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House Passes Farm Amnesty Bill

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NumbersUSA
Dec. 11th, 2019
US HOUSE JUST NOW PASSED BIG AMNESTY
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260 Representatives agreed that ag wages are too high and voted for a bill to keep wages from rising.

What did your activism accomplish?

DEAR FRIENDS,

I’m sorry to report that the U.S. House of Representatives a few minutes ago passed the H.R. 5038 ag amnesty and indentured servitude act by a vote of 260 to 165.

(As noted below, although the grassroots opposition was not enough to defeat this bill in the House, there are reasons to believe it may have been enough to block this in the Senate.)

While some supporters of the bill called Americans lazy and said ag wages are too high, I am proud of NumbersUSA activists across the country who stood with us on the side of American workers.

VOTING YES ON THE AMNESTY

Amazingly, 226 Democrats took the side of law-breaking agri-business employers and their illegal workers against the legal workers in the ag industry.

Joining them in supporting the amnesty for employers who have massively broken immigration laws for years were 34 Republicans voting YES.

Everybody’s votes will show up on their NumbersUSA Report Cards tomorrow, and their grades will reflect where they stood this evening.

VOTING NO ON THE AMNESTY

Voting NO to the amnesty were 161 Republicans , three Democrats and one Independent.

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR THOUSANDS OF PHONE CALLS IN OPPOSITION

Yes, we lost this vote. But we have gone into every fight in the 23 years of our existence with the idea that there are always ways to win while losing. That is, we often can set up better results in the future even while losing an immediate battle.

The view from Capitol Hill earlier this week was that the House was ready to pass this amnesty in a landslide that showed such bi-partisan consensus that the majority Republicans in the Senate would have to move the amnesty on to the President.

Thanks to the grassroots opposition that poured into congressional offices over the phone lines, that consensus did not occur.

The phone blitz certainly blunted the momentum for the bi-partisan consensus and helped the majority of House Republicans to stand against the tide of cheap-labor ag industry lobbying.

We hope that the fact that more than 80% of the Republicans in the House voted against the bill will signal to the Republican majority in the Senate that they should stop this travesty of a bill.

ESPECIALLY INTERESTING VOTES

Those of you phoning the offices of the following Representatives should feel especially pleased about the way they responded on the floor of the House.

Three Democrats broke ranks and voted NO, siding with the legal workers — and with ag employers who have chosen to obey the law.

Rep. Golden (Maine)

Rep. McAdams (Utah)

Rep. Scott (VA)

In addition, Rep. Tlaib (Minn.) voted “present” rather than support the amnesty.

Especially gratifying were three Republicans who were among the 24 cosponsors of the bill who, upon being informed more about the contents of the bill and of the wishes of their constituents voted NO tonight:

Rep. Curtis (Utah)

Rep. Gibbs (Ohio)

Rep. Stewart (Utah)

Also, even though the libertarian CATO Institute endorsed the amnesty, Rep. Amash (a Michigan Libertarian) voted NO.

In addition, every office of a Representative voting YES has been made aware this week of just how horrible a vote for this bill sounds to many constituents. We will soon be giving you a chance to drive that point further home in the hope of influencing future actions.

Congress:Toll Free Number
(888) 995-2117

The following Republicans voted Yes (* cosponsors):

  • * Rep. Don Young (AK-AL)
  • * Rep. Doug LaMalfa (CA-01)
  • Rep. Paul Cook (CA-08)
  • * Rep. Devin Nunes (CA-22)
  • * Rep. Scott Tipton (CO-03)
  • * Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (FL-25)
  • Rep. Russ Fulcher (ID-01)
  • * Rep. Mike Simpson (ID-02)
  • Rep. Mike Bost (IL-12)
  • * Rep. Rodney Davis (IL-13)
  • Rep. John Shimkus (IL-15)
  • Rep. Adam Kinzinger (IL-16)
  • * Rep. James Baird (IN-04)
  • * Rep. Susan Brooks (IN-05)
  • * Rep. Fred Upton (MI-06)
  • * Rep. Paul Mitchell (MI-10)
  • * Rep. Mark Amodei (NV-02)
  • Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04)
  • * Rep. Pete King (NY-02)
  • * Rep. Elise Stefanik (NY-21)
  • * Rep. Tom Reed (NY-23)
  • Rep. John Katko (NY-24)
  • Rep. David Joyce (OH-14)
  • * Rep. Steve Stivers (OH-15)
  • * Rep. Tom Cole (OK-04)
  • * Rep. Greg Walden (OR-02)
  • * Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01)
  • * Rep. Lloyd Smucker (PA-11)
  • Rep. Glenn Thompson (PA-15)
  • Rep. Will Hurd (TX-23)
  • Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (WA-03)
  • * Rep. Dan Newhouse (WA-04)
  • * Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-05)
  • Rep. David McKinley (WV-01)

THANKS AGAIN TO THOSE OF YOU WHO MADE THE PHONE CALLS AND WHO MADE DONATIONS TO HELP PAY FOR THE PHONE BLITZ,

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ROY BECK, NUMBERSUSA FOUNDER & PRESIDENT
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