ISSUES AND POLICY
Both the Senate and the House
have different ideas on how to ac- complish this. The Senate has taken an all or nothing approach to com- prehensive immigration reform, and as part of that, has included a guest worker program. The House is bit- ing off the immigration overhaul in small chunks by introducing small- er, stand-alone bills including the Agricultural Guestworker Act, intro- duced by House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Virginia). I don’t know which approach
Congress will take to fi x the issue, but I do know that we must have a practical program through which willing workers can come to the U.S. on a work visa and stay for at least 3 to 5 years before they’re re- quired to return home. Once they’ve returned home, they should be able to reapply for their visa and return to their job. This provides stability to an industry that simply can’t af- ford to continuously turn over new employees. A program that allows these folks to work here legally also allows them to be accounted for and take part in the economy by paying taxes. Border security is crucial to any
immigration reform, particularly in Texas. While a practical and effec- tive guest worker program isn’t the single cure to securing our border, it will help reduce the fl ood of ille- gal immigrants crossing the border. This relief will allow authorities to focus on controlling people cross- ing illegally. Whether Congress reforms our
entire immigration program or not, they must come up with an effective fi x to help provide Texas ranchers with a reliable workforce. This is the right thing to do for our coun- try and those for migrant workers wanting to make a better living for their families.
tscra.org
Farm Bill Moves
Forward T
By Scott George, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association president
HE FARM BILL TOOK A BIG STEP TOWARD COMPLETION IN MAY, WITH THE U.S. House and Senate passing their versions out of committee for action on the fl oor. We’re very pleased with both versions of the bill. With
luck and a lot of effort we’ll have a signed bill before the August recess. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) team in Washington,
D.C. has been working tirelessly on the farm bill for more than 2 years. From the early discussions and fi eld work until now, our staff has been at the table protecting our interests, and that hard work is about to pay off. The cattle industry’s interest in the farm bill spans a number of impor-
tant issues, including items such as conservation programs and disaster insurance, both of which are included in the House and Senate bills which were passed by the respective agriculture committees. Livestock producers depend on those programs to make long-term deci-
sions about their operations, and we’re thankful that members of Congress like Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) are working so diligently on our be- half to include those important provisions in the House version of the bill. Agricultural research is another important priority for the beef industry,
and Senator Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., chair of the Senate Ag Committee, ensured our membership during her speech at the NCBA Spring Legisla- tive Conference that this topic would be addressed. She delivered on that promise, and both bills include signifi cant resourcing for ag research. The inclusion of several of NCBA’s priorities in both versions of the
farm bill provides a good illustration of why our efforts on Capitol Hill are so important to the industry. We didn’t accomplish this work on our own. Throughout the debate we
have relied on our state partners and many individual members to visit their members of Congress, make phone calls, host staff and in several instances provide direct testimony. It’s this approach and teamwork that allow us to make progress. Our partners at the state and local level work hand-in-hand with our
staff and our leadership to make us successful in Washington, D.C. How- ever, our grassroots membership makes all of this work possible. Our voice grows as our membership grows and members of Congress listen to that united voice when our industry presents its issues. We couldn’t have moved the farm bill ahead without our members.
We’re proud of all the effort it took to get it this far, and we’re thankful for your support.
July 2013 The Cattleman 61
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