[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 101 (Thursday, July 19, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7967-S7969]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. Bingaman (for himself, Mr. Baucus, Mr. Daschle, Mr. 
        Conrad, Mr. Rockefeller, Mr. Breaux, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Torricelli, 
        Mrs. Lincoln, Mr. Jeffords, Mr. Bayh, Mr. Dayton, and Mr. 
        Lieberman):
  S. 1209. A bill to amend the Trade Act of 1974 to consolidate and 
improve the trade adjustment assistance programs, to provide community-
based economic development assistance for trade-affected communities, 
and for other purposes; to the Committee on Finance.
  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Trade 
Adjustment Assistance for Workers, Farmers, Communities, and Firms Act 
of 2001, and would like to add Senators Baucus, Daschle, Conrad, 
Rockefeller, Kerry, Torricelli, Jeffords, Lincoln, Breaux, Bayh, 
Dayton, and Lieberman as original co-sponsors.
  This legislation represents the culmination of almost two years of 
effort, including discussions with individuals who process or receive 
trade adjustment assistance, conversations with labor and trade policy 
experts, consultations with the Department of Labor, requests for 
studies from the General Accounting Office, and dialogue between my 
colleagues in the Senate. The legislation is extremely important, as it 
directly addresses the question of how Congress will assist those 
workers and communities negatively impacted by international trade. It 
is also long overdue, as Congress--the Senate in particular--has 
discussed reform of the trade adjustment assistance programs for a 
number of years. The last revision of the trade adjustment assistance 
programs occurred when NAFTA was passed, and we only added to the 
programs at that time, we did not make them compatible in any tangible 
way. I believe it is time to act, and I think we have a unique 
opportunity to act in that there is interest both in Congress and the 
Administration to improve the trade adjustment assistance programs in a 
fundamental and a beneficial way.
  Let me give some background on trade adjustment assistance, and why I 
feel it is so important to address at this time.
  In 1962, when the Trade Expansion Act was being considered in 
Congress, the Kennedy Administration established a basic rule 
concerning international trade as it applies to American workers. When 
someone loses their job as a result of trade agreements entered into by 
the U.S. government, we have an obligation to assist these Americans in 
finding new employment. It is a very straightforward proposition 
really. If you lose your job because of U.S. trade policy, the Federal 
Government should help you in your effort to get a job in a competitive 
industry at a wage equivalent to what you are making now. While I 
believe the United States should be committed to expanding the 
international trading system, I also believe we should help our workers 
get back on their feet when they are harmed by trade agreements.
  I find this proposition to be reasonable, appropriate, and fair. It 
suggests that the U.S. government supports an open, multilateral 
trading system, but recognizes that it is responsible for the negative 
impacts this policy has on its citizens. It suggests that the U.S. 
government believes that an open trading system provides long-term 
advantages for the United States and its people, but the short-terms 
costs must be addressed if the policy is to continue and the United 
States is to remain competitive. It suggests that there is a collective 
interest that must be pursued by the United States in the international 
trading system, but that our individual and community interests must be 
simultaneously protected for the greater good of our country.
  This commitment to American workers has continued over the years--
through both Democratic and Republican administrations and Congresses--
and I am convinced the Trade Adjustment Assistance program should be 
both solidified and expanded at this time. I say this for two reasons.
  First, as I have stated above, because from where I stand American 
workers and communities deserve some tangible help from the competitive 
pressures of the international trading system. We cannot stand by and 
pretend that there is not a need to assist workers and communities 
adjust to the dramatic changes that are now occurring as a result of 
globalization. Trade adjustment assistance will help do this.
  Second, as a practical matter, passage of stronger trade adjustment 
assistance legislation will allow us to intensively pursue 
international trade negotiations and focus on important issues like 
liberalization, transparency, access, inequality, and poverty in the 
international economy. If we support programs like Trade Adjustment 
Assistance--programs that empower American workers, that raise living 
standards, and that advance the prospects of everyone in our country--
then we open the possibility for more comprehensive and beneficial 
international trade agreements. We must understand that globalization 
is inevitable, and over time will only move at an even more rapid pace. 
The question for us in this chamber is not whether we can stop it--we 
cannot--but how we can manage it to benefit the national interest of 
the United States. Trade adjustment assistance programs for workers and 
communities will help do this.
  There is no denying that globalization is a double-edged sword. But 
while there are obvious benefits that come from a more open and 
interdependent trading system, we cannot ignore the problems that come 
as a result. In my State of New Mexico we have seen a number of plant 
closings and lay-offs, including some in my own home town of Silver 
City. These people cannot simply go across the street and look for new 
work. They are people who have been dedicated to their companies and 
have played by the rules over the years. When I talk to these people, 
they ask me: Where am I supposed to work now? Where do I find a job 
with a salary that allows me to support a family, own a house, put food 
on the table, and live a decent life?

[[Page S7968]]

Where are the benefits of free trade for me now that my company has 
gone overseas?
  These are hard questions, especially given their current situation. 
But my answer is that they deserve an opportunity to get income support 
and re-training to rebuild their lives. They deserve a program that 
creates skills that are needed, that moves them into new jobs faster, 
that provides opportunities for the future, that keeps families and 
communities intact. They deserve the recognition that they are 
important, and that through training they can continue to contribute to 
the economic welfare of the United States.
  Trade adjustment assistance offers the potential for this outcome. 
Over the years it has consistently helped workers across the United 
States deal with the transition that is an inevitable part of a 
changing international economic system. It helps people that can work 
and want to work to train for productive jobs that contribute to the 
economic strength of their communities and our country. Although TAA 
has not been without its flaws, it remains the only program we have 
that allows workers and companies to adjust and remain competitive. 
Without it, in my opinion, we are saying unequivocally that we don't 
care what happens to you, that we bear no responsibility for the 
position that you are in, that you are on your own. We can't do that. 
We have made a promise to workers in every administration, both 
Democrat and Republican, and we should continue to do so.

