November 06, 2007

Dianne Feinstein drops AgJobs amnesty, doesn't have the votes

According to this, Sen. Dianne Feinstein yesterday decided that she didn't have the votes to add the AgJobs farmworker amnesty to the Farm Bill:

"When we took a clear-eyed assessment of the politics of the farm bill and the defeat of the DREAM Act and comprehensive immigration reform, it became clear that our support could not sustain these competing forces... [because of this] we will continue to see labor shortages far into the future. Fruit will rot. Crops will go unharvested. Operations will be forced to cut back or move to Mexico."

Oh well. Perhaps that's for the best. Alternatively, she could push for farm mechanization rather than trying to import serf labor. The article also quotes Craig Regelbrugge, co-chair of the Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform, saying that he's been "working with Feinstein on the Ag Jobs effort". He says that in 1999 we became a net food importer.

Amnesty supporters take heart:

But Feinstein said she isn't giving up. She will ask Majority Leader Harry Reid to schedule floor time for Ag Jobs either later this year or early in 2008... When the comprehensive immigration bill failed in June, Reid promised Feinstein he'd allow Ag Jobs to come up for a vote on its own.

Posted to Immigration2007b at November 6, 2007 01:35 PM