2-21 IAN No Pheww

 When the Department of Labor withdrew proposed regulations to alter child labor laws that apply to kids working in agriculture, meaning they could oversee and limit the amount of work farm kids do, I think there was a collective Pheww from anybody with common sense. Well no sigh of relief yet.

 I was high-fiving and backslapping with Amanda Leigh Brozana Communications Director for the National Grange organization over the fact that the Department of Labor backed off on their moronic proposal to limit kids working on farms. Here’s how Amanda felt: “One of the biggest concerns that we had with it was that it seems very Washington Beltway. The idea that farmers don’t have the best interest of children in their minds is ridiculous. Hired work is not a bad concept. It is a good one especially in a culture that has leaned more towards entitlements  and expectation of reward.”  Bravo Amanda, but now D0L is coming back at us. “We expect that this proposal is coming back. It will change slightly  from what we can tell from the D0L stance that we are going to need a parental exemption, for example, so if you are the parent of a child who works on your farm, you will be able to give them an exemption and D0L wouldn’t be able to come in and say anything, however what will really be affected by that is that there is no exception for for example 4-H kids and ag  education.” And we all know how badly those kids turn out don’t we.