Speech #530131744

I think that what the Miller amendment tries to offer is a structure which can deal with those uncertainties. What we do is adopt the transition program for the beginning. the same transition program that was adopted by the U.S. Senate and very similar to what the House Committee on the Judiciary has adopted. and we say to those farmers. "Those of you who have relied on illegal aliens. we will provide you basically a 3year period in which you can make the transition from the use of illegals. Next year you can use 100 percent of those people. You can ask them to come back and go to work for you. the following year roughly 66 percent. and then onethird of those people. and then none." And during that time we will recognize that we must create a farmworker program that is structured to meet the varied demands of American agriculture. and we will provide for a commission so we can address the problems that have been raised in my subcommittee with respect to the H2 programs. and we can in fact design a program that will provide for the needs of American agriculture during that 3year period of time.