Justice Department: Harry Reid Pressured Obama Administration To Help Bob Menendez Ally

Harry suffers from brain trauma after his bout with the rubber band exercise machine. Via Washington Examiner: The Justice Department alleged this week that Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., pushed his colleagues and the Obama administration to change federal policy in order to help a man that authorities charge lavished him with gifts. In a brief […]

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Fox News poll: Who’s the bigger threat to the U.S., white supremacists — or the media?

A tale of two parties.

The most interesting non-partisan split is whites by educational level. Those with college degrees say white supremacists are the bigger threat, 55/36. Whites without a college degree? 52/31 say it’s the media. Another interesting detail: Nonwhites, the people with the most to fear from white supremacists, are less likely to say they’re more of a threat than the media than Democrats generally are. Dems split 76/12; nonwhite voters split 62/24. If you doubt that this question is being interpreted through a partisan lens, ruminate on that.

The left-wing take on the Republican split is, of course, that right-wingers are hopelessly racist and consumed with media bias, leading to a wild distortion in prioritizing threats to America. The right-wing reply is that white supremacism is, by and large, a movement of fringe kooks with no real power over anything. They’re capable of lethal violence, as was true in Charlottesville, but mostly they prance around with mosquito torches muttering about Jews. The media, meanwhile, is ubiquitous, capable of building narratives that threaten Trump’s presidency, and overwhelmingly biased against the right. If you view elite-neoliberal conventional wisdom of the sort cherished by the press as a threat to America, and both the right and some on the left do, then obviously you worry more about them than you do whatever Richard Spencer’s farting out today on Twitter.

Although racial attitudes do, of course, inform the answer to this question. Relatedly:

Democrats are rock solid in their feelings, Republicans are more equivocal. But it stands to reason that if you think minorities are favored over whites on balance, you’re not up at night worrying about white supremacists threatening the country.

Here’s an interesting point of consensus, though. When asked who Trump thinks is the bigger threat to America, the parties align:

The Trump-friendly spin on that is that the question’s really a referendum on Trump’s relationship with the press, not his views on white supremacists. As the president makes clear every day, there’s nothing he hates more than the “fake news media.” (There’s nothing he loves more than the media either, of course, except maybe Ivanka.) Give people a choice between the media and literally anything else — famine, cancer, Rosie O’Donnell — in terms of the things Trump hates the most and they’ll say “the media.” The less Trump-friendly spin is that even his own party has come to the conclusion that, while he might find white supremacists distasteful, they palpably don’t make him angry the way the media does. And why would they? Trump seems to measure political entities mainly in terms of how pro- or anti-Trump they are. The media is stridently anti-Trump; white supremacists are pretty pro. Of course he’s going to see the former as more of a threat to America than the latter. They’re a much bigger threat to him personally!

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Armed Suspects Rob Pub Full Of Off-Duty Baltimore County Police Officers Attending Party

Appears one of the suspects tripped and fell while running. Via WBALTV: Two men who police said robbed a pub in Woodlawn may not have expected it to be full of police officers. Baltimore County police have two suspects in custody who they said robbed a pub Tuesday night at gunpoint. The armed suspects walked […]

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Judicial Watch Slams HRC: Deep State is Protecting Hillary by Withholding Information (VIDEO)

Bombshell documents released on Thursday show former FBI head James Comey exonerated Hillary Clinton before the investigation into her email conduct had concluded. Even more concerning is “Mr. Comey even circulated an early draft statement to select members of senior FBI leadership,” reports Townhall.

TGP also previously reported, the FBI denied lawyer Ty Clevenger’s request to obtain documents related to Hillary Clinton’s email probe. The reason given? A “lack of public interest.”

President of conservative watchdog group, Judicial Watch, Tom Fitton told Cheryl Casone, who filled in for Lou Dobbs Thursday evening that the Deep State is protecting Hillary by withholding documents.

Washington Times reported earlier:

A federal judge ordered the FBI on Thursday to disclose more details about how it handled its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s secret email account.

U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg said court papers describing the grand jury subpoenas the FBI obtained to compel information from Mrs. Clinton’s internet service providers can be made public.

