Trump on Board

Idaho Republican Congressman Mike Simpson has been working for over six months on the Farm Workforce Modernization Act which will bring in legal immigrants in a carefully regimented manner to work agricultural jobs that Americans won't do. We know how Pres. Trump feels about immigrants so I asked the Congressman to expand.

“You’re not at odds with the president over this? Yeah, we met with one of the people from the White House the other day to explain to them what was in this bill. But, you know, the president has said that we need a merit based immigration reform, and that's exactly what this bill does.

So I expect once this bill hopefully makes it through the House, goes to the Senate, you know, there'll be machinations in both the House and the Senate and probably some improvements or some proposals and those kind of things. I'm hopeful that when it hits the president's desk, he'll be willing to sign it.

And I think by the time that happens, he will be. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce supports the Farm Workforce Modernization Act. I have the letter in front of me. The Chamber of Commerce came out in support of this bill. And if you look at the list of agricultural groups both across the country, there's like over 210 agricultural groups that support it. In Idaho, the list is long. Almost every major agricultural commodity group supports the United Chambers of Commerce and the Idle Bankers Association. And all those types of organizations support it, too. So I've been really pleased with the general support across the country and particularly in Idaho.