The Agriculture Job Opportunities, Benefits and Security act (AgJOBS) legislation, backed by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, has the potential to provide for a more stable, secure, safe, and legal American agricultural work force and food supply, but it may fall victim to deep divisions in Congress. Disagreement over key portions of White House-backed comprehensive immigration legislation – which includes a version of AgJOBS – has derailed the measure, and it is uncertain if the train will get back on the track.

The bi-partisan AgJOBS measure would accomplish two goals: It would provide employees who have worked in agriculture a route to earned legal status, and it would replace the current cumbersome H-2A guest worker program with a more streamlined, practical and secure process.

When AgJOBS was introduced, Sen. Larry Craig characterized it as “comprehensive, landmark and bi-partisan, and it hopes to provide long-term solutions for the serious problems facing farmers and farm workers alike.”

Here is an at-a-glance timeline that tracks development of the reform measure and its subsequent unraveling. At Harvester deadline, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid began taking up the legislation again, using a tactic called "Rule 14" to bring the measure to the Senate floor, bypassing committees. He had said he would revisit the bill if Republicans could reach some agreements and limit the number of amendments to be introduced.


A HOPEFUL SPRING

March 22: Reps. Luis V. Gutierrez, D-Ill., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., along with a bi-partisan group of co-sponsors introduce a reform bill and predict it will see action before summer. The package includes a guest worker program that would allow new workers and current qualifying "undocumented workers" to stay in the United States and work for up to six years as long as they did not take jobs from U.S. workers.

The Security through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy (STRIVE) Act would allow those who qualify to get three-year visas that could be renewed for another three-year stay. Those seeking green cards, a precursor to citizenship, would have to leave and return legally through a port of entry. The bill mirrored Senate action that failed during last year’s congressional session.

March 29: The White House releases a draft plan to address immigration reform that would grant work visas to undocumented immigrants but require them to return home and pay significant fines to become legal U.S. residents. Under the plan, undocumented workers could apply for three-year work “Z visas” that would be renewable indefinitely but cost $3,500 each time they were renewed. Hundreds of thousands of immigrant workers across the country, mostly from Latin America, protested.

April 9: – President Bush tells a group of border enforcement agents in Yuma, Ariz., that securing the border is a critical part of a strategy for comprehensive immigration reform. He says he’s been working to bring Republicans and Democrats together to produce a bill he can sign into law this year.

UNREST AND PROTEST

On May 1, 2007, Police used force to control a Los Angeles crowd gathered for an immigrant rights rally. -Photo credit: Associated Press

May 1: Police use batons to control a crowd at Los Angeles’ MacArthur Park at an immigrant rights march. Police Chief William Bratton later says that a breakdown in command led officers to use force to disperse demonstrators and journalists.

May 9: Key senators and the White House try to negotiate a “grand bargain” on immigration that would grant visas to immigrants based more on their skills as workers than their family ties to those already in the country. After two months of intense negotiations, major stumbling blocks remain, and time all but runs out before May 15 deadline set by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., for debate to begin.

May 12: President Bush tells reporters that Republicans and Democrats are building a consensus that may produce an immigration reform bill this year. The president dispatches Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez to Capitol Hill for almost daily closed-door meetings with a handful of Republicans and Democrats to formulate an immigration deal.

May 15: The Washington Post and other media report that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has been notably invisible in the fight for immigration reform, saying he has handed off day-to-day negotiations to his staff and to fellow Republicans Jon Kyle of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Democrats give immigration reform supporters one more day to produce legislation before forcing another vote on the McCain-Kennedy bill that failed in 2006. The Post predicts that if a bi-partisan deal is reached in the Senate, the House will probably “follow suit.”

May 17: A group of key senators from both parties reaches agreement with the White House on a so-called “grand bargain” that would offer a path to legal status to millions of illegal immigrants already in the United States and provide increased border restrictions. Included in the legislation is a somewhat modified version of the AgJOBS bill, which would create a five-year pilot program for those who have worked in U.S. agriculture for at least 150 days over the previous two years to earn legal status.

LET THE AMENDMENTS BEGIN

May 22: By a 64-31 vote, the Senate defeats a proposal by North Dakota Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan to eliminate the temporary guest-worker program, which would bring in 400,000 workers each year.

May 24: The Senate overwhelmingly approves an amendment by Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., to reduce the number of guest workers allowed into the country each year from 400,000 to 200,000 and bar any adjustments to account for shifts in labor demands.

Memorial Day: Proponents talk with their constituents during the weeklong holiday break after a large-scale phone and e-mail attack on their positions. Arizona Sen. Jon Kyle is particularly vilified for “switching sides.”

May 29: President Bush accuses opponents of fear-mongering, saying, “If you want to scare the American people, what you say is the bill is an amnesty bill.” Opponents, he says, don’t “want to do what’s right for the American people.” Conservatives are outraged, with Rush Limbaugh telling his radio audience, “He’s not going to lose me on Iraq and he’s not going to lose me on national security, but I’m afraid he’s going to lose some of you.”

June 7: The Senate rejects the Democrats’ effort to move toward a final vote on compromise immigration reform. A vote to cut off debate garners only 45 yes votes; 50 senators oppose the move. The vote comes after Republicans say they have not been given enough time to work on the bill.

June 10: A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says the senator is willing to take up the measure again if Republicans can resolve their differences and limit the number of amendments introduced. The bill is not likely to be taken up immediately, however, because of other pressing legislation, including an energy bill.

June 12: President Bush makes a rare appearance in the Capitol to drum up support among Senate Republicans for his immigration proposal.

June 19: Sen. Reid called on a rarely used tactic called "Rule 14" to push the immigration bill straight to floor debate without having to go through committee.

Also on June 19, Republican House lawmakers introduced a plan to enforce current immigration laws to solve the illegal immigration problem, dismissing the Senate plan over their own.

June 28: The Senate votes to block a final vote on the legislation, almost certainly dooming any further effort at reform in Congress this year. On a vote of 46-53, the Senate fell 14 votes shy of the 60 needed to cut off an inevitable filibuster and move to a final vote on the bill.