[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 152 (Wednesday, October 12, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H6785-H6786]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   IN SUPPORT OF THE TRADE AGREEMENTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Gibson) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GIBSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the fair trade 
agreements that we will vote on later today. I commend the Obama 
administration for their work in ensuring that our businesses and 
workers get the best agreement possible to grow the economy and create 
jobs.
  While these agreements have been in the works for years, our country 
has benefited from the improvements garnered by our U.S. Trade 
Representative, Ron Kirk, and his team. This is particularly evident in 
their refining of the South Korean agreement so that our farmers and 
automobile manufacturers get a fair deal. Of course, each trade 
agreement is different, and they all have to be evaluated on their 
merits. Details matter.
  Overall, these agreements will help increase U.S. exports by an 
estimated $13 billion, adding $10 billion to our annual gross domestic 
product and creating nearly a quarter million jobs, including many in 
my district in upstate New York; and we'll do that without adding a 
single dollar to the deficit. In fact, these fiscally responsible 
agreements will help cut the deficit.
  Our farmers, in particular, stand to gain significantly from these 
agreements, opening up nearly $30 million in new business a year for 
our farmers in New York. These agreements are enthusiastically 
supported by our New York State Farm Bureau and by my Agricultural 
Advisory Panel, comprised of farmers from across the 10 counties and 
137 towns I represent, a congressional district with over 1,000 family 
farmers.
  Mr. Speaker, we have the smartest, hardest-working farmers in the 
world. Their issue is profitability. We help farmers when we attack the 
impediments to growth, which include taxes, regulations, health care 
costs, and energy costs. We help farmers when we have access to quality 
infrastructure--not only roads and bridges, but also access to high-
speed broadband. And we help farmers when we expand markets to help 
them sell their goods. These agreements enhance our farmers' 
profitability.
  Supporting our farmers is supporting the American way. Our family 
farmers represent the best of our country. And this is also a national 
security issue--no farms, no food. We must ensure our family farms can 
compete, or we risk losing them and relying on imports with the 
attendant food security risks. That's not what my constituents want; 
that's not what our country wants, which is why we need to pass these 
agreements.
  Now, in addition to helping our farmers, the independent, nonpartisan 
U.S. International Trade Commission estimates key U.S. manufacturing 
sectors are also poised to gain. This includes the increase of U.S. 
exports of motor vehicles and parts by about 50 percent; metal products 
by over 50 percent; chemical, rubber, and plastic products by over 40 
percent; and machinery and equipment by over 30 percent. This will 
directly help companies in my district, who are already relying on 
exports, with expanding markets for selling their products, companies 
like B&B Forest Products in Greene County, Momentive in Saratoga 
County, EFCO Products in Dutchess County, and Hudson River Stove Works 
in my home county, Columbia.
  What's often missed in these conversations about trade are some of 
the key points. Right now, over 90 percent of the products coming from 
Colombia and Panama are already duty free, when less than 40 percent of 
our goods currently go duty free to these countries. Our goods to South 
Korea suffer under tariff rates about four times higher. With passage 
of these fair trade agreements, we will address these imbalances. These 
agreements will add to our GDP, strengthen existing jobs, and create 
new ones.
  Let's recognize what's at stake, and let's not fool ourselves. If we 
fail to pass these fair trade agreements and do nothing, we will fall 
behind. In South Korea, we have seen our beef industry lose more and 
more of the share of that country's business year after year since the 
1990s. South Korea is poised to increase agricultural trade with

[[Page H6786]]

Australia and the European Union. If we don't pass these agreements, we 
will continue to fall behind while other countries gain. Same with 
Colombia: in 2007, our farmers accounted for 44 percent of the 
agricultural business in Colombia. By 2010, that number fell to 21 
percent.
  These agreements are about the future. As Americans, we've enjoyed an 
unprecedented quality of life because we make things other people can't 
and we make common goods better than anyone else. That's still the 
case. In my district, we make the world's most advanced wafers in the 
semi-conductor industry and some of the most advanced medical devices.
  We are poised to continue our tradition of excellence in this country 
if we make the right choices. And, today, making the right choices 
means working in a bipartisan way with the Obama administration and 
enacting a key provision of the President's jobs plan. It means passing 
these fair trade agreements before the House this week.
  I urge my colleagues to support these bills and help get America back 
to work.

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