Guest Worker Residency Bill Is Taking Root in the Senate

The L.A. Times reports on the AgJobs bill:

The so-called AgJobs bill, which also would make it easier for growers to import foreign guest workers, has 55 co-sponsors - including Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) - in the 100-member Senate, its authors said Wednesday.

Sens. Larry E. Craig (R-Idaho) and Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) said they hoped in the next few weeks to increase that number to more than 60. That would give the bill enough support to overcome delaying tactics on the Senate floor and force a vote on its passage...

The chairman of the [House] Agriculture Committee, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), is opposed to AgJobs...

At a hearing on guest-worker programs Wednesday, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on immigration, Rep. John N. Hostettler (R-Ind.), contended that such programs reduced wages for American workers and that legalization of undocumented migrants encouraged more to come illegally.

"We have an untried alternative - simply to enforce employer sanctions - that would year by year brighten the prospects for American workers," he said...

...administration officials remained noncommittal about whether the president would support the bill...

"If we were able to gain the support of the president of the United States, this would go through the Senate of the United States in two hours," [Sen.] Kennedy said...

I previously discussed the AgJobs bill here. As stated above, it's supported by Barbara Boxer. The previous post has a list of the 400 organizations who support AgJobs. Most are the ultimate in special interest groups. Big ag business, grower's organizations, racial groups, radical groups, and so on. Some might even have connections with foreign governments. They don't have America's best interests at heart.

Immigration2003 · Thu, 03/25/2004 - 11:43 · · Importance: 1