[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 147 (Tuesday, September 16, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1808]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 INTRODUCTION OF THE DAIRY AND SHEEP H-2A VISA ENHANCEMENT ACT OF 2008 
                              (H.R. 6885)

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN M. McHUGH

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 16, 2008

  Mr. McHUGH. Madam Speaker, on September 11, 2008, I introduced 
legislation, the Dairy and Sheep H-2A Visa Enhancement Act of 2008 
(H.R. 6885), which is designed to ensure that American dairy farmers 
and sheep ranchers can legally hire the employees they need. Very 
simply, it would provide dairy farmers with access to the H-2A visa 
program and codify longstanding regulatory practices that currently 
allow sheepherders such access.
  As I have previously mentioned, one cannot overstate the importance 
of the dairy industry to the United States economy. In 2007 alone, 
nearly 60,000 commercial dairy farmers produced 185 billion pounds of 
milk worth $35.5 billion. This generated more than $140 billion in 
economic activity and 1.2 million jobs. In New York's 23rd District, 
which I have the privilege of representing, dairy is an integral 
component of the economy, as there are approximately 2,000 dairy farms 
with some 190,000 milk cows dispersed across the 11 counties that 
comprise the District. Likewise, in 2007, national retail sales of 
sheep products were nearly $768 million. These retail receipts 
supported an additional $1.4 billion in economic activity for a total 
economic impact of $2.2 billion.
  For all of its importance, the dairy industry simply cannot continue 
to operate at its current capacity, let alone expand, without immigrant 
workers. Increasingly, the U.S. dairy workforce is relying upon those 
born outside of the United States, with some estimates indicating that 
at least 50 percent of all current labor is now foreign-born. Without 
access to a stable workforce, many American farms could well go out of 
business. According to an analysis completed by the Farm Credit 
Associations of New York, over 445 New York dairy farms are highly 
vulnerable to this situation. In recent years, I have seen this 
vulnerability first hand as dozens of constituent dairy farmers have 
repeatedly shared with me the toll that the uncertainty associated with 
the status quo is extracting from them.
  There is a similar need for year-round sheepherders. Given that the 
U.S. sheep industry was unable to secure suffIcient domestic labor to 
herd range livestock beginning decades ago, a regulatory provision was 
created allowing the industry to utilize the H-2A program to employ 
foreign sheepherders. This measure has proven to be extremely 
successful. For more than 60 years, more than one-fourth of the 
nation's entire sheep flock has been produced by ranchers utilizing 
sheepherders born outside of the United States.
  Unfortunately, due largely to its ``temporary or seasonal in nature'' 
employment requirement, dairy farmers are currently unable to utilize 
the H-2A visa program. Thus, it is imperative that Congress act now to 
provide American dairy farmers access to this program through enacting 
the Dairy and Sheep H-2A Visa Enhancement Act of 2008. This measure 
would codify existing regulatory practices and allow American sheep 
ranchers to legally hire foreign workers for an initial period of three 
years and additional terms of three years without requiring intervening 
periods of absence. It would also allow dairy farmers to hire foreign 
workers on a similar basis.
  Put simply, American dairy farmers need workers now. They can ill 
afford to wait for Congress to complete its long delayed attempts to 
enact legislation accomplishing comprehensive immigration reform. 
Accordingly, I urge my colleagues to work with me to help American 
dairy farmers and bolster our nation's economy by enacting the Dairy 
and Sheep H-2A Visa Enhancement Act of 2008.

                          ____________________