In doing so, he overruled objections by the Trump administration that had insisted making the information public would violate grand jury secrecy rules.

“After reviewing the document in camera, the court concludes that it largely rehashes information already made public, thus obviating any need for secrecy,” the judge said.

President of Judicial Watch, Tom Fitton released a statement regarding this ruling:

We’re happy with the ruling but it is unbelievable we’re being opposed by Trump appointees in the State and Justice Department’s on the Clinton email issue.  President Trump ought to be outraged his appointees are protecting Hillary Clinton. The State Department should initiate action with the Justice Department – and both agencies should finally take the necessary steps to recover all the government emails Hillary Clinton unlawfully removed.

Cheryl Casone brought up the report about Comey drafting up a letter to exonerate Hillary Clinton before the investigation was even over yet there are certain people in D.C. who have it out for Trump.

Fitton responded, “…And were protecting Hillary Clinton. He began drafting his statement allegedly exonerating Hillary Clinton at least from a criminal charge back in May and April before his July statement and that was before 17 witnesses had been interviewed including Hillary Clinton.”

“It explains why they were handing out immunity agreements like candy because it was a make believe investigation at that point because like Alice in Wonderland, Comey had come to his decision and the investigation would follow,” Fitton explained.

 

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Southern Poverty Law Center Transfers Millions in Cash to Offshore Entities

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a liberal, Alabama-based 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization that has gained prominence on the left for its "hate group" designations, pushes millions of dollars to offshore entities as part of its business dealings, records show.

Additionally, the nonprofit pays lucrative six-figure salaries to its top directors and key employees while spending little on legal services despite its stated intent of "fighting hate and bigotry" using litigation, education, and other forms of advocacy.

The Southern Poverty Law Center is perhaps best known for its "hate map," a collection of organizations the nonprofit deems "domestic hate groups" that lists mainstream conservative organizations alongside racist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and is often referenced in the media. A gunman opened fire at the Washington, D.C., offices of the conservative Family Research Council in 2012 after seeing it listed as an "anti-gay" group on SPLC’s website.

The SPLC has turned into a fundraising powerhouse, recording more than $50 million in contributions and $328 million in net assets on its 2015 Form 990, the most recently available tax form from the nonprofit. SPLC’s Form 990-T, its business income tax return, from the same year shows that they have "financial interests" in the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, and Bermuda. No information is available beyond the acknowledgment of the interests at the bottom of the form.

However, the Washington Free Beacon discovered forms from 2014 that shed light on some of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s transfers to foreign entities.

The SPLC’s Form 8865, a Return of U.S. Persons With Respect to Certain Foreign Partnerships, from 2014 shows that the nonprofit transferred hundreds of thousands to an account located in the Cayman Islands.

SPLC lists Tiger Global Management LLC, a New York-based private equity financial firm, as an agent on its form. The form shows a foreign partnership between the SPLC and Tiger Global Private Investment Partners IX, L.P., a pooled investment fund in the Cayman Islands. SPLC transferred $960,000 in cash on Nov. 24, 2014 to Tiger Global Private Investment Partners IX, L.P, its records show.

The SPLC’s Form 926, a Return by a U.S. Transferor of Property to a Foreign Corporation, from 2014 shows additional cash transactions that the nonprofit had sent to offshore funds.

The SPLC reported a $102,007 cash transfer on Dec. 24, 2014 to BPV-III Cayman X Limited, a foreign entity located in the Cayman Islands. The group then sent $157,574 in cash to BPV-III Cayman XI Limited on Dec. 31, 2014, an entity that lists the same PO Box address in Grand Cayman as the previous transfer.

The nonprofit pushed millions more into offshore funds at the beginning of 2015.

On March 1, 2015, SPLC sent $2,200,000 to an entity incorporated in Canana Bay, Cayman Islands, according to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) records and run by a firm firm based in Greenwich, Ct. Another $2,200,000 cash transfer was made on the same day to another fund whose business is located at the same address as the previous fund in the Cayman Islands, according to SEC records.

No information is contained on its interests in Bermuda on the 2014 forms. SPLC’s financial stakes in the British Virgin Islands were not acknowledged until its 2015 tax form.

