Durbin Highlights Three Policy Decisions By The Trump Administration That Hurt The Farm Economy, Calls For Immigration Reform To Support Farmers

Durbin Highlights Three Policy Decisions By The Trump Administration That Hurt The Farm Economy, Calls For Immigration Reform To Support Farmers

In today's Senate Agriculture Committee hearing, Durbin advocated for comprehensive immigration reform and an end to the President's tariff policies that harm farmers

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, today participated in an Agriculture Committee hearing entitled "Increasing Domestic Consumption of U.S.-Grown Agricultural Products."

Durbin first pointed out that the American agricultural industry does not have the workforce to keep up with demand, and he called for an immigration policy that accounts for foreign workers who are critical for farming operations.

"Mr. Duvall [President of the American Farm Bureau Federation] talked about farm labor. I'm going to put in a word-immigration. We have to be honest about immigration. I've got farmers, dairy farmers, people who own orchards, [they] tell me they can't get anyone to help, and they are going to give it [their farm] up… Those that have loyal employees that came in from Mexico for example, they bring their family every year, good family relationship between the owners of the farm and the workers, they are scared to death to come to the United States right now. You know that for a fact and I do too," Durbin said. "We have to get serious about immigration. We did a bipartisan comprehensive bill with John McCain. It was a group of eight Senators. We had a farm program that was damn good. If we had that today we would be much better off."

Durbin then spoke out against the Trump Adminsitration's inconsistent trade policies that have created uncertainty for farmers. As a result of the President's tariffs, farmers have lost critical trade relationships that sustained their business.

"The second issue… is tariffs. I hear…how frustrated they [farmers] are with tariffs," Durbin said. "It's not helping."

Durbin further criticized the President's war in Iran, which has disrupted trade routes along the Strait of Hormuz.

"The third area is what the war in the Middle East is going to do to input costs. It's got to be bad, when you consider what goes through the Strait of Hormuz. You have three policy decisions by this Administration that really put us in a challenging situation," Durbin said.

Video of Durbin's remarks is available here.

Audio of Durbin's remarks is available here.

Footage of Durbin's remarks is available herefor TV Stations.

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