Lindsey Graham: “last year, on October 7, during the consideration of the FY 2000 Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill, Senators Ron…”

“last year, on October 7, during the consideration of the FY 2000 Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill, Senators Ron Wyden, Gordon Smith and I offered an amendment which was accepted as part of the legislation that passed. It directed the Department of Labor to send to Congress its suggestions, or a plan, to improve the day-to-day lives of farmworkers. We are here again. The Labor-HHS Appropriations bill is being debated, and we are still awaiting answers to concerns raised in the last debate. In fairness, I should mention that the Secretary of Labor has indicated that this report is underway and that we can expect it later this year. But yet another year has slipped by without the Administration designing a plan to improve the lives of those who do so much to provide for us. The purpose of our amendment and speech last year was to outline the three previous years of frustration in our efforts to secure this plan from the Department of Labor. We sought legislatively what we had not been able to obtain in personal meetings and phone calls. Now, we are here again, on this same bill, asking for the same assistance. For the past several years I have worked with several of our colleagues to develop a comprehensive strategy to improve the lives of our Nation's farmworkers. Almost everyone agrees that the status quo is unacceptable. GAO estimates that at least 50 percent of agricultural workers in the United States do not have documented status.”