Lucinda Chappelle, a principal at Jackson Thornton, the public accounting firm in Montgomery, Ala., that prepared the SPLC’s tax forms, said she does not discuss client matters and hung up the phone when the Free Beacon contacted her in an attempt to get the most updated forms from the group in relation to its foreign business dealings.

Tax experts expressed confusion when being told of the transfer.

"I’ve never known a US-based nonprofit dealing in human rights or social services to have any foreign bank accounts," said Amy Sterling Casil, CEO of Pacific Human Capital, a California-based nonprofit consulting firm. "My impression based on prior interactions is that they have a small, modestly paid staff, and were regarded by most in the industry as frugal and reliable. I am stunned to learn of transfers of millions to offshore bank accounts. It is a huge red flag and would have been completely unacceptable to any wealthy, responsible, experienced board member who was committed to a charitable mission who I ever worked with."

"It is unethical for any US-based charity to invest large sums of money overseas," said Casil. "I know of no legitimate reason for any US-based nonprofit to put money in overseas, unregulated bank accounts."

"It seems extremely unusual for a ‘501(c)(3)’ concentrating upon reducing poverty in the American South to have multiple bank accounts in tax haven nations," Charles Ortel, a former Wall Street analyst and financial advisor who helped uncover a 2009 financial scandal at General Electric, told the Free Beacon.

The nonprofit also pays lucrative salaries to its top leadership.

Richard Cohen, president and chief executive officer of the SPLC, was given $346,218 in base compensation in 2015, its tax forms show. Cohen received $20,000 more in other reportable compensation and non-taxable benefits. Morris Dees, SPLC’s chief trial counsel, received a salary of $329,560 with $42,000 in additional reportable compensation and non-taxable benefits.

The minimum amount paid to an officer, director, trustee, or key employee in 2015 was $140,000 in base salary, not including other compensation.  The group spent $20 million on salaries throughout the year.

The SPLC, which claims to boast a staff of 75 lawyers who practice in the area of children’s rights, economic justice, immigrant justice, LGBT rights, and criminal justice reform, reported spending only $61,000 on legal services in 2015.

Following recent violence in Charlottesville, Va., the group raised a great deal of money.

Apple CEO Tim Cook told his employees that the company is donating $1 million to the SPLC and would match employee contributions two to one. Cook also placed an SPLC donation button in its iTunes store. The company is additionally providing a $1 million donation to the Anti-Defamation League.

J.P Morgan Chase vowed to add a $500,000 donation for the group’s "work in tracking, exposing, and fighting hate groups and other extremist organizations."

The Washington Times reported that CNN ran a wire story following the Charlottesville events originally titled, "Here are all the active hate groups where you live" using SPLC’s list of 917 groups.

Brad Dacus, the president of the Pacific Justice Institute, a Sacramento-based group that defends "religious freedom, parental rights, and other civil liberties without charge," was listed on the "hate groups" list.

"Why is the Southern Poverty Law Center doing this? It’s simple. They want to vilify and isolate anyone that doesn’t agree with their very extremist leftist policy and ideology," Dacus told the Times. "This isn’t about defending civil rights; this is about attacking civil rights."

"I am shocked that CNN would publish such a false report on the heels of the Charlottesville tragedy," added Mat Staver, the founder of Liberty Counsel, a Christian nonprofit that provides pro bono assistance and representation, which is also featured on SPLC’s list. "To lump peaceful Christian organizations, which condemn violence and racism, in with the KKK, neo-Nazis, and white supremacists is offensive. This is the epitome of fake news and is why people no longer trust the media."

CNN later changed its headline to, "The Southern Poverty Law Center’s list of hate groups."

"The SPLC is an anti-conservative, anti-Christian hate group that the media have given pretend legitimacy to. One glance at their 990 tax forms is a reminder just what a fund-raising super-power it is," Dan Gainor, vice president of Business and Culture at the Media Research Center, told the Free Beacon. "Its assets are over $328 million in 2015 and went up $13 million in just one year. It doesn’t need new liberal money. It could operate for at least six years and never raise a penny. It’s like a perpetual motion machine for fundraisers."

The SPLC has also been hit with a number of lawsuits over "hate" defamation claims in recent days.

