Statement Of Sen. Patrick Leahy
On Senate Amendment 1165,
Concerning Dairy Workers And Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Mr. President, I call up Senate amendment number 1165 and ask that Senators Casey and Schumer be added as cosponsors. 

I will send a modification to the desk in a moment.  First, I wish to note that the amendment I have called up is the language we had worked out as part of the AG JOBS bill on which I have been at work for several years with Senator Craig, Senator Feinstein and many others.  The language would have better resolved the immigration problems for our nation’s dairy farmers.  It was negotiated among many parties and when agreed upon took into account the special year-round needs of dairy farms and the training that is needed for them to operate efficiently.  Regrettably, some have objected to that language being included in the bill and others have acquiesced to those objections.

Accordingly, I must send a modification to the desk and ask that our agreed upon language be modified.  

This modification is required by the authors of the bill in order for dairy provisions to be accepted into this bill.  I have attempted through this language to ensure as best we can that our nation’s dairy farmers have adequate access to labor in the future.  This amendment only deals with prospective immigration and is focused on dairy only.

Dairy is a year-round operation where interruptions to a farmer’s labor force can have significant consequences—the H-2A provisions as they exist in the bill now do not adequately address the unique needs of dairy because they permit only 10-month terms of work.  This sort of interruption does not work for dairy farmers, who need year-round, dependable employees.

In the AG JOBS legislation that this body passed last year and that we reintroduced this year, I supported a much broader provision to address the unique needs of the dairy industry.  That provision had the overwhelming endorsement of America’s family dairy operations.  Unfortunately there were objections from the Bush administration and the authors of the bill now pending, so I have worked with the managers of this bill to craft this compromise. 

This modification would enable dairy farmers to have multiple avenues to employ legal workers in the future.  First, under the H-2A program, dairy farmers would have the ability to hire workers for a 3-year period after which time the workers would return home.  Second, this amendment would refine the H-2A program to allow dairy farmers to more easily obtain workers under the normal H-2A time frame of 10-month work periods.  In combination with available opportunities under the “Y” visa program, these changes should provide significant opportunities for America’s dairy farmers to obtain future legal workers to meet their needs.  I urge support for this modified amendment to ensure that essential changes for dairy farmers become part of this legislation.

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