[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 197 (Monday, December 19, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7283-S7287]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ANDREW GOMER WILLIAMS POST OFFICE BUILDING
A bill (H.R. 7514) to designate the facility of the United
States Postal Service located at 345 South Main Street in
Butler, Pennsylvania, as the ``Andrew Gomer Williams Post
Office Building'' was ordered to a third reading, was read
the third time, and passed.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Colorado.
Affordable and Secure Food Act
Mr. BENNET. Mr. President, this weekend, families all across America
will sit down in their dining rooms for a holiday meal, and they are
going to have to pay more for that meal than they ever have before.
They are going to have to pay more for bread and more for butter,
potatoes, eggs, vegetables. Literally, almost everything that is going
to be on America's tables this holiday season is going to be more
expensive than it has ever been.
Although there are several reasons for that phenomenon, somewhere at
the very top is the profound labor shortage that exists in American
agriculture. Today, America's farmers and ranchers are short more than
100,000 workers all across this country to plant seeds, to pick
berries, to raise cattle, and to do the hard, essential work of feeding
this country.
It is why growers all across America are banging down the doors of
this Capitol, pleading with us to fix the broken H-2A system for
farmers.
It is obvious to everybody who has had anything to do with this
system that it is completely broken. There is no argument that can be
made that it is not. To start, the H-2A program is not even open to
year-round jobs. That is just the beginning of the trouble. That is
every dairy in America who has to milk their cows two or three times a
day, including the holidays. It is
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every mushroom grower, livestock producer, horse breeder that needs
those year-round visas.
The H-2A program is also hopelessly and embarrassingly outdated. To
qualify for a visa, this ancient program requires farmers to put a
physical advertisement in a local newspaper, if there is a local
newspaper, if they can find one. They can't advertise online. That is
prohibited in the year 2022.
And you have to reapply for the H-2A visa every single year, which is
an incredible burden on farmers and on farm workers. It is the last
thing they need.
And, finally, the existing program does nothing to protect farmers
from dramatic spikes in labor costs from year to year. They can't plan
for the future. They have no idea what kind of uncertainty they are
going to have to deal with when it comes to wages.
I am thinking of farmers like Bruce Talbott, who grows peaches in
Palisade, CO. The labor shortage hurts Bruce in two ways: One, he
doesn't have enough people to pick everything he grows, so he is forced
to leave money on the table every single year; and, second, this labor
shortage is driving up labor costs, which are now 80 percent of the
total costs of his operation. And we are seeing this all over the
country.
You see it right here: H-2A wages up almost 50 percent in the last 10
years. By the way, this is all wages down here. And this is what has
happened to wages in farming and ranching in this country. It has grown
so much faster than the rest of the workforce, and it is pushing family
farms and ranches to the edge of a cliff, and, sadly, a lot of them are
going over that cliff or considering moving their operations from the
United States to Mexico.
Since 2007, America has lost 190,000 farms, almost all of them small
family farms. That is nearly 10 percent of the farms in this country,
and some industries, like dairy, have been hit even harder. Between
2003 and 2020, the number of dairy farms in America fell by over half,
by 55 percent.
That is not just bad for dairy farms. It is bad for the communities
that they are in and that they support, and it is bad for this country.
If we don't deal with this, this country is on track, believe it or
not, to become dependent on foreign food imports.
You can see it here. This is the export line, and here is the
projected import line. We are right at the point where we could be a
net importer of food for the first time in my lifetime, maybe the first
time in forever. I don't know.
I don't want us to rely on other nations to feed America. We have the
most productive agriculture sector in the world. And yet, because of
this labor problem, we are going to accept the idea that we should be a
net importer of food from other countries? That is terrible for our
economic security, for our food security, and, I would argue, for our
national security as well.
Just on the economic point, Colorado's agriculture generates over $40
billion a year for our State's economy. Nationwide, there are nearly 20
million jobs in food and agriculture-related industries. That is 1 in
every 10 jobs in this country. And over $1 trillion of our GDP is
agriculture.
And I think people--especially people who don't work in agriculture,
don't think about agriculture, don't live in maybe a rural area--they
tend to forget that literally every single sector of our economy
depends on agriculture. You can't have an economy without food. There
has never been one.