The Southern Poverty Law Center did not return a request for comment on its foreign financial dealings by press time.

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WhiteHouse.gov Petition to Officially Declare George Soros a Terrorist is ON FIRE

A 10-day old White House petition to declare Leftist billionaire George Soros a terrorist is quickly becoming one of the site’s most popular, with nearly 60,000 votes.

Law Newz reports:

According to the Whitehouse.gov website, a petition to declare George Soros a terrorist and seize all of his related organizations’ assets under RICO and NDAA law” is one of the most popular White House petitions. It is ranked number 12, pulling in about 60,000 thousand signatures since it was created just 10 days ago.

The petition written by “E.B” doesn’t mince any words:

Whereas George Soros has willfully and on an ongoing basis attempted to destabilize and otherwise commit acts of sedition against the United States and its citizens…

Thee DOJ should immediately declare George Soros and all of his organizations and staff members to be domestic terrorists, and have all of his personal an organizational wealth and assets seized under Civil Asset Forfeiture law.

“We the People” White House petitions were started in 2011 under President Barack Obama as a way to give citizens more direct interaction with the executive branch.  When petitions meet 100,00 signatures they are reviewed by White House officials, who then may give some sort of official response.

Recently, the Washington Free Beacon published a lengthy document from far left operative David Brock, the founder of Soros-funded Media Matters website, from a January donor retreat.

The 49 page memo outlines how the George Soros-funded groups Media Matters, American Bridge, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and Shareblue plan to undermine President Trump’s agenda and help Democrats win control of Congress and the White House by 2020.

The document claims Media Matters is working with Facebook and Twitter to crack down on pro-Trump articles on social media.

Via The Daily Wire:

The memo decried the “fake news” that spread on social media as a reason why Hillary Clinton lost the election, and then went on to state something alarming: Media Matters obtained “access to raw data from Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites” so they can “systemically monitor and analyze this unfiltered data.”

“The earlier we can identify a fake news story, the more effectively we can quash it,” the memo states. “With this new technology at our fingertips, researchers monitoring news in real time will be able to identify the origins of a lie with mathematical precision, creating an early warning system for fake news and disinformation.”

The memo went on to state that Media Matters had a discussion with Facebook on how to crack down on fake news, including Media Matters providing the social media giant with “a detailed map of the constellation of right-wing Facebook pages that had been the biggest purveyors of fake news.” The memo also bragged that Media Matters provided Google with “the information necessary to identify 40 of the worst fake new sites” that would be prevented from using Google’s advertising network.

The Daily Wire has listed 11 of the stunning admissions in the report.

The fact that Facebook and Twitter are working with the far left smear website Media Matters is very disturbing. The Gateway Pundit was one of the largest and most vocal pro-Trump websites during the 2016 election and beyond. (There weren’t that many!) And we have noticed a significant drop in viral stories and Facebook traffic since January 1.

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So Comey decided not to prosecute Hillary months before he told us

Oh, what a tangled web we weave…

Remember back in the day, during the long death march of the 2016 election, when then FBI Director James Comey came out and almost tearfully told us that after long months of diligent work and exhausting investigation, he’d finally determined that there was nothing to prosecute Hillary Clinton over so everyone should feel free to just get out there and vote for her? (Okay… he didn’t exactly say that, but you get the drift.) Turns out that the decision wasn’t all that laborious for him at all. In fact, he’d made the call months earlier but just didn’t bother to tell anyone. In fact, he’d made it before they were even done interviewing the witnesses. Our Katie Pavlich has the details at Town Hall.

According to new transcripts released by the Senate Judiciary Thursday afternoon, former FBI Director James Comey made the decision not to refer then Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for prosecution long before ever interviewing key witnesses. Members of the Committee allege Comey made the decision months before FBI agents were finished with the criminal investigation of her mishandling classified information during her time as Secretary of State.

The transcripts were revealed in a letter sent to current FBI Director Christopher Wray, in which lawmakers are demanding an explanation and more documents surrounding the case.

Comey had made the decision as early as April and even had a draft memo which he circulated around inside the department. The letter contains more revelations, such as the possibility that the FBI had agents working on doing interviews and gathering information who were unaware that a conclusion had already been reached and the outcome was a foregone conclusion.

