b"House-passedAgWorkerReformBill Faces Senate Uncertaintyby Mike Wenkel, NPC COOFor the second time in as many ses- Mostnotably,SenateAgriculture,sionsofCongress,theU.S.House Nutrition, and Forestry CommitteepassedtheFarmWorkforce Ranking Member John Boozman (R-ModernizationAct,designedto AR) said that now is not the timereformthebrokenforeignagricul- to take up this bill given the ongo-ture labor program and allow agri- ingcrisisatoursouthernborder.cultural workers to earn legal status.Instead, Senator Boozman said thatdiscussionsonimmigrationmustThebill,onceagainsupportedby focus on border security before thetheNationalPotatoCounciland Senateadvancesanyotherlegisla-sponsored by Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D- tionincluding ag worker reform CA)andDanNewhouse(R-WA), that pertains to the issue.was approved on March 18 with 30Republicansmany of whom repre- As of the writing of this column, thesentfarmcommunitiesvoting bill has not been introduced, yet theNPCyea.agriculturecommunityremainscommitted to developing and pass-Uponpassage,SenatorsMichael ingcomprehensivelegislationtoBennet (D-CO) and Mike Crapo (R- address the labor crisis faced by foodMessageID) said they plan to introduce the producers. bill'scompanionintheupperchamber, which would be a signifi- While the House bill is not perfect,cant step forward. After the identi- NPC and organizations representingcalbillwaspassedin2019,and growers and ranchers are working todespite the best efforts to NPC and improve the measure in the Senateourstatepartners,thebillsawno inthehopesofretainingthosemovement last session of Congress changesif,andwhen,aSenate-and died upon adjournment.passedbillgoestoaConferenceCommittee. For example, NPC andAlthough the bill this time around ourpartnersareadvocatingforhas the significant backing of many improvements to address the unpre-farmandfoodtradegroups,some dictablewagerateforemployersSenateRepublicanleadersremain taking part in the sole agriculturalpessimistic on the bills outlook.guestworkerprogram:theH-2Aprogram. 10 POTATO GROWER MAY/JUNE 2021"