Acceding to demands by conservatives for a vote on immigration, the House will take up the restrictive Goodlatte-McCaul bill during the third week of June and then follow that with a new vote on the farm bill, said Majority Whip Steve Scalise on Monday. Earlier in the day, Goodlatte aides had circulated a slightly modified version of the bill, which includes the year-round H-2C visa for agricultural workers.
Scalise’s comments indicated that GOP leaders would not seek a re-vote on the farm bill this week. Today is the deadline for action under a parliamentary tactic that would force a new roll call on the bill. Last Friday, 30 Republicans, half of them members of the House Freedom Caucus, joined Democrats in defeating the farm bill, 213-198. The hard-line Freedom Caucus targeted the farm bill to show their focus on immigration.
Scalise told reporters, “We’re looking at moving the farm bill on June 22 and having the Goodlatte-McCaul bill come up the third week of June,” reported Roll Call. The newspaper said it was not immediately clear the Freedom Caucus would accept the approach. Scalise said there is not a majority of votes for the Goodlatte-McCaul bill at present and that efforts are being made to identify elements of a bill that would pass.
The Goodlatte-McCaul bill, sponsored by Judiciary Committee chairman Bob Goodlatte and Homeland Security Committee chairman Michael McCaul, is popular among conservatives and more restrictive than a White House-backed package that failed in the Senate early this year. The revisions unveiled on Monday were apparently intended to make the bill more palatable to moderates.
According to a three-page summary, changes were made throughout the immigration bill. That included 10 to the farmworker section, a couple of which would make it slightly easier for undocumented workers to return to U.S. farms after the required “touchback” in their home country by, for example, allowing the Department of Homeland Security to grant parole for the workers’ return rather than requiring a visa from the State Department. The revisions would also allow employers to hire guestworkers “at will” — meaning workers would be free to change jobs — two years after the bill takes effect. Until now, “at will” work has been tied to implementation of the E-Verify database.
The year-round H-2C visa system would replace the H-2A visa, which is limited to seasonal work. It would be open to meatpackers, dairies, and the timber industry — a first. The standard visa would last for 24 months, to assure that there are enough farmworkers available; specialized jobs would merit a three-year visa. Currently, when visas expire, workers are required to leave the country and apply for re-entry.
An estimated half of U.S. farmworkers — a million people or more — are believed to be undocumented. Farm groups want to assure a legal and reliable workforce. Judiciary Committee chairman Bob Goodlatte’s plan would allow current undocumented workers to obtain legal status by joining the H-2C program, though they would be required to return to their home country before they could seek a U.S. job.