So when we talk about the crisis in American agriculture that I am
here on this floor to address today, we have to understand that the
stakes could not be higher. At the same time we have that issue, there
are hundreds of thousands of undocumented farm workers living in the
shadows in this country. These men and women are breaking their backs
every single day to feed America--women like Lulu Guerrero, who lives
in Weld County, CO.
She gets up at 3 o'clock in the morning every single morning to plant
crops like watermelons and tomatoes and pumpkins. She has been doing
that for 20 years. I have met people in my State who have been doing it
for 30 years, who have been doing it for 40 years--with no status, with
no protections, with no legal recourse if somebody tries to take
advantage of them--many of them with U.S. citizens who are their
children, people who can't go back and forth to see their relatives
south of the border when somebody dies.
This has been going on for decades, and we have ignored this problem
in part because the food keeps showing up somehow, miraculously, in our
grocery stores, as if somebody waved a wand to put it there.
These workers have broken their backs to support their families, to
support the United States of America, to make sure that we are fed. The
least we can do for our own country is to bring them out of the shadows
of the law.
The status quo is terrible for workers, it is terrible for businesses
and farms, and it is terrible for American families who have seen their
grocery bills go through the roof.
Look at this. I am not saying all of that is the labor shortage, but
a huge amount of that is the labor shortage. In the last year alone,
grocery prices have shot up about 12 percent--faster than at any time
in 40 years, as you can see from this slide.
And it is everything. I won't read all of these, but it is
everything. The price of apples is up 7 percent. The price of milk is
up 15 percent. And I guarantee you that is as a result of people unable
to find people to do that work. And eggs are up almost 50 percent.
These aren't nice to have. None of these are nice to have for the
American people. These are essential to a well-balanced meal to a
family being able to feed itself in America. That is why Congress has
to finally fix this H-2A program, and we have the opportunity to do it.
There is good news. We have a plan to fix it, the Affordable and
Secure Food Act. Our proposal builds on legislation. This is an
important point. You know, sometimes people over here blame the House
of Representatives for not getting done what needs to get done for this
country. In this case, they have passed this bill twice--or a version
of this bill twice--in a bipartisan fashion. There were Republican
Members of Congress over here last week imploring Republican Members of
the Senate to please pass this bill, which from the grower's
perspective, by the way, is an improvement over the bill that passed in
the House.
The Farm Workers Union and many of the growers in this country have
come together to support this legislation, and there is a good reason
why it had bipartisan support in the House. And now, from the
perspective of the other side of the aisle, in many ways, it is
actually a better bill. Our bill opens the H-2A program to year-round
jobs for the first time ever, and that is going to mean dairy farmers
and mushroom growers can finally access the labor that they need, that
they can't access today.
It creates wage certainty for farmers, saving them $23 billion over
the next 12 years. I want to say that again: $23 billion over the next
12 years, because now people are going to know what the wage increases
are going to look like. They are going to be predictable. They have
been agreed to. And that results in the savings of $23 billion. That is
$2 billion more over that period of time than the savings that were
achieved in the House bill for growers.
It requires E-Verify for farm workers nationwide. That is going to
help with the chaos at the border because people are now going to know
that they are not going to be able to come here and work illegally or
in an undocumented fashion in agriculture. So they will be less likely
to want to come.
And, finally, the bill establishes a pathway for undocumented farm
workers to apply for a green card after they have worked in agriculture
for at least a decade, passed a background check, and paid a penalty.
That is not amnesty. It is a recognition that anybody who has spent a
decade breaking their back to feed America should have the opportunity
to apply for lawful status.
Are we really going to accept as a definitional matter for this
country that we want fields filled with indentured servants in the
United States of America? Is that really where we are as a nation?
I don't think so. That is not what people in Colorado believe. No
matter what party they are in, they don't believe that. They think we
should fix this problem. They know how hard-
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working the people are who are working in our fields and on our ranches
and at our dairies.
And that is why this bill is broadly supported not just in Colorado
but all across the country--by farmers and labor, by immigration
advocates, by businesses, by the American people. The vast majority of
the American people know we need to fix this.
