05/21/07 Farm Bureau hopes to make fixes to immigration compromise

Washington Ag May 21, 2007 The U.S. Senate is expected to begin debate this week on that compromise immigration reform bill worked out by a bipartisan group of senators and the White House. Dan Fazio with the Washington State Farm Bureau says they like the framework of that compromise but will be working to make some changes in the bill. Fazio: "We wish that the guest worker program worked a little bit better for agricultural employers but we have to solve the problem. We have to fix this mess. And we have to take something that we can get. I guess it is a fair characterization that we are going to take this model and try and improve it so it works for labor intensive agriculture. You know we are the second largest employer of agricultural workers in the country after California. We've got 200-thousand agricultural workers in the state. That's the largest employee community in the state so we've got to do something. There is just no other option right now." Fazio says they would like to get some fixes in the bill and get it through the Senate this week. He advises Farm Bureau members to stay up to date on developments through the website at wsfb.com and also by attending county Farm Bureau meetings. Tomorrow some specifics on immigration reform from Fazio. I'm Bob Hoff.