Category: Francesca Lorusso-Caputi
Congress Asks for H-2B Visas Cap to be Restored
WASHINGTON—The tourism industry in New Hampshire and Maine may be in trouble this summer if the government does not act swiftly to raise the ceiling on the number of temporary work visas for non-U.S. residents and New Hampshire and Maine’s senators have called on the Bush Administration to take action.
Sens. Judd Gregg and John Sununu, both R-NH, and Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, both R-ME, have joined other Senators in sponsoring legislation to increase the number of so-called H-2B visas and in urging the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services to continue processing applications for those visas while the legislation moves through Congress.
The bureau, part of the Homeland Security Department, stopped accepting petitions on March 10, when the statutory ceiling of 66,000 for fiscal 2004 was reached. The bureau also announced that it would return all applications received after that date and would accept new applications only from those who plan to start work on or after Oct. 1, the beginning of the new fiscal year.
The H-2B visa program allows temporary admission of foreign workers to perform non-agricultural work for which American workers cannot be found and the current limit on these visas is affecting many businesses in New Hampshire and Maine that heavily rely on foreign summer workers.
In a letter to President Bush Tuesday, the New Hampshire and Maine Senators, along with some of their Senate colleagues, said they were “deeply concerned” that legislation to address the problem won’t become law in time for the summer season unless the visa applications are processed in the meantime. Rep. Jeb Bradley, R-N.H., also signed the letter.
The four Senators are sponsors of a bill that would allow 106,000 H-2B visas for this fiscal year only. Several Democrats are co-sponsors of the legislation. The four have also signed on to a Republican-sponsored measure that would attempt to increase the number of H-2B visas this year without altering the 66,000 cap by allowing employers to rehire the same H-2B workers they hired in previous years.
“We were all surprised and not prepared when we read the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS) press release on March 10,” said Allyson Cavaretta, marketing and sales director of the Meadowmere Resort in Ogunquit, on the coast of Maine. “We need the workers, and now we have no backup plan,”
The region has the lowest unemployment level in Maine, Cavaretta said in an interview, and the visa workers receive the same wages and bonuses American workers would get. “It is not cheap labor,” she said. “In contrast, these are jobs that Americans do not want to do, and therefore we need to look for workers overseas.”
Collins, in a statement, said, “Enabling Maine businesses to hire temporary, seasonal workers is crucial to our tourism industry and our state’s economy as a whole.”
Snowe agreed, saying that according to the Maine Department of Labor, the state’s hospitality industry will be paralyzed this summer if something isn’t done soon.
Companies in New Hampshire’s tourism business share those views. The seasonal worker program “is crucial to our success as a business and the success of our state economy,” J. Patrick McNally, human resources director of the Mt. Washington Hotel and Resort, said in a press release.
In a statement, Sununu warned that “without this short-term help, companies would be severely restricted during their busiest season.” An increase in the number of visas, he added, “will help to ensure these businesses have an adequate access to seasonal employees to keep operating and contributing to our state’s economy.”
New Hampshire Pledges Allegiance to the Flag
WASHINGTON- New Hampshire’s Congress members unanimously favor keeping the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance.
They expressed their views as the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday on whether to uphold a ruling last year by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9 th Circuit, which said the two words should not be in the pledge recited for a half century by millions of schoolchildren.
Two years ago a California atheist, Michael A. Newdow, sued the federal and state governments and his daughter's local school board over the use of “under God” in the pledge. The appeals court agreed that the inclusion of the words constituted state-sponsored affirmation of monotheism, and therefore violated the First Amendment’s establishment clause.
Every morning, teachers and students across America voluntarily recite these words: “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
The Pledge was originally written more than a century ago, but the controversial words have been part of the Pledge only since 1954, when they were added during the height of the Cold War as a way of distinguishing the United States from the officially atheistic Soviet Union.
The all-Republican New Hampshire delegation wants those words to stay.
Sen. John Sununu, called the appellate court decision “a bizarre ruling, squarely out of touch with the views of millions of men and women across America.” In his statement, he praised the values and freedoms that are “embodied in the very pledge we recite” and said they are what “American soldiers are fighting for.”
Sen. Judd Gregg said in a statement: “The American flag is the symbol of the strength and character of our nation. We must stand together united in our support for the men and women of our armed forces who are in the front lines protecting our liberties.”
Reps. Jeb Bradley and Charles Bass agreed.
In an interview, Bradley said that “the Pledge of Allegiance doesn’t establish a religion” and that he hopes the Supreme Court will uphold its constitutionality.
