The Kentucky Equine Education Project (KEEP), Kentucky's equine economic advocate, released the following statement Thursday evening regarding the U.S. House of Representatives passage of H.R. 1603, the Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2021:
“KEEP commends the U.S. House of Representatives for its the passage of H.R. 1603, the Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2021, which addresses the labor crisis facing many agriculture operations across the country by reforming the H-2A visa process, providing a path to legal status for farm workers, and implementing a nationwide E-Verify system.
“While this bipartisan legislation does not affect H-2B visas, which are also used by the Kentucky horse industry, it does impact H-2A visas, which are critical to horse breeding operations. KEEP calls on Congress to address the vast shortages of H-2B visas in future immigration legislation to meet the needs of Kentucky's horse industry.
“In addition to advocating in support of smart and sensible immigration reforms to address the labor shortages of Kentucky's horse industry, KEEP has invested heavily in promoting career opportunities within the industry to Kentuckians in order to create a homegrown workforce.”
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