Immigration 2011 Part 2

Immigration 2011 Part 2. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

The lame duck session is waddling on and one question we all know the answer to is whether or not we will see anything done on the immigration issue. Frank Gasparini with the National Council of Agricultural Employers talks about what might happen in 2011.

GASPARINI: We’ve experienced another wave election in America. Whether 2012 will be another wave or whether it will be a continuation of what started in November, I can’t tell you. I can tell you that the last few elections have been waves. We want to throw all the old bums out, put new bums in and 2 years later we’re mad at them; we throw them out again and put other people back in.

Gasparini says that it will be hard for Congress to get anything done.

GASPARINI: Right now is not very good for America for our Congress to be dominated by two sides that absolutely hate one another so much that they won’t work together. One of the early comments was that a balance in legislation tends to cause people to talk to one another and try to do something for the common good.

The other side of the coin is that very little gets done as is the case right now. And Gasparini says that a lot of these issues have trickled down to the state level.

GASPARINI: State issues continue to include high unemployment, reduced tax revenue and less money coming from the federal government so those states are very angry at the federal government 

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.