[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 140 (Tuesday, September 20, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Page S5733]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRADE PROMOTION AUTHORITY

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, everyone knows the top issue on the 
mind of most Americans right now is jobs. What I have said is that the 
one thing we could all do right now to help spur job creation is to 
pass the three free-trade agreements with Panama, Colombia, and South 
Korea. Republicans in Congress have been urging the President to pass 
these agreements for nearly 3 years. Yet they have languished on his 
desk for no good reason. It is time to send them up so we can act. At a 
moment when 14 million Americans are looking for work, it is 
indefensible for the White House to demand a vote on trade adjustment 
assistance as a condition for action.
  Still, I and others have agreed to allow it so we can finally move 
ahead on these vital trade deals. It is my expectation, based on the 
understanding I have with the administration, that the President will 
stop dragging his feet soon and submit all three of them for a quick 
approval. At long last, U.S. businesses that want to expand here at 
home but which have been held back by the President's refusal to act 
will be able to compete on a level playing field in these markets, and 
it will create jobs in the process. These agreements, while helpful, 
are not enough.
  In order to create the kind of jobs we need, we need more trade deals 
than these three. That is why I have been a strong advocate for 
granting this President the same trade promotion authority every other 
President has enjoyed since 1974. Also known as fast track, TPA creates 
expedited procedures for congressional consideration of trade 
agreements that the administration negotiates with our trading 
partners. TPA has long had bipartisan support and led to numerous trade 
agreements with 17 new countries during the Bush administration, 
including the 3 we hope to consider shortly.
  Unfortunately, Democrats and their union allies allowed TPA to expire 
in 2007. This President has made no effort whatsoever to revive it. 
Without TPA, the United States will likely never agree to another deal. 
The unions will make sure of that. We have seen what happens next. 
After the North American Free Trade Agreement passed in 1993, TPA 
expired, and in the 8 years that followed the United States did 
nothing, while other countries moved ahead integrating themselves in 
the global economy. We cannot let that happen again. We cannot miss 
more opportunities to compete in foreign markets with U.S.-made 
products just because unions do not want to.
  Consider this: According to the Business Roundtable, while our trade 
agenda has lapsed, the European Union is negotiating 16 trade 
agreements with 46 countries. Japan is negotiating 7 agreements with 38 
countries, and even China is negotiating 11 agreements with 18 
countries.
  What about the United States? We have signed none since this 
administration began, and we are actively negotiating only one, a pact 
that will open opportunities to American businesses and workers across 
the Pacific Rim. I and many of my colleagues and many of our allies 
overseas want to know what is the President's plan to enact that one 
deal if he does not ask for, has not received, and does not even seem 
to want trade promotion authority; is he ready to watch all these 
opportunities vanish? We cannot allow these opportunities for American 
jobs to simply drift away.
  We must reauthorize TPA, along with TAA. Historically, TPA and TAA 
have moved together; in 1974, when TPA was created; in 1988, when it 
was reauthorized; and again in 2002, when TAA was expanded to its 
current prestimulus levels. That is why I am offering an amendment that 
will grant this President trade promotion authority through 2013. It is 
the same term the Democrats are insisting we reauthorize trade 
adjustment assistance. My amendment builds into it the same 
accountability to Congress and the need to consult with Congress that 
previous TPAs have had. It is based on legislation offered by a 
bipartisan pair of trade leaders, Senator Portman and Senator 
Lieberman.
  We are going to hear Democrats arguing we have not had enough time to 
carefully consider this expansion of trade promotion authority and work 
on the negotiating objectives we generally include in the bill. I would 
remind them I first called for TPA last May. Since that time, I have 
heard nothing from my Democratic colleagues or the White House about 
their interest in renewing this authority. There has been zero 
outreach. When I suggested I would be willing to support an extension 
of TAA if we could reauthorize TPA, there was nothing.
  In my view, if the White House will not show leadership on this 
issue, if they are too worried about owning other free trade agreements 
or as being seen by some of their allies as promoting them too 
aggressively, it is my view we ought to help them get there. That is 
why I am offering this amendment to show the world some in Congress are 
ready to move forward and lower the barriers that keep American goods 
out of foreign countries and which American consumers all benefit from 
our integration into the world economy.
  With 14 million Americans out of work and thousands of Americans 
looking for opportunities to sell American-made goods around the world, 
we cannot afford to wait, as we did on these three free-trade 
agreements, while the administration makes up its mind that American 
jobs are more important than appeasing their union allies.
  I yield the floor.

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