Budd urges US Dept of Labor to end Biden-era agriculture regulations
On Aug. 1, US Sen. Ted Budd, R-NC, joined his congressional colleagues, including Sen. Tim Scott, R-SC, and Rep. Ralph Norman, R-SC5, in a bicameral, bipartisan coalition of lawmakers that sent a letter to US Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer, in urging the US Department of Labor (DOL) to roll back regulations from the Biden administration.
“Biden-era decisions on everything from the H-2A visa program to Adverse Effect Wage Rates are disconnected from reality and have placed unsustainable burdens on American farmers,” Budd told the Carolina Journal. “On top of rising production expenses, growing trade deficits, and ongoing disaster impacts, producers are now facing increased labor costs, jeopardizing the viability of farms here in North Carolina and across the country. We need practical, balanced reforms that support fair wages for our agricultural workforce without threatening the livelihoods of the men and women who feed our nation.”
According to a press release from Budd’s office, these regulations have increased costs for America’s farmers. Rules that have made the H-2A visa program more complex have deepened farmers’ financial losses and created new hurdles for producers trying to participate in the program.
While consistent access to agricultural labor has always been difficult, the Biden Administration further complicated this issue by applying a series of rules that fundamentally altered the implementation of the H-2A visa program and the methodology used to determine the Adverse Effective Wage Rate (AEWR). These changes placed a significant burden on American farmers by further increasing farm labor wages. Your team at the US Department of Labor (DOL) has recognized the impact of these policies and taken important steps to address them. We commend your efforts, particularly with the recent progress in halting enforcement of the Biden Administration’s farm labor unionization rule and advancing a proposal to rescind provisions within it. We hope this marks the beginning of a broader effort to roll back the Biden Administration’s restrictions on farm labor access since there are other harmful provisions still being enforced. Specifically, on March 30, 2023, the Biden Administration finalized a rule that altered the AEWR methodology, inflating the cost of farm labor. The rule sets hourly wages beyond the six traditional farm work occupations listed in the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farm Labor Survey (FLS) by using data from the DOL’s Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program. Further, it requires farm operators to pay the highest applicable AEWR Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code for farm workers.”
Congressional letter to US Department of Labor secretary
The letter details several problems with the provisions enforced by the AEWR rule.
US Reps. Don Davis, D-NC1; Richard Hudson, R-NC9; and Virginia Foxx, R-NC05, also signed the letter.
“Budd urges US Dept of Labor to end Biden-era agriculture regulations” was originally published on www.carolinajournal.com.
