b'Immigration Reform StartingImperfectlyAgainby Kam Quarles, NPC Executive Vice President and CEOThe House of Representatives is very However,thefactthatneitherbilllikelytostartanothereffortat was perfect at the beginning is notimmigration reform for agriculture. necessarilyanegative.BothbillsWhile we dont know the full con- sought to start a legislative processtents of the bill yet, it is reasonable by attempting to pass something into assume that it will not be perfect theHouseofRepresentatives.and unable to provide the full solu- WithoutsuccessfullycompletingtionthatAmericanagriculture that step, no further steps are possi-requires. ble.Inthisway,the2019effort(the Agriculture deals with this situationLofgren Bill) is similar to its pred- every five years on another extreme-ecessor that was attempted in 2018. lyimportantfederalpolicy,theNPCTheso-calledGoodlatteBilllast FarmBill.NeithertheHouseofsummerwasalsoanimperfectbill Representatives nor the Senate havethat failed to fix the entire problem. individually produced perfect FarmMessageTheproblemsinthetwobillsare Bill bills at the beginning.However,essentiallyreciprocal.Insimple theagricultureindustrystillsup-terms, the Goodlatte Bill focused on portstheireffortstomovethereformingtheagriculturalguest unpolishedbillstowardaconfer-workerprogramwithoutcompli- encecommittee.Atthatpoint,mentaryreformsforthecurrent leaders from both sides pick the bestimproperly documented workforce. ofeachimperfectbillandmeldThe Lofgren Bill focuses most of its them into a comprehensive packageeffortonlegalizingthecurrent thatservestheindustryforhalfaworkforce without providing for the decade.long-termneedsofagriculturethrough a durable guest worker pro- Asthecrisisinagriculturallaborgram. continues to grow, the imperative of8 POTATO GROWER NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019'