  As we wrote this legislation, we kept a number of fundamental 
objectives in mind:
  First, we wanted to combine existing trade adjustment assistance 
programs and harmonize their various requirements so they would provide 
more effective and efficient results for individuals and communities. 
In doing so, we wanted to provide allowances, training, job search, 
relocation, and support service assistance to secondary workers and 
workers affected by shifts in production. We also ensured that the 
State-based delivery system created through the Workforce Investment 
Act remained intact but tightened the program so response times to lay-
offs and trade adjustment assistance applications would quicker.
  Second, we wanted to recognize the direct correlation between job 
dislocation, job training, and economic development, especially in 
communities that have been hit hard by unemployment. In the past, trade 
adjustment assistance focused specifically on individual re-training, 
but it did not address the possibility that unemployment might be so 
high in a community that jobs were not available for an individual 
after they had completed a training program. To rectify this problem, 
we have created a community trade adjustment assistance program, 
designed to provide strategic planning assistance and economic 
development funding to those communities that need it the most. In 
doing so, we have emphasized the responsibility of regional and local 
agencies and organizations to create a community-based recovery plan 
and activate a response designed to alleviate economic problems in 
their region, and to establish stakeholder partnerships in the 
community that enhance competitiveness through workforce development, 
specific business needs, education reform, and economic development.
  Third, we wanted to encourage greater cooperation between Federal, 
regional, and local agencies that deal with individuals receiving trade 
adjustment assistance. At present, individuals that are receiving trade 
adjustment assistance obtain counseling from one-stop shops in their 
region, but typically this is limited to information related to 
allowances and training. Not available is the other information 
concerning funds available through other Federal departments and 
agencies, such as health care for individuals and their families. To 
prevent the creation of duplicative programs and to use the funds that 
are currently available, we have asked that an inter-agency working 
group on trade adjustment assistance be created and that a inter-agency 
database on Federal, State, and local resources available to TAA 
recipients be established.
  Fourth, we wanted to establish accountability in the trade adjustment 
assistance program. In the past, data concerning trade adjustment 
assistance has been collected, but not in a uniform fashion across all 
States and regions. The Department of Labor and the General Accounting 
Office have done their best to obtain data that allow us to evaluate 
programs and measure outcomes, and we have used this data in writing 
this bill. In the future, however, we need to ensure that Congress has 
the information needed that will allow us to make targeted reforms.
  Finally, we wanted to help family farmers. At present, trade 
adjustment assistance is available for employees of agricultural firms, 
the reason being that firms have individuals that can become 
unemployed. Family farmers, however, are not in this position. For 
them, there is no way to become unemployed, and therefore, no way for 
them to become eligible for trade adjustment assistance.
  This legislation improves upon the current system in a number of 
ways. As I mentioned above, for the first time Congress will establish 
a two-tier system for trade adjustment assistance, recognizing that 
trade can adversely affect both individuals and communities.
  For individuals, the legislation: harmonizes TAA and NAFTA/TAA across 
the board as it relates to eligibility requirements, certification time 
periods, and training enrollment discrepancies, making it one coherent, 
comprehensive program; extends TAA benefits to all secondary workers 
and all workers affected by shifts in production; increases TAA 
benefits so allowances and training are both available for a 78 week 
period; provides relocation and job search allowances to TAA 
recipients; provides support services for individuals, including child-
care and dependent-care; increases the time frame available for breaks 
in training to 30 days; allows individuals who return to work to 
receive training funds for up to 26 weeks; entitles individual 
certified under trade adjustment assistance program to training, and 
caps total training program funding at $300m per year; establishes 
sliding scale wage insurance program at the Department of Labor; 
requires detailed data on program performance by States and Department 
of Labor, plus regular Department of Labor report on efficacy of 
program to Congress; establishes inter-agency group to coordinate 
Federal assistance to individuals and communities; allows individual 
eligible for trade adjustment assistance program a tax credit of 50% on 
amount paid for continuation of health care coverage premiums; requires 
the General Accounting Office to conduct a study of all assistance 
available from Federal Government for workers facing job loss and 
economic distress; requires States to conduct a study of all assistance 
available from Federal Government for workers facing job loss and 
economic distress; provides States with grants not to exceed $50,000 to 
conduct such study; requires General Accounting Office and States to 
submit reports to Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means 
Committee within one year of enactment of this Act; establishes that 
the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee can 
by resolution direct the Secretary to initiate a certification process 
covering any group of workers.

  For communities, the legislation: establishes Office of Community 
Economic Adjustment (OCEA) at Commerce; establishes inter-agency group 
to coordinate Federal assistance to communities; establishes community 
economic adjustment advisors to provide technical assistance to 
communities and act as liaison between community and Federal government 
concerning strategic planning and funding; provides funding for 
strategic planning; provides funding for community economic adjustment 
efforts; responds to the criticism contained in several reports and 
creates a series of performance benchmarks and reporting requirements, 
all of which will allow us to gauge the effectiveness and efficiency of 
the program.
  For companies, the legislation: re-authorizes TAA for firms program.
  For Farmers, Ranchers, and Fishermen, the legislation: establishes 
special provisions that allow TAA to cover family farmers, ranchers, 
and fishermen.

[[Page S7969]]

  Let me conclude by saying that I consider the Trade Adjustment 
Assistance program to be a commitment between our government and the 
American people. It is the only program designed to help American 
workers cope with the changes that occur as a result of international 
trade. Current legislation expires on September 30th of this year, and 
it is time to do something more than a simple reauthorization. I ask my 
colleagues to support this bill.

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