by
Government Affairs Team
| Mar 26, 2018
More than five months past the Oct. 1 deadline, Congress has finally passed (and President Trump has signed) a massive omnibus spending bill that funds the federal government for the Fiscal Year 2018. The FY18 Omnibus provides $1.3 trillion in spending on discretionary programs, which is basically everything except entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare, through Sept. 30. The logjam in Congress over how to fund the nation’s priorities is nothing new and, as a result, omnibus (and overdue) spending bills have become the new normal for Washington. These bills represent both a challenge and an opportunity for the advocacy issues important to golf course management.
How did golf fare?
Congress considers both fiscal and policy questions when it funds the federal government and determines how much to spend and on what. The question of how much to spend is one of the reasons for the delay: discretionary spending was limited under a 2011 deficit-cutting law. Congress decided to solve this problem by ignoring it, and the result was an extra $80 billion for defense and $63 billion for non-defense discretionary programs.
On the question of what to fund, the GCSAA was strongly lobbying our champions in Congress on two issues important to golf course management:
- Increasing the number of workers available under the H-2B program (relief from the 66,000 annual cap).
- Facilitating the re-write of the Clean Water Rule ("WOTUS").
GCSAA has been very vocal on the issue of H-2B cap relief. The improving economy has led to a surge in demand for H-2B workers. More than 81,000 H-2B workers were requested for the season starting April 1, which is more than the number of visas available for the entire year. The GCSAA government affairs team has argued that extra visas are vitally needed by those golf facilities that have exhausted all efforts to hire American workers for their seasonal jobs. Congress responded by including language in the omnibus that would provide the Department of Homeland Security with the authority to raise the H-2B cap after first determining that there is an economic need. This could lead to as many as 129,547 visas in FY18, almost double the 66,000 cap. Count on your government affairs team to continue advocating on your behalf with the administration to make sure as many extra H-2B visas are available as possible.
Regarding WOTUS, language that would have helped facilitate the ongoing re-write of the rule did not make it into the omnibus. The guidance would have expedited the re-write and helped defend the new rule against potential legal challenges. However, that will not stop the work on replacing WOTUS with a better rule. The government affairs team to continue to work for golf's interests here as well.
Congress and the administration will take up additional issues in the months leading up to the 2018 midterms. The advocacy team will make sure that federal decision-makers always consider the impact on golf.