Senate to Take Cloture Vote on H-2B and AgJOBS Today

According to announcements from the American Nursery & Landscape Association (ANLA) and the Professional Landcare Network (PLANET), important cloture votes are expected in the Senate today, which would move forward the voting process on S. 352, the Save our Small & Seasonal Businesses Act of 2005, and S. 359, the AgJOBS bill, which focuses on H-2A agricultural workers. Essentially a preliminary vote, Senate cloture votes are end the debate over a given bill and allow the process to move on to an actual vote on the bill’s passage or failure. 60 votes are needed to pass.

S. 352 and S. 359 have been amended to a bill on wartime spending. According to a news release on the ANLA Web site, some resistance to voting on a war-funding package that includes immigration issues is expected. However, the House of Representatives has already passed its spending bill with immigration provisions included.

Currently, 38 senators and 79 representatives are signed on as cosponsors to the H-2B bill, which would provide temporary relief to companies in need of H-2B workers for the 2005 and 2006 seasons. The bill has strong support from both republicans and democrats. Likewise, the AgJOBS bill, which focuses on H-2A workers in the agricultural field, carries bipartisan support from 47 senators and 30 representatives.

The text of each bill is available at the Thomas Legislative Information Web site, thomas.loc.gov. Simply enter the bill number to learn more about each legislative effort:

Save Our Small & Seasonal Businesses Act of 2005: S. 352 or H.R. 793

AgJOBS: S. 359 or H.R. 884