AgJOBS in the 109th Congress
 

In April 2005, a majority of the Senate voted in support of AgJOBS when it had an opportunity to consider AgJOBS as an amendment to a supplemental appropriations bill for the Iraq war, SA 375 to HR 1268.  In May 2006, AgJOBS was included in the comprehensive immigration reform bill passed by the Senate, S. 2611 (the House leadership refused to consider the bill seriously).  In contrast to the successes of AgJOBS, Senator Chambliss’s attempts to pass one-sided reform of the H-2A agricultural guestworker program without giving farmworkers a chance to earn permanent immigration status failed repeatedly. 

There were also some efforts to pass AgJOBS during the lame duck session.  Although these efforts were unsuccessful, they demonstrated the commitment of Senators Feinstein and Craig to pass AgJOBS. 

Below, you can find more information about AgJOBS in the 109th Congressional session.

AgJOBS Sponsors in the 109th Congress

AgJOBS had 49 sponsors  in the Senate and 57 sponsors in the House of Representatives.

AgJOBS debate in the 109th Congress

Click here to read summaries of the debates in 2005 and 2006.

Legislative Language for the 109th Congress

• S. 359

• Senate, version of AgJOBS in S.2611

• House H.R. 884

  Summaries and Descriptions:

  • For a description of the current AgJOBS legislation, read the Farmworker Justice Bulletin: Updated Summary of AgJOBS, Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits and Security Act of 2006  It is two-pages long and was revised in 2006.  

  •  Un boletín de AgJOBS en español

  • Read a more detailed, six-page summary of AgJOBS.  This summary was revised in June 2006.

Alternatives to AgJOBSin the 109th

Here is some information about some of the alternatives proposals to farmworker immigration policy that were presented in the 109th Congress.

In the Senate:

• March 29, 2006, Farmworker Justice Bulletin: Sen. Isakson’s and Sen. Chambliss’s Immigration Proposals Are the Worst of All Worlds in Immigration Policy: Cheap, Exploitable Foreign Labor

• March 24, 2006, updated and shorter summary of Chambliss’s bill:  Summary of Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R.-Ga.) proposal for new guestworker program, S. 2087 (Dec. 13, 2005).

• January 27, 2006, Farmworker Justice Bulletin:  Another Proposal from Sen. Chambliss to Exploit Immigrants Workers: the Agricultural Employment and Workforce Protection Act, S. 2087

• March 15, 2006, Memo: Preliminary Analysis of Senator Feinstein’s New Agricultural Worker Proposal

• October 24, 2005:  Farmworker Justice Bulletin:  Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D.Cal), Supports Legalization Program for Farmworkers But Plans to Introduce Flawed Proposal to Alter the Bipartisan AgJOBS Bill.  This bulletin analyzes the amendments offered by Sen. Feinstein during a debate on the AgJOBS farmworker immigration bill on April 19, 2005 (AgJOBS is S.359/H.R. 884) in response to Senator Feinstein’s statement during the October 18, 2005 Senate hearing on comprehensive immigration reform, that she plans to introduce legislation addressing the need for immigration reform in the agricultural context.

..and in the House:

• FJ Goodlatte Summary 2005

• FJ Bulletin HR 4028

Farmworkers and Comprehensive Immigration Reform in the 109th

For an overview of several of the main comprehensive immigration reform proposals and how they affect farmworkers, please see the links below:

September 30, 2005:  Immigration Policy Brief No. 3 Contains articles on April 19, 2005 Senate vote on AgJOBS; summaries of the Kennedy-McCain comprehensive immigration bill, Rep. Jackson Lee’s bill, and the Cornyn-Kyl bill.

February 9, 2006:  Summary of Sen. Hagel (R.-Neb.) proposal for comprehensive immigration reform.

September 5, 2006: Although the Hutchison-Pence immigration proposal was hailed as a great compromise that could help bring about negotiations, it has not yet done so.  Our attached analysis of the Hutchison-Pence proposal shows that it is unrealistic, unworkable, and bad for workers. 

For information about the House immigration bill, HR 4437 (the Sensenbrenner bill) go to: http://www.nclr.org/content/policy/detail/35618/

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