Child Labor in Agriculture

Floor Speech

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, this week the Gallup poll came out with a survey that said 85 percent of small businesses in this country are not hiring. They just are not hiring. When asked why, 50 percent of those small businesses responded that it was the health care law and complying with Federal regulations that were preventing them from hiring. Well, there probably isn't any better example of the overreach, overkill, and excess when it comes to regulations than the Department of Labor regulation on child labor in agriculture. It was put out and public comments were invited on the proposal last September.

Since that time, numerous Senators and outside interest groups have requested a 60-day extension due to the timing of the harvest season, but the Department of Labor only extended that comment period for 30 days. Then 30 Senators--led by the Senator from Kansas who authored the letter--sent a letter that many of us signed onto, basically asking the Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis, to withdraw those proposed regulations that limit the ability of farmers and ranchers to hire young people to work in agriculture. In February of this year, the Department of Labor announced plans to repropose a portion of the regulation on child labor in agriculture interpreting the ``parental exception.'' But what is interesting about it is there have been multiple efforts made to try to get a response to the letter, and the Department of Labor didn't respond to a letter from 30 Senators.

It strikes me that with all of the issues that were raised in that letter and the impact this would have on the very heartland of our country and the ability of farmers and ranchers and their families to sustain themselves and to contribute to feeding the world, it seems they would at least have the courtesy of responding to the points that were raised in that letter. But we have not yet received a response to that letter sent by the Senator from Kansas, Senator Moran, and 29 other Senators who signed onto that requesting a response to the various issues that were raised. We will get into those in a minute. It strikes me as certainly odd, and perhaps I would have to say demonstrating an arrogance, a power to not respond to 30 Senators who, on behalf of their constituents, raised some issues that are very important to the economy of the heartland of the Midwest and the people I represent, and I know the Senator from Kansas represents.

When you look at what they are proposing and the prescriptive nature of that, the detail they go into in restricting the ability of young people to work on family farm and ranch operations, you have to say: What were these people thinking and what world do they live in? Because there seems to be a parallel universe to think that all of these various regulations and restrictions they would impose on young people working in agriculture wouldn't undermine the very fabric, the very nature, the very foundation of American agriculture.

Farming and ranching is inherently a family enterprise. Young people have contributed for generations in helping that family farm or ranch operation survive and prosper. They contribute. They grow up in that business, and in many cases they take it over. It is amazing to me, and incomprehensible, to think that bureaucrats in Washington, DC, could tell family farmers and ranchers how to run their operations with the kind of detail and the incredible prescription of these regulations and the very activities they would curtail for young people.

I wanted to engage my colleague from Kansas on this subject. As I said, he was the author of the letter that was sent, along with many of us--30 Senators in all--asking the Department of Labor to withdraw, in raising a number of points about various aspects of these regulations. And, as I said, we will touch on those in a minute.

I would ask my colleague from Kansas if he thinks that 85 pages of regulations, which is what this proposal is--do we need 85 pages of regulations that tell family farm and ranch operations and young people who work on those family farm and ranch operations how to go about their business? Is it necessary? Do we have to get this bureaucratic and impose these kinds of regulations, these kinds of costs and these kinds of burdens upon American agriculture at a time when--as I mentioned before--there are so many other costs associated with doing business in this country imposed by the government? The ObamaCare, the health care law, and as I mentioned earlier, the Gallup poll was mentioned by half of the small businesses who said it is one of the reasons why they are not hiring. All of these other regulations, many of which come from the EPA, but certainly the Department of Labor in this particular case is guilty of making it more difficult and more expensive to do business in this country and certainly inhibiting the very nature and, from an operation standpoint, the very way that a family farm or ranch operation conducts itself.

I ask my colleague from Kansas his thoughts on this and whether he thinks it is necessary to have 85 pages of regulations having to regulate how family farm and ranch operations do their business.

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Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, if the Senator will yield on that point, what the Senator has touched upon I think is something that perhaps people who don't come from farm country don't appreciate as much as we do, and that is just the very nature of farming. Farming is, as we said, very much a family operation. What we are talking about right now with these regulations is, at a time when we have young people who want and need the opportunity to learn responsibility, who need to learn the value of hard work as well as, for that matter, earn a little extra spending money, this regulation would restrict their ability to do all three. It would be really bad for family farming and ranching in the State of South Dakota. I know that.

It is also a regulation that I would say I don't think has gotten as much attention perhaps as some of the other ones that are out there but one that would have profound consequences on production agriculture.

The Senator mentioned a couple of examples of operating farm equipment. If a person is on a tractor, that person probably, in most cases, would be higher than 6 feet, and this regulation would prevent them from doing things at elevations higher than 6 feet. We could also argue some other things that would fall into that category. How about working on a haystack? A farmer is going to be more than 6 feet above the ground.

Some of the restrictions with regard to working with animals that are more than 6 months old--as the Senator mentioned, being able to herd cattle on the back of a horse--these are all things under these regulations that would be restricted or prevented for many of these young people.

It seems pretty amazing that we would have a Washington bureaucracy dictating with this kind of specificity, with this kind of minutiae, how farm and ranch operations would be conducted. I would argue that the very organizations the Senator from Kansas mentioned--4 H, FFA, extension service--know full well and the families who operate farms know full well what the risks are. They understand. They want to protect their families.

Instead, we have a Washington bureaucracy that thinks it knows best telling family farmers and ranchers how to go about their business in a way that will make it not only more difficult for them to make a living but also I think more difficult for young people to learn the skills and get the experience they will need when hopefully that time comes around that they can take over that operation of farming, ranching in Kansas, as it is in South Dakota. It is very much an intergenerational occupation. And it is more than just an occupation, more than just a vocation. It is a way of life. It is something where values are transmitted from one generation to another--the values of hard work, personal responsibility, integrity, honesty. There are so many character qualities that we value and that young people learn on family farms and ranches. So notwithstanding the economic impact on family farms and ranches, there is certainly a cultural and social impact on our family farms and ranches, and the middle of this country is tremendously impacted by this regulation.

I hope the Senator from Kansas will continue to keep the heat on and continue to keep the pressure on in trying to get a response not only to the letter that he offered and that many of us signed but also to, if possible, get the Secretary of Labor to come to a State such as Kansas or, for that matter, South Dakota and actually see a family farm operation and how it functions because I think they are operating in a bubble, in a vacuum out here where there is very little understanding of the implications of these types of decisions. This is really an example of big government run amok. If we want an example of big government that has completely lost touch with reality, this is certainly an example of that.

I encourage the Senator from Kansas, and I will support his effort 100 percent, to keep the pressure on and trying to get them to recognize the impact of what they are doing and the impact it would have on rural agriculture and all over the world.

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Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, if the Senator from Kansas will yield quickly in closing on one point, is the Senator aware of any group that was consulted on this? Were there any farm organizations that were brought into this or had any input into this? As the Senator mentioned, was this solicited by anyone? Was there any rationale based upon data collected about safety or that sort of thing that necessitated that they use such a heavyhanded, big-government approach to addressing what they perceived to be a problem?

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Mr. THUNE. I don't know what the Senator's average age of a farmer in Kansas is, but my understanding is, at least nationally, the average age of a farmer in this country is nearing 60 years old, which means one thing: somebody is going to have to fill those shoes. Somebody is going to have to come along and take over that farm or ranch operation. This is going to make it increasingly difficult to prepare that next generation of farmers and ranchers.

Again, it occurs to me that this is just something that ought to be withdrawn. I hope the Senator in his efforts and those of us who are supporting that effort will succeed. This is a perfect example of a big-government solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

With that, Mr. President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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