Bass, according to press secretary Lee Ross, “supports the notion that the pledge symbolizes our nation that is united by the ideals of liberty, equality, opportunity and justice for all” and believes the establishment clause “was designed to prevent the establishment of a national religion--not to remove any reference to God from our society.”
Durkin, Wyman Dispute over 1974 Senate Election
WASHINGTON -Not very many New Hampshire residents remember what was once the famous Senate election of 1974-which turned into the Senate election of 1975.
"If you were involved in politics, you would remember," Lou D'Allesandro, a New Hampshire state senator, said in an interview.
"History repeats itself," said D'Allesandro, who is also a history teacher at Franklin Pierce College . "We have to learn from it."
That 1974 race was between former state Insurance Commissioner John A. Durkin, a Democrat, and U.S. Rep. Louis C. Wyman, a Republican. The election was unbelievably close, and when the votes were finally officially certified by the state, Wyman was declared the winner by two votes.
Durkin, however, insisted that he had won, and ultimately took his case to the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate.
It took until the following August, nine months after the election, for the Senate finally to declare the seat vacant until a special section could be held. On Sept. 16, Durkin and Wyman squared off once again. Durkin won handily and took his seat in the Senate.
But he lasted only one term. In 1980, Republican Warren Rudman defeated Durkin's bid for reelection.
"I remember like it was yesterday," said Bill Gardner, the New Hampshire secretary of state. After Durkin demanded a recount, he recalled, the state legislature "counted [the ballots] for one week," he said.
Another who remembers is Durkin himself. "Watching the Senate trying to decide was a Chinese water torture," Durkin said in an interview.
Because the Senate was unable to decide, D'Allesandro said, it was fair that the people of New Hampshire were allowed to vote again. "That was an example of democracy," he said. D'Allesandro said that process compared favorably to the one in which the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in to decide the outcome of the 2000 presidential election.
In 1974 and 1975, New Hampshire , traditionally a Republican state, was "shocked" by the controversy, D'Allesandro said. "The state got energized over politics, [even though] the Republicans have been here since Christ was a Catholic," he said with a laugh.
Voters elected Durkin in the special election by more than 25,000, he said. "The unions were [everywhere]," he said, recalling their 'keep Durkin working' slogan.
Wyman, meanwhile, had a brief moment of glory. On Dec. 31, 1974 , the New Hampshire governor appointed him to fill out what remained of the term of New Hampshire Sen. Norris Cotton, who had not sought reelection. Cotton resigned that day, and Wyman served until Jan. 3, the day Cotton's elected successor took the seat.
Congressional Art Competition to Expire Soon
WASHINGTON -Anyone who strolls through the underground tunnel between the United States Capitol and the office buildings that house members of the House of Representatives is likely to walk past James Marsh's photograph.
Marsh, a freshman at Groucher College outside of Baltimore , snapped the black-and-white photo last year, when he was a senior at Winnacunnet High School in Hampton . The photo, entitled "Posture Posture," has been on display in the tunnel since last June, when Marsh became one of hundreds of students nationwide to win a congressional art contest in a competition with others in their home districts.
Once again, this year, high school students nationwide are competing in "An Artistic Discovery," the 22 nd year of the Congressional Art Competition. The contest is sponsored by House members.
Schools submit students' artwork to judges, selected by Congress members, by May 21.
Marsh, who is studying studio art and music, won first prize for New Hampshire 's first congressional district last year. He received $250 and a free airline ticket to Washington .
Marsh's photo of a high school girl peering out a window was sponsored by Rep. Jeb Bradley, R-N.H. It was selected from among 50 entries in the first district.
"It was a compliment for me," said Marsh, 19. He visited the Capitol last summer to see his work on display.
Marsh's work comes from a series of pictures taken of a friend he was helping to prepare her own art portfolio to send to college admissions offices.
Art teachers can submit the work of up to four of their students, said Jill Berry, Marsh's high school art teacher. "We try not to limit the type of work submitted," said Berry , who has supervised the participating students at Winnacunnet for five years.
Berry said she hasn't decided which students to enter in the contest this year. "Last year, we had about 50 pieces and seven schools from the first district," Crawford said. But the number varies each year, depending on how many schools participate, she said.
The contest includes paintings, drawings, collages, prints and photography
Congressional offices raise money from area businesses to pay contest winners, said T.J. Crawford, Bradley's press secretary.
In the past, Bradley's office appointed judges for the first district from the Currier Gallery of Art in Manchester and the New Hampshire Art Institute.