And this morning--this isn't meant for anybody to read; I will get to
that in a moment--but over 240 groups from all across America,
including from New Mexico and from Colorado, sent a letter supporting
this bill. And I am not going to read all--I am tempted to read all
240, and there isn't anybody here tonight. But let me just give you a
sense of the breadth and the depth of the support of this bill.
The signers of this bill include the International Fresh Produce
Association, the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, the National
Milk Producers Federation, the National Farmers Union, the National
Thoroughbred Racing Association, the American Honey Producers
Association, the American Mushroom Institute, the American Sugarbeet
Growers Association, the California Apple Commission, the California
Association of Winegrape Growers, the Colorado Potato Legislative
Association.
Let me just tell you how hard it is for our potato producers in
Colorado to deliver that incredible crop when we finally have created a
situation where Mexico has to import our potatoes and can't just keep
them out, which is what they have been doing for years and years and
years, but they can't find folks to do the work. With the rise in input
costs that farmers and ranchers have to deal with, with the drought
that the Colorado potato growers are dealing with in the San Luis
Valley that I know the Presiding Officer knows so well--you know, you
would think that the least we could do is solve a problem that could be
solved. That is a major headache for them and for their colleagues all
across the country--like the Food Producers of Idaho, the Georgia
Blueberry Commission, the Idaho Hay and Forage Association, Land
O'Lakes, the Lone Star Milk Producers, the Maine Potato Board, the
Michigan Nursery & Landscape Association, the National Association of
State Departments of Agriculture.
As I read this list, do you know the one thing these people don't
have in common? They are not Democrats or Republicans. They are just
trying to deliver agricultural products to the American people. That is
all they are trying to do. And they live in red States, and they live
in blue States. They live all over the United States of America.
The National Pecan Federation, the New York Apple Association, the
North Carolina Potato Association, the Ohio Dairy Producers
Association, the Pennsylvania Vegetable Growers Association, Premium
Peanut, the Society of American Florists, the National Asparagus
Council, the United Dairy Farmers of Florida, the Utah Tart Cherry
Marketing Board, the Virginia Apple Growers Association, the Washington
State Tree Fruit Association, the Western Growers--and let me say
something about the Western Growers.
In 2013, I had the privilege of being part of the Gang of 8 that
negotiated the comprehensive immigration reform bill that passed this
floor with 68 votes. It was led on the Republican side by John McCain
and by Jeff Flake and Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham. We had four
Democrats on our side. And, I have to say, in the 14 years I have been
in this place, that was the best work we have done as a body. We dealt
with this tough issue of immigration, and we dealt with all aspects of
it--11 million people who were undocumented had the chance to earn a
tough but fair pathway to citizenship in this country and come out of
the shadows.
We dealt with all the visa issues that have been driving the country
crazy all this year--business visas and agriculture visas.
I negotiated the agriculture provisions of this bill with Senator
Rubio and Senator Feinstein and Senator Hatch.
And we had the most progressive Dream Act that had ever been
conceived, much less voted on, as part of that bill.
It also had $40 billion border security in it. People forget that
part. Every single Democrat voted for a bill that had $40 billion of
border security. That is a heck of a lot more money than Donald Trump
ever spent to build his wall--that medieval device.
That $40 billion, which was a bipartisan effort, again, was meant to
spend--was meant to spend the money on 21st-century technology so we
could see every inch of the border so border crossings could actually
be much better policed than they are today.
I will come back to this later in the speech, but I am not somebody
who believes we should have a border that is not secure. I believe we
should have a secure border. I think we should. I think the American
people expect that we will. And I came to this floor--I think it was in
May--to say that I thought it was wrong for the Biden administration to
lift title 42 without a plan to address the border, and we are seeing
the effects of that, I think, today.
That shouldn't be an excuse for making lives more miserable for
people working in American agriculture. It shouldn't be an excuse for
driving food prices up for families. It shouldn't be an excuse for
compromising our economic independence, our food security, and our
national security.
