[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 152 (Wednesday, October 12, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H6832-H6836]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
EXTENDING THE GENERALIZED SYSTEM OF PREFERENCES
Mr. CAMP. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Speaker may
postpone further proceedings on the motion to concur in the Senate
amendment to H.R. 2832 as though under clause 8(a)(1)(A) of rule XX.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Michigan?
There was no objection.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 1(c) of rule XIX, further
consideration of the motion to concur in the Senate amendment to the
bill (H.R. 2832) to extend the Generalized System of Preferences, and
for other purposes, will now resume.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
Mr. CAMP. At this time, Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to a
distinguished member of the Ways and Means Committee, the gentlewoman
from Kansas (Ms. Jenkins).
Ms. JENKINS. I thank the chair for yielding.
Three and a half trade deals that we have taken up today have
bipartisan support, the three pending free trade agreements and the GSP
extension within this bill. Both parties in both Chambers agree that
these important trade pacts will grow our economy, create jobs, and
make America more competitive in the global marketplace.
Sadly, however, the bipartisan, bicameral approval of the merits of
these trade deals did not keep the Washington gamesmanship at bay. For
nearly 10 months, as they pushed for an expanded and enlarged TAA
program, our colleagues in the Senate allowed the GSP to lapse, holding
American jobs hostage until their political allies could be pacified
with a sufficient payoff.
This delay wasn't simply an intellectual exercise either. It hurt
real businesses, real families, and cost us real jobs in my home State
of Kansas. Take the Berger Company in Atchison, Kansas. The family-
owned Berger Company manufactures leather goods for sale across the
United States. But due to the increased cost of materials caused by the
lapse in the GSP, Berger has lost customers to foreign competitors like
China, causing lower profit and placing real Kansas jobs at risk.
I'm voting for this bill because we need GSP to be reauthorized
immediately, but I'm extremely disappointed that Senate Democrats have
again risked the continued lapse of this important program all for a
TAA program that does not work.
The results of Washington brinksmanship have real life impacts across
this country. So while I'm hopeful that we will finally extend the GSP
package today, I'm disappointed Washington political games made our
small businesses, like the Berger Company, wait so long.
Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
I rise to express my strong support for H.R. 2832, which is extending
what have been historically two programs that have received strong
bipartisan support. Beginning in 1962, the TAA bill was originally put
in under the Kennedy administration, and it has been extended for all
these years. And the Generalized System of Preferences has also been
there for a long time. Our importers and exporters have been using it
as ways of getting things into the United States that have made real
differences not only for our people but for people in developing
countries.
Now, TAA provides critically needed assistance to workers who lose
their jobs as a result of trade. It would be hard to find anybody on
the floor of the House who wouldn't say that trade causes displacement
of workers. There are jobs that move here, move there, and this is a
recognition of that and a statement that we care about what happens to
workers and that we give them some kind of help. It provides them with
support, education, and training so that they can obtain new jobs in
growth sectors. In my State, we used to do log exports. Logging was a
big issue. Then it went away. Well, you have to retrain people, and
community colleges have trained a lot of people in this kind of thing.
In 2009 Congress made some much-needed reforms in TAA, many of which
addressed past criticisms of the program. These reforms included
extending TAA to cover service workers and more manufacturing workers,
offering long-term training and increasing training funds, and
increasing the health care coverage tax credit.
This was probably the most important of the reforms. When people lose
their job, they have no health care. And everything that you have in
your life can be wiped out by an illness or an injury. So the idea that
you can get COBRA is a nice idea, but you've got to have money to do
that. Most of the unemployment checks in this country don't make it
possible for people to take advantage of the COBRA. So when we had this
increase in support from the Federal Government for workers, we were
really looking at the real problems that people face.
Now, unfortunately, last winter the House leadership let the 2009
reforms lapse, leaving a lot of workers just hanging out there. The
Generalized System of Preferences was also permitted to expire, which
harmed businesses that rely on the program both in developing countries
and in the United States. While it's long overdue, I'm pleased to see
we're finally moving the legislation to expand both of these programs.
I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 2832, and I
reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. CAMP. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished
chairman of the Rules Committee, the gentleman from California (Mr.
Dreier).
(Mr. DREIER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. DREIER. I thank my friend for yielding.
Madam Speaker, it's taken a long time for us to get here. We've had
hours and hours of debate, last night and today, and literally years
and years and years of discussion and of negotiation, and a lot of
anguish and a lot of pain, but we have finally gotten here.
