Ag groups split over latest House labor bill

While some members of Congress and agricultural groups have been working hard to pass an agricultural labor bill before the August recess, one agricultural group is thanking its members for killing it.

Tom Nassif, president and CEO of Western Growers, an association representing growers of more than half the produce in the U.S., sent an email to hundreds of his members July 13 thanking them for lobbying against the revised Ag and Legal Workforce Act of House Judiciary Chairman Robert Goodlatte, R-Va.

“We have been informed that the U.S. House of Representatives will NOT vote on legislation next week that would impose mandatory E-Verify (electronic verification of employment eligibility) with no fix for our existing workers,” Nassif wrote.