We have in front of us a negotiated agreement that passed the House
of Representatives with a bipartisan vote. We have an agreement that
has been negotiated over here that is more generous to producers than
the one that passed the House of Representatives, and it has all this
support from all these people all over the country. I am not going to
read every single one of these names, but you get the idea. These are
people who probably, I would guess--many of them probably agree on
nothing politically, but they agree on this. They agree on this. Part
of that is because the situation they are confronting is so dire, and
part of it is because they have helped produce a good piece of
legislation that should get its chance.
(Mr. SCHATZ assumed the Chair.)
(Mr. HEINRICH assumed the Chair.)
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the letter with all these
names be printed in the Record so I can spare you listening to all the
names.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
December 16, 2022.
Hon. Chuck Schumer,
Majority Leader.
Hon. Mitch McConnell,
Minority Leader.
Dear Majority Leader Schumer and Minority Leader McConnell:
The undersigned agricultural organizations urge the Senate to
support and pass Sen. Bennet's legislation, the Affordable
and Secure Food Act by the end of the year to address the
workforce crisis threatening farms across the United States.
The ongoing farm workforce crisis is hindering agricultural
production and contributing to food price inflation. We must
address this now, so our producers can continue to grow,
feed, clothe, and fuel our nation.
Sen. Bennets legislation provides stability for our
existing workers and makes key reforms to the H-2A program,
the visa program producers use to hire legal temporary
workers to supplement the available U.S. workforce. While the
bill is not perfect, it provides a significant step forward
by providing access to guest workers for many sectors in the
industry and will account for real cost savings for farmers
and consumers across the country. The House has passed
legislation on this issue, and it is now time for the Senate
to act before the end of the year. Without immediate action
by the Senate, the federal government's outdated policies,
insufficient domestic workforce, and a challenging guest
worker program are forcing many farmers to consider whether
they can continue in labor-intensive agriculture.
The country cannot afford for the Senate to miss this
opportunity to provide stability to both farmers and
farmworkers. We implore the Senate to pass legislation to
address our agricultural workforce challenges and ease
inflationary pressure on food costs for all Americans.
Sincerely,
Agricultural Council of California; Agri-Mark, Inc.;
Agtegra Cooperative; Alsum Farms & Produce, Inc; Amcot;
American AgCredit; American Crystal Sugar Company; American
Honey Producers Association; American Mushroom Institute;
American Sugarbeet Growers Association; AmericanHort; Andrew
& Williamson Fresh Produce; Andrew & Williamson Fresh
Produce; Applewood Fresh Growers, LLC; Arizona Dairy
Producers Trade Association; Arizona Nursery Association;
Associated Milk Producers Inc.; Bay Cities Produce, Inc.;
Bennett Berry Farm LLC; Blueberry Bunch Farm LLC;
Bobalu LLC; Bongards' Creameries; Brantley County
Blueberries, LLC; Brooks
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Tropicals, LLC; Brooks Tropicals, LLC.; Brookside Farms, LLC;
Calavo Growers, Inc.; California Apple Commission; California
Association of Winegrape Growers; California Blueberry
Association; California Blueberry Commission; California
Canning Peach Association; California Citrus Mutual;
California Dairies, Inc.; California Dairy Campaign;
California Farm Bureau; California Fresh Fruit Association;
California Olive Oil Council; California Walnut Commission;
California Wild Rice Advisory Board.
Capital City Fruit, Co.; Carolinas Cotton Growers; Cayuga
Marketing; Center for Dairy Excellence (Pennsylvania);
Central Valley Ag; Ceres Solutions; Christopher Ranch LLC;
CHS, Inc.; Co-Alliance Cooperative, Inc.; CoBank; Coconut
King; Colorado Dairy Farmers; Colorado Fruit & Vegetable
Growers Association; Colorado Nursery & Greenhouse
Association; Colorado Potato Legislative Association; Compeer
Financial; Cooperative Milk Producers Association;
Cornerstone Ag Enterprises; CropLife America; Crunch Pak.
