The Pombo amendment would have modified the current temporary agricultural worker program by creating a three-year alternative pilot program which would have allowed employers to hire temporary and seasonal workers for less than 10 months at a time. The amendment included a mandate that American workers would have been given preference during the first 25 days of hiring, and that 25% of a worker's wages would be withheld until the worker leaves the country.

With exclusion from the House Bill, the "Temporary Agricultural Worker Program will find Passage in the Senate much more difficult. President Clinton has threatened a veto if the "guest worker" program is included in the immigration reform legislation.