By Fred Knapp, Reporter/Producer, Nebraska Public Media
Members of Nebraska’s congressional delegation had a chance to voice their opinions at an annual summit meeting hosted by the Lincoln, Omaha and state chambers of commerce Tuesday.
One of the leading topics brought up by the business groups was how to deal with workforce shortages. The chambers have been pushing for immigration reform to increase the number of people available to work.
Second District Rep. Don Bacon, speaking on a prerecorded video, said he supports legislation to lengthen the time people can qualify for permission to work without getting recertified. And Bacon said the legal immigration system must be improved to discourage illegal immigration.
Bacon, who like the other members of the delegation is a Republican, said a thousand people died trying to cross the border from Mexico last year, but legislation passed by the House in May would help.
“The situation is a disaster, and this bill is a step towards remedying some of the issues we have seen. We are committed to working on resolutions to these issues. I know that they can only be resolved in a bipartisan manner,” Bacon said.
The Secure the Border Act of 2023 would beef up Customs and Border Protection forces and resume building a border wall. Every Democrat in the House voted against it and the White House has threatened a veto, saying it does nothing to address the root causes of migration.
Sen. Deb Fischer also spoke about the need for bipartisan cooperation, especially in the Senate, where she said the threat of a filibuster forces both sides to talk to each other. She said the National Defense Authorization Act, which the Senate passed 86-11 last month, is an example.
“It was a strong bipartisan bill. This is something we don’t always hear about, that we do work together. But in the Senate, it’s something that takes place quite often. Because to be honest with you, it takes 60 votes to get something passed,” Fischer said.
While there was bipartisan support in the Senate, the bill barely passed the House, 219-210, after Republican conservatives added restrictions on abortion and transgender care for members of the military. The Senate and House versions must now be reconciled.
First District Rep. Mike Flood talked about bipartisan cooperation that took place in the Financial Services Committee. The committee got a Zoom briefing from the Biden administration after the Silicon Valley Bank collapsed in April. Flood said he was expecting a partisan “food fight,” over the proposed bailout, but that didn’t happen.
“To my amazement, the leadership of both the Republicans and the Democrats who said ‘We understand the chips are down, we support what you’re doing. The Treasury Secretary said if ‘I can make one request, would you affirm to the American people that our banking system is safe in the morning?’ Everybody to a one — every Republican, every Democrat did that. And that night on that Zoom, I saw what I thought was the best of America,” Flood said.
Members of the delegation also discussed matters involving the state’s largest industry, agriculture. Third District Rep. Adrian Smith talked about Mexico’s refusal to accept genetically modified corn from the United States. Smith said that violates the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement that took effect three years ago.
“Mexico agreed at the time that they would take our biotech corn. Now they don’t want to. The president of Mexico he knows that he can’t use science as a reason. So he says culturally, all corn in Mexico consumed by humans must be grown in Mexico. No, no, that’s not what you agreed to. That’s not what science says is the right thing either. And so we are in the process of enforcement,” Smith said.
Reuters reported last week that the United States has rejected Mexico’s request to collaborate on scientific research about the health effects of genetically modified corn. Mexico has said it will continue the trade dispute.
And on another corn-related issue, Sen. Pete Ricketts promoted a bill he has introduced with Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat. They propose offering incentives for manufacturers of flex-fuel vehicles, which use up to 85 percent ethanol, similar to incentives for manufacturers of electric vehicles, or EVs:
“Right now, the Biden administration has an agenda that only wants to push EVs, which I don’t think reflects states like Nebraska where we have long distances between our urban communities of Omaha and Lincoln, that EVs don’t work so well,” Ricketts said.
Ricketts says he hopes to get the proposal attached to another bill moving through the Senate.