DaCosta Blueberry Farms Inc; Dairy Farmers of America,
Inc.; Dairy Producers of New Mexico; Dan Graiff Farms LLC;
DeGrandchamp Farms Inc.; Delta Council; DNO Produce; Domex
Superfresh Growers; Dosner Organic Farms; Driscoll's; Duncan
Family Farms; Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative; Ellsworth
Cooperative Creamery; Empire State Potato Growers; Farm
Credit East; Farm Credit Services of America-IA, NE, SD, WY;
FarmFirst Dairy Cooperative; Firestone Pacific Foods; First
District Association; Florida Citrus Mutual.
Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association; Florida Nursery,
Growers & Landscape Association; Food Producers of Idaho;
Foremost Farms USA; Frantz Nursery; Fresh Texas; Frontier
Farm Credit-KS; Fruit Growers Supply; Georgia Blueberry
Commission; Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association;
Georgia Green Industry Association; Georgia Milk Producers,
Inc.; Girardin's Gardens, LLC; Goin's Blueberry Lane;
GreenStone Farm Credit Services; Grimmway Farms; Gulf Citrus
Growers Association; Holthouse Farms of Ohio, nc.; Idaho
Alfalfa and Clover Seed Growers Association; Idaho Apple
Commission.
Idaho Cherry Commission; Idaho Dairymen's Association;
Idaho Hay and Forage Association; Idaho Honey Industry
Association; Idaho Hop Growers Association; Idaho Oilseed
Commission; Idaho Onion Growers Association; Idaho Potato
Commission; Idaho-Oregon Fruit and Vegetable Association;
IFCO Systems; Illinois Green Industry Association; Indiana
Dairy Producers; Interfresh; International Dairy Foods
Association; International Fresh Produce Association; Iowa
Institute for Cooperatives; Iowa State Dairy Association; JEC
Farms, LLC.; Joe Produce, LLC; Joseph Bezon & Son.
JR's Berry Farms; K&C Farms; Kansas Livestock Association;
Kansas Nursery and Landscape Association; Kentucky Dairy
Development Council; Kevin Eason Farms; Land O'Lakes, Inc.;
Legacy Labor, Inc.; Leitz Farms LLC; Little Bear Produce;
Lone Star Milk Producers; Mack Farms inc; Maine Dairy
Industry Association; Maine Potato Board; Malheur County
Onion Growers Association; Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers
Cooperative Association; Mastronardi Produce-USA; MBG
Marketing; MD Basciani & Sons, Inc.; Meyer Farms.
Michigan Apple Association; Michigan Asparagus; Michigan
Freeze Pack; Michigan Milk Producers Association; Michigan
Nursery & Landscape Association; Michigan State Horticultural
Society; Michigan Vegetable Council; Midwest Apple
Improvement Association (MAIA); Midwest Dairy Farms; Midwest
Groundcovers; Midwest Trading Horticultural Supplies; Miles
Berry Farm. Milk Producers Council; Milk Producers of Idaho;
Minnesota Milk Producers Association; MKC (Mid-Kansas
Cooperative); Mount Joy Farmers Cooperative Association;
Nardelli Bros. Inc.; National All-Jersey; National
Association of State Departments of Agriculture.
National Council of Farmer Cooperatives; National Farmers
Union; National Milk Producers Federation; National Pecan
Federation; National Potato Council; Nebraska Cooperative
Council; New Day Berry Farms LLC; New York Apple Association;
New York Apple Growers; New York Farm Bureau; New York State
Flower Industries; New York State Horticultural Society;
Nezperce Prairie Grass Growers Assn.; North American
Blueberry Council; North Bay Produce, Inc.; North Carolina
Dairy Producers Association; North Carolina Potato
Association; Northeast Dairy Producers Association; Northland
Potato Growers Association; Northwest Dairy Association/
Darigold.
Northwest Farm Credit Services; Northwest Horticultural
Council; NW Ag Cooperative Council; Ohio Dairy Producers
Association; Ohio Produce Growers and Marketing Association;
Olive Growers Council of California; Oneida-Madison Milk
Producers Cooperative Association Oregon Dairy Farmers
Association; Oregon Potato Commission; OZBLU USA LLac;
Packers Canning dba Honee Bear Canning; Peak Foods LLC;
Pennsylvania Apple Program; Pennsylvania Cooperative Potato
Growers; Pennsylvania Vegetable Growers Association; Peterson
Farms, Inc.; Plains Cotton Cooperative Association; Potato
Growers of Michigan, Inc.; Prairie Farms Dairy, Inc.; Premium
Peanut.
