VIDEO: Rosen Forces Bipartisan Senate Vote to Reverse Trump Regulation Ending Automatic Extension of Work Permits

Although Senator Rosen's Resolution To Overturn Trump's Rule Received Bipartisan Support, Most Senate Republicans Opposed It

Watch Senator Rosen's Full Remarks HERE.

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) forced a vote on her resolution to overturn Trump's harmful rule ending automatic work permit extension for pending permit renewals. While this resolution received bipartisan support, it was opposed by the vast majority of Senate Republicans.

This rule change, which the Trump Administration announced last fall, makes it unjustifiably harder for workers with legal status to continue working and not have a lapse in their work authorization. Due to long U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) processing wait times, individuals with legal status who submitted work permit renewal applications on time will be left without legal authorization to work while they wait for the agency to process their renewal application - sometimes for many months at a time. This will lead to millions of workers losing their jobs, particularly in key industries like agriculture and construction, which would raise prices even more. Senator Rosen recently held a roundtable discussion with immigration service providers in Las Vegas about how this would impact Nevadans.

Senator Rosen has been fighting to ensure that anyone who is in this country legally has the ability to work and contribute to our communities. She recently led Senate Democrats in requesting the Supreme Court to protect birthright citizenship against the Trump Administration's attacks. Senator Rosen also joined Senate colleagues in urging USCIS to address concerns regarding the processing of renewal applications for DACA recipients. She later joined Senate and House colleagues in submitting an amicus brief urging a federal court to uphold the Temporary Protected Status designation for Venezuelans living legally in the U.S.

Below is a transcript of Senator Rosen's remarks:

I rise today in support of our workers, our businesses, and our economy.

Specifically, I'm here to talk about my resolution - which we will be voting on shortly - to protect the millions of workers who could lose their jobs because of an extreme Trump Administration rule.

This is an issue that affects all of us. Because, let me tell you, when industries like agriculture and construction lose workers, it impacts their supply chains and prices go up.

In my state of Nevada, and across every single state in this nation, our economy is fueled by our workers.

This includes thousands of individuals who live in this country legally, who have a legal authorization to work, and who show up every single day to do the jobs that keep our communities running.

These workers are doing everything that's asked of them. They've been vetted. They're playing by the rules, they're paying their taxes.

And yet today, because of a misguided rule change by the Trump Administration, many of them are at risk of losing their jobs and their livelihoods through no fault of their own.

That's because workers with Employment Authorization Documents - also known as work permits - must renew them every few years, but they can only file that paperwork six months before their permit expires.

While six months seems like a long time, the processing delays at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services - especially under this Administration - are even longer. They can stretch well beyond six months.

For years, there had been a simple, commonsense solution: if a worker filed their renewal on time, their current work permit would be automatically extended while the government finished processing their application.

This way people wouldn't have a gap in work authorization. This policy kept people working. It provided stability for businesses, and it prevented needless disruptions to our economy.

But last fall, that changed.

The Trump Administration issued a rule that fully eliminated these automatic extensions, pulling the rug out from under workers who did everything right.

Now, these individuals face an impossible choice: stop working and lose their income and their ability to provide for their families or risk working without authorization and risk deportation.

And it also puts our businesses in a terrible position: employers will be forced to let go of workers whose work permits expire because the government took too long to issue their renewals.

That's why many business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, are opposed to this reckless Trump rule.

They know that it will affect key industries like agriculture and food processing, construction, and even child care.

And we know what happens when there are fewer workers able to meet demand: prices go up.

Think about it: More than three and a half million legally authorized workers nationwide could be impacted by this misguided rule.

In construction alone, roughly six hundred thousand workers could be forced off the job - right as we face a critical shortage of labor needed to build much-needed housing in America.

In Nevada, we already have eleven thousand fewer construction workers than we did just a year ago.

If even more workers are sidelined because of paperwork delays, projects will stall, costs will rise, and working families will feel it in the form of higher housing prices and fewer available homes.

And it doesn't stop there.

In hospitality, an industry that is the backbone of Nevada's economy, more than half a million workers nationwide could be affected.

For a state like mine, where tourism drives growth and supports countless small businesses, losing thousands of workers in hotels, restaurants, and entertainment venues would be devastating.

Fewer workers means reduced capacity. It means lower service levels. It means lost revenue, not just for businesses, but for entire communities that depend on a strong tourism economy.

That is wrong.

It is why I introduced a resolution under the Congressional Review Act to overturn this harmful Trump rule.

My legislation would restore automatic extensions for workers who already have been vetted and who have work permits, while their paperwork is being processed.

This is about fairness, it's about stability, and it's about helping our workers and our businesses.

So, today I am asking my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join me in taking a simple step: vote to support workers and the business community, and let's overturn this harmful rule change that will hurt families, small businesses, large businesses, and our entire economy.

Let's put America's workers, our businesses, and our economy first by reinstating automatic extensions for work permit renewals.

If we don't, and we risk losing three and a half million workers from our workforce, trust me, we will all pay the price.

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