FSGA & United Fresh Press Immigration Reform in Senate
October 26, 2007 - With debate on the Farm Bill likely to begin in the full Senate November 5, the Agricultural Coalition for Immigration Reform (ACIR) is launching a major push to deliver the message that labor intensive agriculture is in critical need of immigration reform to help create a stable and legal workforce.
“United Fresh has long advocated for Congress to pass the AgJOBs bill as a way to provide current agricultural workers an option to earn legal status without amnesty, and institute a new and efficient guest worker program,” said United Fresh President Tom Stenzel. “We strongly support Senate efforts to move the AgJOBS bill before the close of this session of Congress.
Now is the time for all our members and grassroots supporters to let their Senators know that labor reforms in the AgJOBS bill are an economic necessity for their businesses.” ACIR has set up a new website www.saveusfarms.orgto direct grassroots messages to key Senators.
FSGA and United Fresh encourages all members to go on this site to deliver a message to your Senators, and also check back to the www.unitedfresh.org site for further information as these issues develop in the coming weeks.
Senate Agriculture Committee Farm Bill Helps Fruits and Vegetables
October 26, 2007 - The Senate Agriculture Committee on Thursday passed its version of the 2007 Farm Bill, including an estimated $3 billion in priorities for the specialty crop sector. “This is a major step forward in recognizing the critical role of fruits and vegetables and all specialty crops in American agriculture,” said United Fresh President Tom Stenzel.
The bill will next be considered by the full Senate, and once passed, will be merged together in a conference committee with the House version passed earlier this summer. “The commitment to specialty crops in the Senate has been remarkable, with bipartisan support and leadership from several senators negotiating in committee for our priorities,” said Robert Guenther, senior vice president for public policy.
This bill makes a strong commitment to nutrition and reducing childhood obesity by expanding the USDA Fruit and Vegetable Snack Program to 5,000 schools and 4.5 million elementary school children across the country. The bill also provides important funding for state specialty crop competitiveness projects, increased research, trade assistance and market promotion tools and significant improvements to combat invasive pest and diseases.
“We have a long way to go to pass a Farm Bill and get it signed by the President,” Guenther said. “We will continue to work with our allies in both the House and Senate to build on this solid base.”
Federal Judge Halts Social Security No-Match Regulation
October 12, 2007- This week, the federal district court of Northern California issued a preliminary injunction in the lawsuit, regarding the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) and Social Security Administration’s (SSA) recently announced no-matchregulation. The injunction blocks implementation of the rule for several months, until the Court has a chance to hear the merits of the lawsuit and make a final decision. As a result,the Social Security Administration (SSA) and DHS halted their plan to issue new Social Securityno-match letters to approximately 140,000 employers, concerning approximately 8.7 million employees.
United Fresh, along with six other plaintiffs representing the business community, filed a Motion to Intervenein this case on September 11, 2007. In its announcement of the preliminary injunction, the court agreed with the motion that this rule would cause “irreparable harm to innocent workers and employers.” To learn more about this issue, please visit the United Fresh Social Security No-Match Resource Center.
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