Speech #530132339

I think that we have to recognize that what we are doing here is going from an H2 program of 40.000 people to a committee version. to 350.000 to 400.000 guest workers. and now a Panetta amendment with no specified maximum. but people have said already that it could go up to over a half million. I would like to suggest that perhaps that is the most salient reason to reject this amendment. In trying to incorrectly close the door to illegal aliens. we are now opening. through the guest worker provisions. the whole side of the building for reasons that are totally unclear to me. If the legalization provisions are adopted. literally millions of migrant workers will become citizens and then we will have this incredible provision that I hope will be rejected. The fact of the matter is that no matter what we do. whether it is H2. whether it is H.R. 1510. whether it is the Panetta version. we have shameful and unacceptable working conditions among field workers. an issue I am not sure has been addressed by anything in this entire bill. The Secretary of Labor held hearings on May 25 of this year about proposed field sanitation standards for the 4 million agricultural workers. When I mentioned one statistic a few minutes ago. the distinguished chairman of the Agriculture Committee said that that was way out of line. I submit to you that what he said was way out of line. When I quoted the testimony that stated that the Surgeon General had found that some 800 to 1.000 field workers each year are killed. 80.000 to 90.000 are injured by pesticides annually. contributing to an already higher mortality rate for infections and preventable diseases. and when I said that migrant workers have a life expectancy of 49 years. no matter where they come from. it seems to me that this is a relevant unspoken problem. the lack of action on which is a travesty. I hope sincerely that the Panetta amendment will be rejected. because it is redundant. and I hope that we will do something about the plight of these migrant workers whose conditions have been too little addressed in this measure.