Produce Alliance LLC; Professional Dairy Managers of
Pennsylvania; S. Katzman Produce; Scioto Cooperative Milk
Producers' Association; Society of American Florists; South
Dakota Association of Cooperatives; South Dakota Dairy
Producers; South East Dairy Farmers Association; Southeast
Milk, Inc.; Southern Idaho Potato Cooperative, Inc.; Sunkist
Growers; Sunmaid Growers of California; Sunsweet Growers
Inc.; Suwannee Creek Berries llc; Texas Agricultural
Cooperative Council; Texas Association of Dairymen; Texas
International Produce Association; The Crews Farm, LLC.; The
National Asparagus Council; The San Francisco Wholesale
Produce Market.
Tillamook County Creamery Association; Tops Markets; U.S.
Apple Association; U.S. Beet Sugar Association; United Dairy
Farmers of Florida, Inc.; United Dairymen of Arizona; United
Egg Producers; United Potato Growers of America; Upstate
Niagara Cooperative, Inc.; US Tobacco Cooperative; Utah Apple
Marketing board; Utah Horticulture Association; Utah Tart
Cherry Marketing board; Vidalia Onion Business Council;
Village Farms; Virginia Apple Growers Association; W.P. Rawl
& Sons; Walker Berry Brothers; Washington State Dairy
Federation; Washington State Potato Commission.
Washington State Tree Fruit Association; Western Growers;
Western States Dairy Producers Association; Westfalia Fruit
US; Wisconsin Potato & Vegetable Growers Association; Wish
Farms.
Mr. BENNET. I will end with this. There is a vegetable farmer in
Brighton, CO, whom I have known for many, many years. His name is
Robert Sakata. His dad started Sakata Farms in 1944 after he was
released from a Japanese-American internment camp, where he was
interned during World War II. For almost 80 years, Sakata Farms has
been a critical ingredient of our Colorado economy--a staple of
Colorado, to put it in food terms, but when Robert visited my office in
the last couple of years, he handed me fliers advertising his equipment
for sale.
I said: Robert, why are you selling your implements? Why are you
doing that?
He loves what he does. He is so passionate about what he does. He is
so passionate about the people who work side by side with him to
produce incredible fruits and vegetables in Colorado. But he told me
that he was selling because he didn't have enough labor to harvest his
vegetable crop. Today, they no longer grow vegetables at Sakata Farms;
they only grow row crops. Is that the future we want for American
agriculture? It is not what we want in Colorado.
I have heard stories like that, like Robert Sakata's story, all over
my State and all over this country for the last decade. We don't have
to accept the loss of the next 10 percent of America's family farms. We
don't have to accept hundreds of thousands of people living in the
shadows when they work every single day. They are breaking their
backs--I don't use that term lightly--working in some of the worst
conditions that there are to work in to feed the American people, to
give us economic security and food security and provide for our
national security.
We shouldn't accept crushing food prices for families just because
this Congress can't reform an antiquated H-2A program. We can do
something about it this week before we go home, with this proposal.
Sometimes the politics of an issue like this seems so hard that you
are defeated on it before you even get started. That has not been the
case with this coalition of people from all over America. They have all
they can contend with every single day.
As I said, with rising input costs, with the trade issues that we
have been dealing with, they have every reason in the world not to
spend a moment trying to actually pass this piece of legislation, but
it is so important because this labor issue is so critical to the
future of American agriculture, and they know it, and they have a sense
of urgency about it. They want us to overcome our fears and our
political concerns, to come together and do what the House of
Representatives did, which is pass a bipartisan bill. I guarantee you,
if we do that, if we do that here in this Chamber, when people go home,
what they are going to hear is this: Thank you. Thank you for listening
to us. Thank you for respecting our work in American agriculture. And
thank you for standing up for our country during a difficult economic
moment in world history.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. SCHATZ. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
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The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Smith). Without objection, it is so
ordered.
____________________