President. I yield myself 10 minutes. Immigrant workers are among the most vulnerable in our Nation. While performing societys most difficult and dangerous work. they face abuse by employers. the denial of basic rights. and economic exploitation. In negotiating the McCainKennedy bill. we took great care to include protections that will halt these alarming trends and ensure fair wages and working conditions for guest workers. We also took great care to protect American workers and ensure that the guest worker program does not diminish American labor standards. However. history shows us that it is not enough to pass good labor laws if we do not also make a strong commitment to enforcing these laws. Beyond anything we have provided in the bill. the most important step we could take to help American workers and immigrant workers alike would be to improve our enforcement of the critical labor protections that have been a part of U.S. law for decades. We have laws on the books that protect the safety of American workers. Yet each year in the United States over 5.700 workers are killed on the job. and 4.3 million others have become ill or injured.
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