Feinstein: AgJobs immigration provision needs no amendments
April 23, 2013 | 10:18 AM
The farmworker section of the immigration reform bill should pass Congress without amendment, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Monday, while some Republican senators were critical of the overall bill.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
“I hope this can pass unamended,” said Feinstein, who was the lead negotiator between farmers and farmworkers on the bill. “This has been negotiated over time,” she added.
Feinstein made the statement at a hearing that featured United Farm Workers President Arturo Rodriguez, National Council of Farmer Co-operatives President Chuck Conner representing the Agriculture Workforce Coalition, and Alyson Eastman, a Vermont provider of contract farm workers, sitting side by side as lead witnesses in a day-long hearing on the bill.
Rodriguez, Conner and Eastman all testified in favor of the bill, and none of them asked for any changes or tweaks to the agriculture section of the legislation.
Feinstein told Conner that he should thank Western Growers CEO Tom Nassif for his help in negotiating the wage section of the bill. And she told Rodriguez he should be proud of his work, adding, “I don’t know any labor leader who is more dedicated to people.”
The sessions during the week with Congress were six and seven hours long, Feinstein noted, and the growers and the union had continued negotiating on weekends.
Feinstein noted that farmers wanted specificity on wages and she said negotiators had found that many Bureau of Labor Statistics studies “were skewed.” The new program, she noted, would be run by the Agriculture Department.
The important thing for farm workers, she said, was “to find a way to recognize the skills that exist in farm workers.” Immigrants who come to the United States, Feinstein said, evolve into “a professional class of farm workers.”
Feinstein noted if the bill is enacted, between 700,000 and 1 million farm workers who can prove that they have worked in agriculture for two years would get “blue cards” and if they stay in agriculture for five years and go through a number of other steps would be eligible for permanent residence.
But Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said he had been disappointed in the 1986 immigration reform bill because undocumented workers continued arriving in the United States, and that he worries the same thing will happen again.
Feinstein replied that the bill aims to provide a legal, stable long-term workforce for farmers through the two new visa programs, one for “at-will” workers and another for contract workers.
Feinstein called the problem farmers are having maintaining a consistent supply of workers “a national crisis” and said that resolving it is vital “to retaining this country’s agricultural prowess.”
“I hope this can pass unamended,” said Feinstein, who was the lead negotiator between farmers and farmworkers on the bill. “This has been negotiated over time,” she added.
Feinstein made the statement at a hearing that featured United Farm Workers President Arturo Rodriguez, National Council of Farmer Co-operatives President Chuck Conner representing the Agriculture Workforce Coalition, and Alyson Eastman, a Vermont provider of contract farm workers, sitting side by side as lead witnesses in a day-long hearing on the bill.
Rodriguez, Conner and Eastman all testified in favor of the bill, and none of them asked for any changes or tweaks to the agriculture section of the legislation.
Feinstein told Conner that he should thank Western Growers CEO Tom Nassif for his help in negotiating the wage section of the bill. And she told Rodriguez he should be proud of his work, adding, “I don’t know any labor leader who is more dedicated to people.”
The sessions during the week with Congress were six and seven hours long, Feinstein noted, and the growers and the union had continued negotiating on weekends.
Feinstein noted that farmers wanted specificity on wages and she said negotiators had found that many Bureau of Labor Statistics studies “were skewed.” The new program, she noted, would be run by the Agriculture Department.
The important thing for farm workers, she said, was “to find a way to recognize the skills that exist in farm workers.” Immigrants who come to the United States, Feinstein said, evolve into “a professional class of farm workers.”
Feinstein noted if the bill is enacted, between 700,000 and 1 million farm workers who can prove that they have worked in agriculture for two years would get “blue cards” and if they stay in agriculture for five years and go through a number of other steps would be eligible for permanent residence.
But Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said he had been disappointed in the 1986 immigration reform bill because undocumented workers continued arriving in the United States, and that he worries the same thing will happen again.
Feinstein replied that the bill aims to provide a legal, stable long-term workforce for farmers through the two new visa programs, one for “at-will” workers and another for contract workers.
Feinstein called the problem farmers are having maintaining a consistent supply of workers “a national crisis” and said that resolving it is vital “to retaining this country’s agricultural prowess.”
