Speech #970089949

Mr. Chairman. I rise today to express my interest in behalf of many of my constituents who comprise one of the poorest. most hardworking. most downtrodden. yet most valuable segments of our society. the migrant farmworker. Have you ever given a thought to what you would eat if there were no one to pick the crops? This long titled appropriations bill which we consider today provides funds for CETA title III. section 303. I want to be sure that it also includes funds for the Hope Migrant Labor Center. about $170.000. This is not a large. or expensive program. but it is vital to many. This center. located in Hope. Ark.. provides sleeping and cooking facilities. showers and restrooms. and a laundry. for use by migrant farmworkers as they travel throughout the country picking food for our tables. This is no freebie. the people pay $1 per night for what are not deluxe accommodations. Every spring. after the Rio Grande Valley crops are picked. many of my constituents head north for Michigan. the Dakotas. and many other places. looking for work in the fields. The migrant center provides accommodations as they head north in the spring. or south in the fall. Without it. they would be forced to sleep in their cars with their families at the side of the road. as they must do in many other parts of the country. Most migrants are to poor to be able to afford hotel rooms for their large families. The migrant center is certainly no vacation spot. but it allows the poor migrant a place to recoup his strength. repair his car. or wash his clothes. It is certainly a better place to stay than the housing in many labor camps. which should have been closed down years ago. In many places throughout the country. farmworker housing lacks proper cooking and sanitary facilities. not to mention all the other amenities we take for granted. Newspaper reports recently stated that the center would be forced to close for lack of funds from the Department of Labor. While I have received no written guarantee. some Department officials have assured me indirectly that funds would be provided to keep the center open in fiscal year In voting for this bill. I do so under the assumption that funds for the migrant center will be provided. We cannot afford to turn our backs on those so poor. but on whom we depend for so much. the migrant farmworker.