[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 152 (Wednesday, October 12, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1826]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SUPPORTING THE EXTENSION OF TRADE ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE AND OPPOSING 
    THE FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS WITH SOUTH KOREA, PANAMA AND COLOMBIA

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. FORTNEY PETE STARK

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, October 12, 2011

  Mr. STARK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of extending the 
Trade Adjustment Assistance Program (TAA) and in opposition to the 
three free trade agreements between the U.S. and South Korea, Panama, 
and Colombia.
  TAA provides essential assistance to workers who lose employment due 
to trade agreements with foreign countries. We need to extend it. More 
than 280,000 displaced workers in 2010 relied on the greater job 
training options, health care tax credit coverage, and extra weeks of 
income support provided under the TAA program to get back on their feet 
after losing their jobs to foreign countries.
  The residents of my district in California have firsthand experience 
with the benefits of TAA. California has seen multiple plant closings 
due to trade with countries around the globe. Last year, the NUMMI auto 
plant in my district closed and nearly 5,000 employees lost their jobs 
along with thousands more who worked at suppliers for the plant. For 
these workers, TAA is a lifeline that is providing retraining, 
education, and other assistance to help them find new jobs.
  U.S. trade policies and free trade agreements, such as NAFTA and DR-
CAFTA, have decimated our manufacturing sector. They have protected 
corporate interests at the expense of workers and created incentives to 
ship jobs overseas. I opposed those agreements and I oppose the unfair 
free trade Agreements with Panama, Korea and Colombia that are 
currently before Congress.
  If we want to get our economy back on track, we need to focus on 
creating jobs and not shipping more jobs overseas. These three free 
trade agreements follow the same failed Bush-era trade policies that 
allow multinational corporations to challenge public interest laws that 
protect the environment, health, and workers.
  The agreement with South Korea will increase our trade deficit by 
billions of dollars and cost us an estimated 159,000 jobs. The Colombia 
agreement stands out because it would have us lower trade barriers with 
a country in which only 2 percent of workers are unionized and more 
trade unionists are murdered annually than anywhere else in the world. 
We should not sign more agreements that ship our jobs overseas, grant 
exceptional rights to large corporations, and fail to protect workers' 
rights or our environment.
  Republicans in Congress have spent eight months tying the extension 
of critical TAA benefits to the three pending free trade agreements. In 
doing so, they've abandoned the very people who will get our economy 
going again: workers. It is a further wrong that the extension of TAA 
is just for two years, and not longer. These new trade agreements are 
going to be permanent. We should ensure that permanent TAA protections 
are there for the workers who will lose their jobs as a result of the 
trade agreements. Our vote today in favor of an extension of TAA will 
provide real help to these workers and their families. We owe it to 
them to support TAA and to oppose the three pending free trade 
agreements that will cost more jobs. I urge my colleagues to do the 
same.

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