Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 1/3/22

The Senate failed to take action in 2021 on a House-passed measure that would expand year-round H-2A agricultural visa access, as lawmakers dealt with higher-profile matters in December including Democrats’ similarly stalled social spending package, our Ximena Bustillo reported over the holidays.

Agriculture industry leaders ended 2021 disappointed that a bill with bipartisan support could not get any traction in the Senate, stymieing much-needed changes to the H-2A visa program, greater access to labor for ag employers and a pathway to legalization for workers.

State of play: Data released by the Labor Department in November shows that 317,619 H-2A visas were certified in fiscal 2021, nearly doubling the 165,741 visas certified five years earlier.

Year-round operations including dairy and pork farms rely on immigrant labor but largely cannot use H-2A visas to meet their work needs. The proposed legislation would expand the program for such employers, but it would cap those visas at 20,000 annually.

There is broad support specifically for H-2A visa reform and expansion, even from hardline Republicans including Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who earlier in the year slammed the broader bill as “mass amnesty.”

Election looms: But many supporters of the effort fear that the upcoming November midterms will freeze Republicans’ desire to put their names on a bill related to immigration reform. Proponents of the measure wanted to introduce a Senate version prior to the holiday recess, in order to avoid negotiations during midterm season. That effort — like many other attempts to create a Senate companion bill — fell through.

Reconciliation won’t cut it: Some Republicans blame the stalled negotiations on Senate Democrats’ recent focus on the $1.7 trillion social spending package, which many advocates hoped would include a pathway to legalization or extended protections for undocumented workers.

Now what? Any changes via budget reconciliation would not provide a pathway to legalization for future workers, and the most recent plan shot down by the Senate parliamentarian only extended protections such as the ability to acquire a driver’s license.

Similarly, a reconciliation package would not address the labor shortage issues or reform the H-2A visa program for agriculture producers.