“It is unclear whether the FBI agents actually investigating the case were aware that Mr. Comey had already decided on the investigation’s outcome while their work was ongoing. However, it appears that the answer to that question may be underneath some of the extensive redactions that the Department made to the transcripts,” the letter continues.

Is it just me, or does this revelation throw that infamous tarmac meeting between Loretta Lynch and Bill Clinton into an even harsher light? Clearly the fix was in on this from the beginning. They couldn’t simply flush the investigation entirely in 2015 because it would have stunk to high heaven, but it seems clear that the end game was known long before Comey bothered to draft a memo.

Here’s one other question to ponder as we consider this story. Everything and everything going on inside the FBI over the course of the Russia, Russia, Russia investigation has somehow made it to a reporter from either the New York Times or the Washington Post as soon as a new rumor comes to light. It’s been a sideshow where we might as well have had a direct feed into the FBI offices running 24/7 on CSPAN. How is it that this little nugget never managed to see the light of day for more than a year?

Things that make you go “hmmm.”

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White House: Donald Trump Donating $1 Million to Hurricane Harvey Victims

White House: Donald Trump Donating $1 Million to Hurricane Harvey Victims

31 Aug, 2017
31 Aug, 2017

President Donald Trump plans to donate a million dollars to victims of Hurricane Harvey, according to the White House.

“He would like to join in the efforts that a lot of the people that we’ve seen across this country do and he’s pledging $1 million of personal money to the fund,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters on Thursday.

The money will come from his personal funds, Sanders confirmed, not from the Trump organization.

When asked what group he would donate the money to, Sanders asked the press for a recommendation.

“He’s actually asked that I check with the folks in this room since you are very good at research and have been doing a lot of reporting into the groups and organizations that are best and most effective,” she said.

Sanders also confirmed that Trump is planning to return to Texas for another visit of the damage from the storm, likely traveling to Houston to witness the flooding.

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Developing: Four Swing Seat Republicans in Minnesota REFUSE to Back Antifa Paul Ryan

FOR OVER A YEAR conservatives, Trump supporters and American patriots have been assaulted, spit on, beaten, cold-cocked, egged, chased, tackled and bloodied  for attending Trump rallies and conservative events.

On Saturday Antifa thugs chased, beat, spit on and pepper-sprayed a group of Trump supporters in Berkeley, California.

Antifa thugs pepper-sprayed a free speech supporter then covered him with spit.

Nancy Pelosi condemned antifa terrorists – Paul Ryan has refused to condemn these same terrorists.

On Wednesday four swing seat Republicans in Minnesota refused to endorse Paul Ryan for Speaker.
The Hill reported:

Four Republican congressional candidates in Minnesota refused to commit their support to Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) when asked about him at a candidate forum.

In a video from the Minnesota State Fair, the four would not say whether they’d support Ryan if he runs for Speaker in the next Congress.

The video was first reported on by The Washington Post.

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Paul Ryan’s GOP Quietly Boosts H-2B Visa-Worker Program

The latest 1,305-page draft House appropriations bill for 2018 uses a bureaucratic trick on page 732 to help employers cut wages for foreign H-2B seasonal workers — and indirectly, also cut wages for American workers.

“Republicans in Congress still haven’t got the message that voters sent last November,” said Rosemary Jenks, director of government relations for NumbersUSA. She continued:

Americans elected President Trump because they are tired of the elites in Washington being more concerned with big-business profits than with regular American workers being able to make a living wage.  Wages [for Americans] in the top H-2B occupations [landscaping and hospitality] have been stagnant or declining for years, and this bill will make them worse.

Under current rules, employers can only apply for H-2B seasonal workers if they cannot hire Americans for the jobs, and they must promise to pay H-2B workers American-level wages when they ask the Department of Labor for H-2B visas.

The new language would help employers minimize wages for H-2B workers by allowing them to cite the results of skewed “private wage surveys” of local wages. The results of the surveys would be cited in the H-2B request instead of the actual “prevailing wage” rates for local Americans working the free market for labor.

