The following is a press release from the House Judiciary Committee about the new agricultural guestworker program bill that is being introduced this week. WineAmerica is a member of two immigration reform coalitions and we are in the process of analyzing the bill. If you have any questions please contact WineAmerica Vice President Michael Kaiser at mkaiser@wineamerica.org.
PRESS RELEASE | OCTOBER 2, 2017
Goodlatte Unveils Bill to Provide Workable Guestworker Program for American Farmers
“For far too long, the broken H-2A guestworker program has buried American farmers in red tape and excessive costs without delivering access to a stable and reliable workforce. It’s clear that the current program is outdated and broken for American farmers, and it’s well past the time to replace it with a reliable, efficient, and fair program that provides American farmers access to a legal, stable supply of workers, both in the short- and long-term, for seasonal as well as year-round work.“The AG Act replaces the flawed H-2A program with a new, flexible, and market-driven guestworker program that is designed to meet the needs of the diverse agriculture industry when not enough American workers can be found. The new program is to be operated by the USDA, an agency that clearly understands the unique needs of America’s farm and ranch operations and the importance of getting perishable agricultural commodities to the marketplace in an efficient manner, and expands the guestworker program to year-round agricultural employers. I thank the agriculture community for the input they provided on this legislation and look forward to bringing it up in the House Judiciary Committee this week.”