Hagåtña, Guam – The Office of the Governor issues the following statement relative to the Conference Committee’s passage of H.R. 2670, otherwise known as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2024:
The Leon Guerrero Tenorio Administration is continuing to deliver on its promise to maintain and expand Guam’s access to skilled foreign labor. Most notably of the several provisions relating to Guam in the 2024 NDAA, Governor Lou Leon Guerrero has advocated for the extension of the Guam NDAA H-2B exemption, which was set to expire next year. However, estimates for ongoing military construction extend to 2029, and failure to pass an extension would harm the current military buildup program and Guam’s economy. Since the start of 2022, Governor Leon Guerrero has requested Congress and the Biden Administration that the exemption be extended to 2029 to accommodate that need.
“For the past two years, we have worked closely with military and industry stakeholders to lobby Congress for an extension to the Guam H-2B exemptions to at least 2029 in the 2024 NDAA. This extension ensures that the construction industry has reliable access to supplemental skilled foreign workers to support military and civilian projects alike in the coming years. Our administration has also pursued the establishment of a Guam Only temporary need criteria within the H-2B program as a permanent solution,” stated Governor Leon Guerrero.
Acting Governor Joshua Tenorio stated, “We will continue to seek relief to the restrictions on the importation of skilled labor, which is equally important to both Guam’s economic recovery and the planned military construction. Additionally, our team is tracking over $1.6 billion dollars of Department of Defense (DoD) investments in Guam for FY24 and other provisions that address infrastructure, health care, our veterans, and cybersecurity. We thank Congressman Moylan, the Conference Committee, and the House and Senate Armed Services Committees for their work in seeing the inclusion of this extension through to the end. We now look forward to the ultimate approval by the House and Senate of this final version of the 2024 NDAA and eventually President Biden’s signature.”
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