Rep. Denham could take up mantel of trying to find fix for ag guestworker program in ongoing immigration discussions.

Jacqui Fatka, Policy editor

June 22, 2018

3 Min Read
Agricultural fix left out of House immigration bill
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After months of negotiating, the House took up two immigration bills on June 21. However, the proposals on the floor were unable to offer a solution on year-round agricultural labor needs.

One of two immigration bills, called the McCaul-Goodlatte bill, failed on the House floor Thursday. This bill (H.R. 4760) included the Agricultural Guestworker Act (AG Act), which replaced the current H-2A program with a year-round agricultural guestworker program.

The AG Act contained in the bill was supported by the American Farm Bureau Federation, the dairy industry and more than 200 distinct agricultural organizations from across the U.S.

The American Farm Bureau Federation’s board of directors voted unanimously to support House passage of H.R. 4760, a broad immigration bill, based on the strength of agricultural labor provisions included in the legislation.

“The American Farm Bureau board was resolute and unanimous in its support of these agricultural labor reforms,” Farm Bureau president Zippy Duvall said. “Those provisions authorize a new agricultural guestworker program, and they go a long way toward fixing the biggest problem we face in agriculture: a shortage of agricultural labor that limits our ability to produce food, fiber and fuel.”

While H.R. 4760 also includes provisions on which the Farm Bureau does not take a position, it said the bill provides a solution “our members desperately need” on agricultural labor concerns. “It is critical for the House to take a stand in support of U.S. agriculture and move this legislation forward for consideration in the Senate,” the bureau's letter concluded.

Related:Ag groups see Goodlatte’s ag guestworker bill as first step

However, because the bill didn’t pass, agricultural groups are looking to future bills to offer a solution.

Rep. Dan Newhouse (R., Wash.) voted no on the bill. “While H.R. 4760 did contain agricultural labor provisions I support, other provisions of the legislation would have made the ag labor crisis facing farmers even worse," he explained. "I commend the speaker and the majority leader for committing to me personally to bring forward language that addresses agriculture’s labor needs, and I am pleased that language will now be included in H.R. 6136. Agriculture is a labor-intensive industry, and there remains a severe shortage of workers. Our farmers and ranchers must have access to a legal and reliable workforce in order to provide the world with a safe and abundant supply of food.”

The second immigration bill -- H.R. 6136 -- has been postponed for a vote on the House floor. In its current form, H.R. 6136 does not include any policy language that would help agricultural entities seeking year-round labor -- such as dairy producers -- find the workers they need so desperately.

Related:Fixes sought for broken H-2A program

In an email to its members, the American Dairy Coalition said, “This is not time for the dairy industry to give up on finding a way to ensure our labor force. The failure of the Goodlatte bill allows us an opportunity to move forward the new stand-alone guestworker bill with highly valuable new provisions and decreased government bureaucracy.”

The coalition added that Rep. Jeff Denham (R., Cal.) has taken the lead on creating a new bill that can advance on the House floor before Congress leaves Washington, D.C., for its August break and said it “will continue to work with him to introduce a new guestworker bill in short order.”

About the Author(s)

Jacqui Fatka

Policy editor, Farm Futures

Jacqui Fatka grew up on a diversified livestock and grain farm in southwest Iowa and graduated from Iowa State University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communications, with a minor in agriculture education, in 2003. She’s been writing for agricultural audiences ever since. In college, she interned with Wallaces Farmer and cultivated her love of ag policy during an internship with the Iowa Pork Producers Association, working in Sen. Chuck Grassley’s Capitol Hill press office. In 2003, she started full time for Farm Progress companies’ state and regional publications as the e-content editor, and became Farm Futures’ policy editor in 2004. A few years later, she began covering grain and biofuels markets for the weekly newspaper Feedstuffs. As the current policy editor for Farm Progress, she covers the ongoing developments in ag policy, trade, regulations and court rulings. Fatka also serves as the interim executive secretary-treasurer for the North American Agricultural Journalists. She lives on a small acreage in central Ohio with her husband and three children.

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