Can we fix it?

Recently, I attended the Carolinas Roofing and Sheet Metal Contractors Association Inc.'s annual convention, and one question I was asked repeatedly was: "What in the world is going on in Congress?"

It looks like once again our elected officials will kick the proverbial can down the road on immigration. I think the best we can hope for is some type of border security measure, but even that is looking shaky. Why is that?

Congress is made up of 535 members. Each one comes to Congress with his or her own worldview and, more important, parochial interests. For example, there are 435 individual members of the House of Representatives each representing about 700,000 citizens. However, the interests of those citizens vary dramatically. The differences in political ideologies, family dynamics and economics are so broad between urban and rural America that spanning the divide between the two has become nearly impossible.

Rural America's economy often is agricultural. Those living in urban areas rarely see how their food is grown, produced or processed. More important, they rarely see who produces those things. It's not at all surprising the leading members of Congress driving the immigration debate come from agricultural economies. But another dynamic is emerging.

We are seeing members of Congress who represent large minority populations, especially large Hispanic and Latino groups in urban areas, building coalitions. It's widely believed these coalitions are not large enough to move legislation through Congress.

But I think they are large enough. If Speaker of the House Paul Ryan wanted to, he could move a bipartisan immigration reform bill that not only meets the needs of agriculture but the entire economy, as well, including construction. There are enough members who want to fix the problem of our broken immigration system that I expect it could pass easily. The reason it's not getting done is because House leadership is trying to move a Republican-only bill.

When I served in Congress, we often spoke of the Hastert rule. Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) had a policy that he would only move legislation that had a majority of the majority supporting it. So 50 percent of Republicans plus one had to support major pieces of legislation. Generally, this works because the majority party can drive the agenda but still allow members of the minority party to have a say. That's not how it works now.

For major legislation, the current House leadership has abandoned the Hastert rule. We saw that approach used when tax reform came to floor for votes and now with immigration. Democrats also used a party-only rule when passing the Affordable Care Act, so there is plenty of blame to pass around.

Ryan was able to cobble together 218 votes (the usual number of votes to pass legislation in the House) for tax reform but cannot get to 218 using this approach for immigration. The Republican party is too divided on this issue. There simply is not an immigration policy that has 218 Republicans willing to support it.

So what can we do when Congress doesn't act? NRCA continues to work with members of Congress who want to see a solution carefully crafted to address workforce issues facing the entire country not just agriculture. I am not hopeful we can get something done this year, but disengaging simply is not an option.

This brings me to Roofing Day in D.C. 2019. This fall, national elections will bring a new Congress to Washington, D.C. The roofing industry absolutely must be fully engaged if we are to have input in major legislation. You can bet the agriculture folks will show up wanting a guest worker program, and we need to be there explaining our issues and expressing our concerns with one voice.

Roofing Day in D.C. 2019 is scheduled for April 3-4; put it on your calendar now, and plan to show up. Let's build important relationships with members of Congress and each other. Let's make a difference as only we can.

Reid Ribble is NRCA's CEO.
@NRCA_CEO

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