6/01/04

Immigration reform may succeed yet in this year’s congressional session.
Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Ark., president pro-tem of the Senate and chairman of the Appropriations Committee, became the 61st U.S. senator to co-sponsor the AgJOBS bill (S. 1645) on May 5. He joined Senators John Rockefeller, D-W.Va., Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., who recently announced their support of the legislation.
Were your calls responsible for swaying their decisions?
Surpassing the 60th co-sponsor is critical, as 60 represents the “filibuster-proof margin” necessary to overcome procedural delaying tactics and move a bill to a vote in the Senate.
“In this, an election year, where it seems like so little is going to get passed, 60 really gives us the ability to get it moving,” said a spokesman for Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig who introduced the legislation with Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., last fall.
Craig Regelbrugge is senior director of government relations for the American Nursery and Landscape Association which had worked on immigration reform for a long time before progress halted on Sept. 11, 2001. He said, “With 60 reached, the next few weeks promise to be very dynamic. We will continue to seek both Senate and House co-sponsors, while our Senate champions determine how they wish to move the bill.”
Regelbrugge urged, “Congress must hear from every member of the nursery, greenhouse and landscape community, if we are to win this long and difficult battle.”
The present system is broken and needs fixing. There are limits to the number of workers who can legally enter the country – those were topped in March this year, in the H2B program — and there’s also a limit to the number of U.S. citizens willing to do the agricultural work that needs to be done. That’s why agricultural employees and the green industry depend on foreign labor, often illegal immigrants.
We need to face the realities of the situation and fix the problem. There’s a real chance now of getting the AgJOBS legislation passed. Don’t wait to contact your congressman and senator. Your call does matter. They do keep track. Call today.