11/17/08 Bush adminstrations closing days

The Bush Administration is hurrying to finish a number of regulations, some affecting agriculture. I'm Bill Scott. Back after this. 64 days from today George Bush leaves the White House but in the two months that remain his administration is still trying to finalize new Labor Department rules for the H2A guest worker program. American Farm Bureau's Paul Schlegel says that is a key for agriculture. SCHLEGEL "We know that we have problems with some of the people that are in our labor force that are not authorized to work." A separate no-match rule for catching illegal workers has been in the courts for over a year and Farm Bureau opposes that provision. SCHLEGEL "The Department of Homeland Security frankly wants to clamp down on employers who get no-match letters from the Social Security Administration. It's effectively turning an employer into a document expert and it's really unworkable." Other pending rules could ease air emission reporting requirements for major livestock operations and on-farm oil spill controls but Schlegel says time is running out. So unless the Bush Administration acts quickly within the next week or so Schlegel predicts there's very little chance any of these rules will take effect. In the meantime some new farm bill provisions including permanent disaster aid may have to be implemented by the Obama administration. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott