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Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2021

Floor Speech

Date: March 18, 2021
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Employment and Affirmative Action Agriculture and Food

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Ms. GARCIA of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this bill. Agricultural workers are crucial to our economy, and this bill would establish a legal and reliable farm workforce.

I support this bill because it recognizes the humanity--yes, the humanity--of farmworkers and their families.

This is personal to me. I grew up poor, picking cotton in the fields of south Texas. I can testify firsthand about the incredibly hard, backbreaking work that farmworkers do, especially in the heat of the south Texas sun. Not much seems to have changed since I worked in the fields. Things pretty much still are handled about the same.

This bill is long overdue and would provide farmworkers with important worker protections and legal rights that I never had and that they desperately need today. Texas is home to nearly 250,000 farms, and the need for a strong agricultural workforce is vital. It is vital to Texas; it is vital to this country; and it is vital to this world.

Madam Speaker, I urge passage.

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