Hours before Congress adjourned for October recess, Senator Mikulski announced she successfully extended - for one year - a crucial provision from her Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act, which was signed into law in 2005, and will save small and seasonal businesses from what appeared to be a devastating cut to their workforce.

The act made significant changes to the federal H2B (non-skilled seasonal worker) visa program that resulted in saving thousands of small businesses around the country, including many in the Maryland seafood industry. Among the changes, it exempted returning seasonal workers from counting against the national cap of 66,000 people, providing significant relief to Maryland’s crab industry that often hires the same dependable workers every year.

“My promises made are promises kept! I told small businesses they could count on me to keep fighting until we had a solution and they had the seasonal workers they needed to stay in business,” said Senator Mikulski. “Without these seasonal workers, many businesses would not survive – forced to limit services, lay off permanent U.S. workers or, worse yet, close their doors.”