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Courtesy of Congressman Jimmy Panetta's Office:
U.S. Representatives Jimmy Panetta (D-CA-20), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA-19), Dan Newhouse (R-WA-04), Collin Peterson (D-MN-07), Mike Simpson (R-ID-02), Doug LaMalfa (R-CA-01), and Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL-25) introduced the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, H.R. 4916, to provide a compromise solution for American agriculture. The bill was introduced with the strong bipartisan support of 24 Democratic and 21 Republican Members of Congress.
A new bipartisan bill introduced in Congress Wednesday would give undocumented farmworkers a pathway to permanent residence without first needing to leave the country.
If approved, the Farm Workforce Modernization Act (FWMA) would also change regulations surrounding H-2A temporary farmworkers, shifting how salaries are determined and adding new, temporary visas with a longer working period.
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Jimmy Panetta (CA-20) released the following statement after voting in support of the next step in the impeachment inquiry. The resolution establishes the format for open hearings that will be conducted by the House Intelligence Committee as part of the House's ongoing impeachment inquiry, as well as procedures to transmit any evidence or report to the Judiciary Committee.
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Representatives Jimmy Panetta (D-CA-20), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA-19), Dan Newhouse (R-WA-04), Collin Peterson (D-MN-07), Mike Simpson (R-ID-02), Doug LaMalfa (R-CA-01), and Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL-25) introduced the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, H.R. 4916, to provide a compromise solution for American agriculture. The bill was introduced with the strong bipartisan support of 24 Democratic and 21 Republican Members of Congress.
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers have struck a deal that would give legal status to hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrant farmworkers in exchange for stronger employee verification in the agricultural sector, a bipartisan group will announce Wednesday.
The deal could reach the House floor as early as the end of November.
The United States' agricultural business is largely ran on the back of undocumented foreign labor. In fact, more than 50% of those employed in agriculture are undocumented. That means there are more than a million people living in the shadows but who a vital part of delivering food to American households.
Not only do they live in the shadows for fear of deportation but many are even too afraid to access much needed healthcare or to speak out against employee abuse.
Several Valley congressional representatives helped introduce a bipartisan bill Wednesday they say is geared toward providing a path to legal status for more than 250,000 undocumented California farm workers.
The Farm Workforce Modernization Act would update regulations for temporary workers, promise fair wages for farm workers and fund farm worker housing. The bill provides a path to legal status for workers who can prove they've worked in agriculture in the past and will continue working in ag in the future, according to a news release.
A bipartisan group of House members revealed an immigration bill to prop up the dwindling agricultural labor base by regularizing the status of foreign-born workers.
Drawing broad bipartisan and industry support, House lawmakers on Oct. 30 introduced the Farm Workforce Modernization Act.
The legislation has three main parts:
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives introduced two new bills addressing immigration issues Wednesday, but both will face tricky paths through Congress and uncertain fates if they ever reach President Donald Trump's desk.
The two pieces of legislation, one augmenting services for current immigrants and refugees and the other an attempt at reforming immigrant agricultural labor programs, introduce fresh concepts and reconfigured compromises that, even if not passed, the authors and supporters hope will inject new life into the debate.