[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 103 (Thursday, June 25, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E979-E980]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            CARE ACT OF 2015

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. LUCILLE ROYBAL-ALLARD

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 25, 2015

  Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. Mr. Speaker, on June 12, we observed International 
Day Against Child Labor. This is the day set aside to remind us of the 
plight of hundreds of millions of children throughout the world who are 
engaged in dangerous work that often deprives them of obtaining 
adequate education, health and decent living conditions.
   Unconscionably, hundreds of thousands of these children live right 
here in the United States. These children work long hours and under 
dangerous conditions in our nation's agricultural industry.
   This industry has a fatality rate nearly 8 times the national 
average, yet our labor laws do not protect children in agriculture in 
the same way they protect children in every other industry.
   The impact of our permissive child labor laws is most evident in our 
tobacco fields. Human Rights Watch recently issued a study that found 
children as young as twelve suffering from nausea, vomiting, headaches 
and dizziness, all symptoms of acute nicotine poisoning, likely 
contracted by absorbing nicotine through their skin while harvesting 
tobacco plants.
   Many of these children say they work long hours without overtime 
pay, often in extreme

[[Page E980]]

heat, without sufficient breaks, or adequate protective gear.
   These hazards have led countries like Russia and Kazakhstan to 
restrict tobacco harvesting to adults, but no such protections exist 
for children in the United States.
   The time has come for the United States of America to bring child 
labor laws in line with our American values and give all of our 
children the fundamental protections they need and rightfully deserve.
   That is why I am once again re-introducing the Children's Act for 
Responsible Employment, better known as the CARE Act.
   While retaining current exemptions for family farms and agricultural 
education programs like 4-H and Future Farmers of America, the CARE Act 
raises labor standards and protections for farm worker children to the 
same level set for children in all other occupations.
   Specifically the CARE ACT ends our country's double standard that 
allows children in agriculture to work at younger ages and for longer 
hours than those working in all other industries.
   It raises the minimum age for agricultural work to 14 and restricts 
children under 16 from work that interferes with their education or 
endangers their health and well-being.
   The CARE Act also prohibits children under the age of 18 from 
working in agricultural jobs which the Department of Labor has declared 
as particularly hazardous. This is consistent with current law 
governing every industry outside of agriculture.
   No child should be discriminated against based on the work they do. 
All of America's children deserve to be protected equally under our 
laws.
   Mr. Speaker, it is our moral obligation to do everything in our 
power to protect the rights, safety and educational future of our most 
precious resource--America's children, and I urge my colleagues to 
support the CARE Act.

                          ____________________