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HOUSE PASSES FARM LABOR BILL ALONG PARTY LINES, FATE UNCERTAIN IN THE SENATE
Dec. 12, 2019
Agri-Pulse reports:
Major farm groups are welcoming House passage of a landmark ag labor bill that would expand the H-2A visa program to year-round workers and give growers relief from the huge wage increases many have recently faced.
Senate Republican leaders, however, have given no indication that they will take up the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, and the White House has yet to get on board either. The bill got 34 Republican votes in the House Wednesday evening. But the 260-165 vote was short of the two-thirds margin that would be needed to overcome a presidential veto, even if the measure were to pass the Senate.
House GOP supporters of the bill have been working with Sens. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., on getting a bill considered in that chamber.
Take note: House Democrats clearly saw the bill as a political winner in key districts. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi went to the House floor to make an unusual personal appeal for the legislation, which would provide a path to legal status for undocumented farmworkers.
Whither the Farm Bureau? The American Farm Bureau Federation declined to support the bill, although the California Farm Bureau lobbied for its passage. AFBF said in a statement after the vote, "We will turn our attention to the Senate where we hope legislation is crafted that provides long-term solutions to the farm labor crisis.
Only five Republican members of the House Agriculture Committee voted for the House bill: Jim Baird of Indiana, Mike Bost and Rodney Davis of Illinois, Doug LaMalfa of California and Glenn Thompson of Pennsylvania.
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