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By gosh you can’t say ol’ Larry didn’t fight the American people right to the end!

http://www.americanfarm.com/growtopstory8.01.2007a.html

ANLA to
Congress on immigration:
Keep trying

8.01.07

Attendees at the 2007 American Nursery and Landscape Association Legislative Conference visited approximately 250 House and Senate offices representing 40 states to lobby for a solution to the labor and immigration crisis and to support specialty crop provisions in the 2007 Farm Bill reauthorization. Research funding and water policy were also addressed.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and Senator Larry Craig, R-Idaho, addressed the attendees, encouraging them to maintain their efforts to achieve a necessary solution for securing a viable workforce for our country’s agricultural and seasonal industries. According to ANLA Vice President of Government Relations, Craig Regelbrugge, “This event took place at a critical time. Our attendees were the first broad industry delegation, following the recent failed Senate vote on comprehensive immigration reform, to discuss all aspects of the immigration issue and to tell Congress that failure or inaction are not acceptable.”

Gutierrez, himself an immigrant to the United States, stated, “This isn’t over. Think about how you can have a louder and louder voice. We must achieve immigration reform for our national and our economic security. History will show that you were on the right side.”

The evening the conference concluded, Senators Craig and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., engaged in a 40-minute debate on the Senate floor in an attempt to introduce AgJOBS provisions, agricultural worker immigration reform, in response to anti-immigrant language introduced into the Farm Bill.

Regelbrugge said, “This unexpected opportunity, while not immediately successful, confirms the importance of steady vigilance in our lobbying efforts to encourage our representatives to support this legislation.”