they may be coming later, but at this point we don't have them. i will start with those witnesses and will introduce you one at a time. is director and executive treasurer of the texas building and construction trade council.

he followed in his father's footsteps into the heat and frost insulated, local number work -- local workers number 113 back in 1972. as an apprentice insulator, he of over four decades experience and served in a variety of provisions, -- variety of divisions. fighting to end fraud and abuses program mr.swork cunningham would -- program. mr. cunningham, we would be glad to hear from you. let me ask all of you to rise so take the so -- take this oath.ke this bot do you affirm the test money you're going to get the committee will be the truth

whole truth and nothing but the truth. mr. cunningham, you can start off. mr. cunningham: thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for scheduling us for b visaaring on the h2 program. i agree with everything you said in your statement. i was so excited when i was contacted to be a witness at this hearing here today. bringt so much time trend attention to the fraud and abuse .n the h-2b visa program i know there are so many industries that use h-2b visa workers, but my focus is on fraud committed. i found the public isn't aware of how to h-2b visa programs work, and how to tell a company is really trend bring in foreign workers. i found the public isn't really , since 2007 i have been at workshops for unions -- my mission is to teach

everyone how to react these jobs and provide an volatiles they need to help research the h-2b job postings. the most important task is to check out the company, if they really are a construction company or labor program. you'll be surprised what we have found over the years. our unions have react to these h-2b postings. we will see many companies advertising with the intent to bring h-2b workers and that never filed their h-2b applications. they didn't hire any union members, but i guess they were able to do the work. i want to go deeper on the welding occupation as it relates to construction projects. this is where we found the biggest problem in waste to spirit the -- in wage disparity. applying for

welders are using their own production family. when a construction product destroys -- welder with one h-2b issue. the biggest projects are performed by -- not each one of these crafts has their own code and job description for construction. that includes performing welding. each of these union trades have registered apprenticeship programs for the specialized type of welding incidental to their trade and construction industry. i haven't come across any registered production company, apprenticeship program that treat -- rogan that teaches welding for -- teaches welding for chop shops.