This rule, if adopted, would also hit Americans because employers use their resident population of roughly 125,000 H-2B workers to deflate any bidding war for American seasonal workers. The rule would also hurt Americans because wages for each company’s full-time American staff are informally tied to the wages paid to the seasonal workers.

According to the bill text:

In the determination of prevailing wage for the purposes of the H–2B program, the Secretary shall accept private wage surveys even in instances where Occupational Employment Statistics survey data are available unless the Secretary [of Labor] determines that the methodology and data in the provided survey are not statistically supported.

“Basically, an employer can create a biased wage survey, base the [promised] wage for his H-2B workers on it, and submit the application to the Department of Labor,” said Jenks. “Unless the labor department analyzes every employer’s private wage survey to see if it is statistically valid (which it won’t), the employers can effectively lower wages.”

The process feeds back on itself because lower-H-2B wages reduce market-rate wages for Americans, so cutting the real “prevailing wage,” Jenks said. Also, when companies use H-2B workers to hold down prevailing wages, fewer Americans apply for the jobs — so helping companies claim they can’t find Americans to do the work. “Employers have been using H-2B workers to lower wages industry-wide for years — this lets them do it faster.”

The appropriations committee is chaired by New Jersey GOP Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen.

The legislation also breaks a bureaucratic link, dubbed, “corresponding employment,” which requires employers to pay their American employees the same wages as H-2B workers.

The bill also kills off the “three quarters” rule which forces employers to pay their H-2B workers as if they worked 75 percent of the time. “The three-quarters rule is there because we’re talking about seasonal jobs,” said Jenks.  “So, for example, if a resort brings in a bunch of H-2Bs to clean rooms in the summer, but the rooms aren’t all full all the time for whatever reason, the employer still has to pay the H-2Bs something.”

Congress is being pressured by employers to loosen and expand the H-2B program because President Donald Trump was elected on a campaign promising to end the pro-foreigner policies set by former President Barack Obama. In the last few months, Trump’s deputies have resisted demands by lobbyists and Congress for importing more foreign workers. The process was made clear by a recent Detroit News article about employers hiring H-2B for resort work on Mackinac Island, in Michigan.

… the [policy] shift hurt Mackinac Island, which has depended on foreign workers to fill summer jobs for decades. Businesses need more workers than can be attracted from the fewer than 500 people living on the island and 11,000 residents of surrounding Mackinac County.

The result has meant overtime or no days off for some existing workers and higher prices for vacationers. “It’s been a nightmare,” said Joe Lieghio, whose family and investors own eight restaurants and 28 hotels in Mackinaw City. “They take the jobs that the Americans don’t want.”

Lieghio’s hotels and restaurants this year got 160 foreign employees, or about 60 percent of the H-2B workers they normally employ.

Like many other establishment reporters and outlets, reporter Michael Gerstein did not press the Mackinac employers about their policy of not offering higher wages raises and other benefits to attract young and old Americans who are now working elsewhere in the state.

In addition, Trump’s Department of Justice has fined a company for hiring H-2B instead of Americans,  and Labor Department officials are reportedly asking companies to justify their claims that they need to import H-2B workers.

The H-2B appropriations legislation is overseen by House Speaker Paul Ryan, who has used his power in 2015 and 2017 to dramatically increase the annual supply of new H-2B workers imported by companies and by the labor brokers which rent the H-2B workers to other companies. For example, he and his business-friendly deputies pushed John Kelly, then the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to print up an additional 15,000 H-2B visas in 2017.

Many GOP and Democratic politicians pushed back against the wage-reducing program.

In May, Kelly told a House appropriations committee:

One of the things, and I have my working class root background that keeps reminding me that some of these individuals —not necessarily in Alaska — but many, many of these individuals are victimized when they come up here, in terms of what they’re paid and all the rest of it, so we’re working with Labor, Department of Labor, to come up with an answer to this, but we really do need a long-term solution, so we’ll work with the Senate and with Congress, within the industry, this year, and again, I’ll have my staff when they return from Labor and we get some protocols in place, we’ll likely increase the numbers for this year, perhaps not by the entire number that I’m authorized, but we really do need, I’m really looking forward to working with you Senator, and the whole Congress, to get a longer-term solution to this.

Read more about the H-2B program here.

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