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NAHB Members Urged to Ask Senators to Support S. 2611
With a final Senate vote on comprehensive immigration reform expected as early as May 25, NAHB has alerted all its members to contact their senators and ask them to support S. 2611, which is of critical importance to the housing industry.
The Administration has also elicited NAHB’s assistance in this endeavor. On May 17, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez asked NAHB Executive Vice President and CEO Jerry Howard for the industry’s help in working to pass a comprehensive immigration reform package that will protect the nation’s borders and create a guest worker program.
Noting NAHB’s support for the President’ televised May 15 proposals to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws (for a related story, click here), Howard told Gutierrez that the nation’s home builders are committed to achieving broad-based reform to fix the system and aid the housing industry.
Howard also took the opportunity to reaffirm NAHB’s objections to last month’s tentative softwood lumber accord between the U.S. and Canada, an initiative that he said will erode housing affordability and artificially boost lumber prices during periods of normal and slow demand through an intricate export tax and quota system.
Howard urged Gutierrez to carry that message to the White House and to policymakers, and to warn them that enacting trade policies that increase housing costs will only deepen the housing slowdown now underway, with adverse consequences for growth of the nation’s economy.
While some members of Congress want to solve the immigration problem through enforcement alone without opening any new avenues to legal employment, S. 2611, the “Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act,” contains a number of provisions that will help builders to continue to meet the demand for housing. The measure includes a guest worker program and a plan to address illegal immigrant issues.
Builders who contact their senators should tell them that stripping these provisions from the bill would place the industry in danger of losing a significant portion of its labor force and of experiencing production schedule delays at a time when labor shortages are already a significant concern.
More than 20% of the current residential construction workforce nationwide is comprised of foreign-born workers.
NAHB members should tell their senators that comprehensive immigration reform is the only solution that will meet the labor needs of the industry and that S. 2611 will support housing and the economy by protecting the labor supply.
Industry professionals are encouraged to call the U.S. Capital Switchboard at 202-224-3121, ask for their U.S. senators and tell them to:
- Support passage of S. 2611, the “Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act”
- Retain language in the bill that would ensure that general contractors are not held accountable for the employment decisions made by subcontractors on a job site. Employers must be responsible for their own direct employees. The primary burden of enforcing U.S. immigration laws should not fall on employers.
At certain times, the U.S. Capitol Switchboard receives a high volume of calls. Those who are unable to get through can also take action by visiting www.capitolconnect.com/nahb and sending an e-mail on this issue.
For more information on immigration, e-mail Jenna Morgan Hamilton at NAHB, or call her at 800-368-5242 x8407.
For help with contact information on senators, contact Brad Tallamy, x8320.
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