TSCRA Government Affairs Roundup: Meetings in D.C., The Ag Guestworker Act, Land stewardship advocacy

It was a busy week for TSCRA leaders and government affairs staff, who spend most of the week in Washington, D.C. They attended the NCBA Legislative Conference, and also met with dozens of policymakers. The meetings are vital to government affairs efforts, as it helps build solid relationships with our lawmakers and their staff. Those relationships are important when issues arise in Washington that impact you!
Visit our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/tscra or scroll down to check out photos from some of the meetings.
Also, this week, TSCRA signed onto a letter with numerous other agriculture advocates expressing strong support of the Agricultural Guestworker Act (AG Act), authored by U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte. The letter says in part, “agriculture is at a crisis point and faces a critical farm labor shortage… The AG Act helps us meet these important goals and offers vast improvements over the existing H-2A program.” To read the full letter, click here.
TSCRA also will be joining The Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board, other state agencies and organizations in a statewide campaign to highlight the importance of voluntary land stewardship in Texas. Soil and Water Stewardship Week is April 29 through May 6, 2018, and the focus this year is “The Importance of Pollinators to Soil and Water Conservation in Texas.” For more information click here.
TSCRA continues to monitor and respond publicly to ongoing international trade conversations, including recently announced Chinese tariffs on U.S. beef, NAFTA renegotiations, and a possible U.S. re-entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement. It is reported that President Trump instructed staff to begin working on a potential U.S. re-entry into the TPP, which would likely provide reduced tariffs for U.S. beef in Asia-Pacific nations such as Japan.