Salud Ortiz Carbajal: “I thank Mr. Espaillat for his remarks. Before I yield to our next speaker, I wanted to reiterate: Make no mistake, under…”

“I thank Mr. Espaillat for his remarks. Before I yield to our next speaker, I wanted to reiterate: Make no mistake, under this plan we can expect even higher prices for food and goods, and it further worsens our workforce shortages. The reality is that undocumented workers make up 14 percent of construction workers and roughly 42 percent of our agricultural workforce. Farmworkers help feed our Nation and allow grocery stores to stay stocked with affordable fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, this reality is not what my colleagues on the other side of the aisle want to admit. On Monday I offered an amendment to the budget resolution so we can move forward the bipartisan Farm Workforce Modernization Act to provide farmworkers with legal status so they can continue to work on our farms in this country. Not only is this the right thing to do, but providing farmworkers with legal status helps provide stability and keeps our stores stocked with affordable groceries and domestically grown food, also helping American growers. Instead, the Rules Committee blocked my amendment, and not a single amendment was made in order. We need to do better than this and deliver on lowering costs for the American people. I call on my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to reconsider this reckless plan that would benefit billionaires at the expense of everyday Americans. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time is remaining. The SPEAKER pro tempore.…”