releases: https://sablan.house.gov/cw-cap-announced
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| https://sablan.house.gov/cw-cap-announced | CW cap announced | 2017-11-27 | 2017 | 2017-11 | Democrat | House | MP | Gregorio Sablan | S001177 | sablan.house.gov | legacy | Wednesday morning, when the CW foreign worker caps were announced (FY18: 9,998; FY19: 4,999; FY20: 2,499), I was at Hopwood celebrating Education Day. When people ask me, what is my long-term solution to our need for a skilled workforce, I point to those school kids. And I have focused on helping them get educated throughout my nine years in Congress. In my first term, I worked on the law that raised Pell grants and made more students eligible. So, today, most students at NMC go for free with a Pell grant. I changed the funding formula for the federal Title I grant to PSS. This year, PSS is getting $4.5 million more as a result and that money continues year-after-year. And my Northern Marianas Economic Expansion Act, signed by President Trump in August, raised the education fee that employers of CW workers pay. Governor Torres is putting that money into the scholarship fund to send our kids to college. We graduate about 900 students every year. It will take a decade or more to replace most foreign workers with U.S. workers, but it is not an impossible goal. Meanwhile, we still need foreign workers. And we have a President who, as a candidate, promised to get tough on immigration and protect American workers and who, as President, followed through with Executive Order 13788, which is cited in the CW cut announced this week. Whether you supported the Trump candidacy or not, no one should be surprised by his action. But it makes the job of continuing the CW program beyond 2019 very difficult. Fortunately, last month the President signed into law my legislation that bars the use of CW permits for new construction workers, USPL 115-53. Taking construction workers off the table means that 9,998 CW permits should be enough for our local businesses. They needed 9,715 CW workers in 2015. The new cap covers that. They needed 9,856 non-construction CW workers in 2016. The new cap covers that. I want to thank Governor Torres and the business community for supporting my legislation. There have been complaints, I know. The law does not work for everyone. Taken as whole, however, it protects our local businesses and the Marianas economy. | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |