“Dear Colleague” Letter in House Signals Opposition to E-verify Absent a Workforce Solution for Agriculture
Last week, 61 House members signed onto a dear colleague letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) signaling opposition to mandatory E-verify legislation in absence of action to address the labor crisis being faced by America’s farmers and ranchers. Organized by Congressman Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), the letter was notable in that 56 of the signers were Republicans. Such significant opposition within the GOP caucus signals that finding the votes to pass a stand-alone E-verify bill on the House floor would be daunting.
“It is imperative that any effort to implement mandatory E-verify be coupled with a solution to agriculture’s unique labor needs,” the letter states. “Failure to couple these reforms together would create an unworkable situation for American agriculture.”
The “dear colleague” follows a mid-March industry letter to House leadership, organized by the Agriculture Workforce Coalition (AWC), that saw over 140 farm groups, cooperatives and agribusinesses oppose E-verify without provisions to address agriculture’s needs. As you may recall, a mandatory E-verify bill, H.R. 1147, the Legal Workforce Act, was reported out of the Judiciary Committee on a party line vote in early March. No legislation to address the current unauthorized agricultural workforce and institute a new guest worker program has yet been introduced by a member of the Committee.
NCFC and the AWC continue to press the need for a legislative fix to America’s broken immigration system and the need for a solution addresses both the current and future labor needs of American agriculture.
Congress Set to Return from Easter Recess; Appropriations, Tax Bills, Doc Fix on Docket
Congress is set to return to Washington on Monday after an extended, two-week recess for Easter. This will start a six week work period that will stretch to Memorial Day. In the House, the agenda for the next several weeks includes a number of bills (set for votes around April 15) to reform the Internal Revenue Service; in addition, it appears that the House will also vote on bills to repeal the estate tax (H.R. 1105) and to make permanent the temporary provisions currently in force that allow taxpayers to deduct state and local sales taxes (H.R. 622). Beyond that, the House will begin the FY 2016 appropriations process, with the approps bill for military construction/veterans affairs and energy & water development first in line.
The Senate will likely need to take up Medicare “doc fix” legislation, which the House approved in late March, in fairly short order since the current patch to the physician payment formula will need to be addressed by the end of the month. Beyond that, a number of nominations also await Senate action, most notably that of Loretta Lynch to be Attorney General.
One issue that will need to be addressed by both chambers ahead of Memorial Day is the Highway Trust Fund, which is set to run out of money by May 31st. With the Congressional Budget Office estimating that the Fund faces a shortfall of $169 billion over the next ten years, expect to see another temporary funding fix as Congress looks to develop a permanent solution to paying for highway construction and road infrastructure improvements.
Upcoming Events:
- Cotton Committee—April 22-23, 2015—Washington, D.C.
- Spring Executive Council Meeting—April 23-24, 2015—Washington, D.C.
- NCFC Washington Conference—June 22-24, 2015—Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.
- LTA Subcommittee Chairs-Vice Chairs Meeting—September 23-25, 2015—The Edgewater, Seattle, WA
- Fall Executive Council Meeting—September 30 & October 1, 2015—Washington, DC
- Human Resources Conference—October 22-23—Sheraton Chicago O’Hare
- Government Affairs Meeting—November 11-13—TBD