Mr. President. the unique and severe problems facing our Nations migrant and seasonal farmworkers present the best reasons for maintaining and expanding special antipoverty programs designed to serve particular groups of citizens. Because they are a highly mobile group. and because many of our laws and programs require permanent residence as a condition for eligibility or participation. in practice migrant farmworkers have little or no opportunity to participate in local antipoverty programs. or most other Federal programs designed to serve the poor. Furthermore. farmworkers are excluded. or at best only minimally included. from almost every major Federal and State legislative program designed to protect workers or improve living and working conditions for farmworkers in this country. Fortunately. special programs focused on migrant workers such as the Migrant Health Act. and the migrant education program under title I of ESEA have been established. as well as the title IIIB program in the Equal Opportunity Act. I am today submitting an amendment to S. 1809. a bill to improve and extend the authorizing legislation for the Office of Economic Opportunity. that would increase the appropriation authorization for title IIIB programs for migrant and seasonal farmworkers under the Economic Opportunity Act to $54 million for each of the next 3 years. This represents an increase of 100 percent over the grants allocated in fiscal year 1969. and a 60percent increase over the level proposed in S. 1809. I ask unanimous consent that a copy of this amendment be printed in the RECORD at the close of my remarks.
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migrant Migrant