Aug 15, 2007

AgJOBS Bill Still Waiting to See the Light of Day

AgJOBS is on its own again.

The Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits and Security Act has been trying to make its way through Congress – either alone or rolled into other legislation – for four years, with no success. The latest attempt to push AgJOBS through as part of a comprehensive immigration reform package fell apart in June.

So, what’s next for the bill that would restructure the H-2A worker program and give undocumented workers a pathway to citizenship, the bill opponents consider “amnesty” for illegal immigrants? None of its backers are quite sure yet, but they’re not giving up.

“We’re going to look at all options,” said Scott Gerber, spokesman for Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., one of the bill’s sponsors. “The support is there, but we need to find the right vehicle.”

In July, when the dust was still settling from the failed attempt to achieve comprehensive reform, Feinstein and the bill’s other major Senate sponsor, Larry Craig, R-Idaho, were weighing their options, waiting for the right opportunity to try to push AgJOBS through again, said Sharon Hughes, executive vice president of the National Council of Agricultural Employers.

It’s possible that a targeted reform like AgJOBS, specifically focused on agricultural labor, could be more palatable than a broader effort. This summer’s failed reform package was probably too much for people to take all at once, Hughes said.

Senator Craig, who introduced AgJOBS four years ago and has been shepherding it ever since, wants to make another attempt before the year ends. He never thought the fight would go on this long, but the unfair “amnesty” label and anti-immigration atmosphere have made things difficult, said Dan Whiting, the Idaho senator’s communications director.

The bill, hammered out during years of negotiations between grower and farm worker organizations, has gone relatively unchanged since its introduction, save that last year it was expanded to include dairy workers, Hughes said.

So, what will it take to put AgJOBS on the president’s desk?

Most likely, the bill will have to be coupled with increased border security in order to pass, Whiting said.

Growers need to keep emphasizing to Congress that reform is needed to address worker shortages in agriculture – and AgJOBS is pretty much the only bill that does so, Hughes said.

“It will take the American public saying to Congress, ‘We have to finish this job,'” she said. “To do nothing is a recipe for disaster.”