Mr. President. I rise today to introduce legislation with Senator SNOWE that will provide our Nations migrant agricultural and forest workers with a safe ride to work. The Farm and Forestry Worker Transportation Safety Act would require a designated seat and seatbelt for each person riding in a vehicle used to transport these workers. Today. many migrant workers travel to their jobs in dangerous and unsafe conditions. It is not uncommon for these workers to ride in overcrowded vans and trucks while sitting on benches and buckets with no access to seatbelts. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 78 agricultural workers lost their lives and 440 were injured in transportation accidents in 2004. I would like to take a moment to share with you just a few of the accidents that have resulted from the lack of adequate safety regulations for these workers: In December of 2005. two Guatemalan forest workers were killed when their vehicle crashed driving off icy roads in Washington. Five Guatemalan forest workers were killed in the same manner the previous year. In June of 2004. 2 migrant workers were killed in Port St. Lucie. FL. when their overcrowded van carrying 11 people rolled over on Interstate 95.