Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2021

Floor Speech

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Mr. TIFFANY. Madam Speaker, while chaos reigns on the border, we have another Democrat jam job before us today.

I would turn to the committee ranking member, the gentleman from California (Mr. McClintock), for a colloquy.

Did the gentleman see these bills in the committee?

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Mr. TIFFANY. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California.

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Mr. TIFFANY. Madam Speaker, reclaiming my time.

These bills did not come before this committee. For someone like myself, who has just joined the committee, I did not even have a chance to be able to partake in this bill.

I wanted to express concerns especially about the H-2A provision in this bill because I am familiar--there is a parallel to the J-1 visas that we use in northern Wisconsin in the resort area. They are temporary visas. And what we found over the years as employers is that people would figure out how to use the J-1 visa to get into the country, and then go job shopping from there.

The H-2A is susceptible to the same thing. And due to lax enforcement, we could all live with it if there was good enforcement in America, but there is not good enforcement of our laws here in the United States.

So let's cut to the chase here. The gentleman from California touched on this very well. These bills devalue American workers' labor.

In 2019, the greatest increase in wages for people who are in the lower income brackets happened, the greatest increases in decades.

I just say to all of those working-class Americans out there: Make no mistake, these bills today are another clear message that you are viewed as replaceable.

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