[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 152 (Wednesday, October 12, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1823-E1824]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            EXTENDING THE GENERALIZED SYSTEM OF PREFERENCES

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                            HON. GENE GREEN

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 11, 2011

  Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 
2832, legislation that will extend the Trade Adjustment Assistance 
program and the 2009 TAA reforms for workers, firms, and farmers 
through December 31, 2013.
  Since its creation nearly half a century ago, TAA has helped millions 
of Americans whose jobs were lost to outsourcing, off-shoring, and 
increased foreign competition.
  For many, TAA is a critical lifeline that provides retraining and 
education, health insurance assistance, and other crucial support 
initiatives to workers affected by international trade.
  TAA also helps small businesses and farmers become more competitive 
through the TAA for firms and TAA for farmers program.
  This legislation will also extend important reforms made to TAA in 
2009, but were allowed to expire in February of this year. These 
improvements include guaranteeing access to training for American 
service and manufacturing workers, as well as allow workers to qualify 
for TAA benefits if their firms shifted production to any country, 
including China and India, not just countries with which the United 
States has entered into a free trade agreement.
  More than 185,000 additional trade-impacted workers have become 
eligible for training opportunities and benefits under the 2009 
reforms.
  In my state alone, over 20,000 workers have benefited from TAA's 
services and support since May 2009. Nationwide, nearly half a million 
Americans have benefited from TAA over the past two years.
  TAA has historically received bipartisan support in this chamber. I 
hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will join me and support 
this legislation.
  Unfortunately, programs like TAA would not be necessary if this 
Congress and this Administration would push for trade deals that would 
focus on job creation here at home.
  The history of free trade agreements shows that the promised benefits 
of FTAs, be with Mexico and NAFTA, or with China and Most-Favored-Trade 
Status, have not materialized.
  In fact, it has been the opposite.
  Soon after the enactment of NAFTA in 1994, six factories in my 
district in Houston were shut down. The thousands of Houstonians who 
were laid-off were able to get assistance through TAA, but would have 
much rather have kept their jobs than seen their livelihoods moved to 
Mexico.
  Before NAFTA came into effect, the United States had an annual trade 
surplus of over $1 billion with Mexico. Last year, our nation's trade 
deficit with our southern neighbor reached $66 billion.
  The story is similar with China. In 1999, the year before permanent 
MFT status was granted on China, our trade deficit was $68 billion.

[[Page E1824]]

  Today, that deficit has exploded to $273 billion, and with it, 
millions of American jobs. A recent study by the Economic Policy 
Institute found that the trade deficit with China eliminated or 
displaced 2.8 million jobs between 2001 and 2010.
  I fear that enactment of the trade agreements debated in this chamber 
today will further exacerbate job losses in our country.
  EPI found in a study last year that the Korea FTA alone would 
displace 159,000 jobs in the United States. The same study found that 
the Colombia FTA would cost the American people 55,000 jobs.
  It is time for this chamber to ask why our nation gives open access 
to our markets to foreign competitors--as is the case with South Korea, 
Colombia, and Panama--and only, years later, look to gain similar 
access into their markets.
  History has shown me that genuine free trade comes when all parties 
receive equal access to each others' markets. All three of these 
agreements fail to do so.
  I close by calling on my colleagues today to vote in favor of working 
Americans by voting against these trade agreements and voting in favor 
of TAA.

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