I want to begin by expressing my great appreciation to a man with
whom I've been pleased to partner in cochairing what has been a
longstanding group known as our Trade Working Group. It's sometimes
partisan, sometimes bipartisan. It began two decades ago when Bill
Archer was chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and Phil Crane
chaired the Trade Subcommittee, and with every chairman of the Ways and
Means Committee and the Trade Subcommittee, I've been privileged to
join with them in working to build these coalitions for the very
important goal of breaking down barriers to ensure that we can have
access to consumer markets for union and nonunion workers in this
country. And this is what it's all about.
Dave Camp has done a phenomenal job in negotiating these trade
agreements and the issue which is before us today, which is trade
adjustment assistance. Now I know that there's a lot of concern about
it. I'm frankly not a huge enthusiast, but I recognize that while there
is a net gain--a net gain--when it comes to the issue of global trade,
there are some workers who are displaced.
[[Page H6833]]
{time} 1650
While some people have been saying that those of us who are
enthusiastically supporting the Korea, Panama, and Colombia free trade
agreements are greatly exaggerating the positive impact of this, I've
got to say that I recognize that there are some people who are going to
be going through challenging economic times as a byproduct of this
agreement. That's why, as we look at this 21st century economy, it is
critically important for us, Madam Speaker, to do everything that we
can to ensure that our fellow Americans, U.S. workers, have the kind of
training and expertise necessary to deal with this global economy in
the 21st century. That's exactly what the Trade Adjustment Assistance
package is all about. It's a modest package of $300 million.
I know that last night, as he has just informed me, Mr. Camp outlined
the details of this to the House. He worked with the chairman of the
Senate Finance Committee, Mr. Baucus, and with others to get this to
the point where we are.
But we are now winding down this debate, and I think about the fact
that, when Ronald Reagan on November 6 of 1979 announced his candidacy
for President of the United States, in that speech, it was seen as
heresy. I mean, it was almost a joke, Madam Speaker. Ronald Reagan said
that he envisaged an accord of free trade among the Americas so that we
could allow for the free flow of goods and services and capital. He was
laughed at here in the United States, and he was laughed at throughout
the hemisphere. Madam Speaker, since that time, we have seen
tremendous, tremendous changes taking place.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. CAMP. I yield the gentleman an additional 1 minute.
Mr. DREIER. It has been almost 32 years since Ronald Reagan made that
announcement; and last Monday, a week ago Monday, on October 3,
Democratic President Barack Obama sent these agreements for us to
consider, and here we are now doing this.
There are so many people who have been involved in this. One of the
things that has really impressed me, Madam Speaker, has been the
involvement of the 87--now, I guess, 89--new Members on our side of the
aisle who have brought about a change in the makeup of this
institution. There are people who have stepped to the forefront--Tom
Reed, Rick Berg, Tim Griffin, Bob Dold, Quico Canseco, and many
others--who have felt strongly about the need to get our economy
growing and who know that, in so doing, we will be able to create jobs
for U.S. workers.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has again expired.
Mr. CAMP. I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.
Mr. DREIER. Let me just close by saying, over that 5-year period of
time, Madam Speaker, we have seen so many tremendous changes that have
taken place. Five years is half the life for a child who was born on
September 11. There have been changes in our economy--and in the global
economy--in dealing with issues that weren't even addressed then. The
iPad didn't exist 5 years ago when these were put into place. There are
issues like encryption, cross-border dataflow, things like intermediary
liability, privacy. Those were barely discussed then. Today, these are
critical, important issues. This is a very small first step towards
regaining our position as the world's global leader.
I thank my friend for his support, and I thank all of our colleagues
who have been involved in this.
Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, I yield 3\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman
from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer).
Mr. BLUMENAUER. I rise in support of H.R. 2832, the Trade Adjustment
Assistance Extension Act of 2011.
This legislation continues vital coverage of the TAA program while it
expands the Generalized System of Preferences, a key trade and
development program.
We have a responsibility to ensure that our workers, communities, and
economy can adjust to a rapidly globalizing economy. As Congress
advances international trade opportunities for our firms, it has an
opportunity to ensure that American workers can also compete.
Since 1962, the TAA has expanded to respond to the continual changes
to the economy and the global system. Among the most significant
changes were those that we made when the Democrats were in charge just
in 2009, which expanded the program to include service workers as well
as to improve the coverage of reemployment benefits, job search
benefits, relocation and health care benefits. It produced tangible
results. The coverage in 2008 certified 125,000 workers. As a result of
the changes we made in 2009, 280,000 workers were certified.
The expansion of the program appropriately reflects the challenges
trade poses to our service economy, and continues our commitment to the
manufacturing sector. In my State alone, in 2010, the coverage reached
over 10,000 workers and directed $30 million in Federal funds to carry
out those efforts and to support our economy as it adjusted to
competition from international trade.
It's interesting to see the broad range of supporters. The
Communications Workers of America say that TAA is a critical lifeline
in providing retraining and education, helping service workers to pull
themselves back up and find good new jobs. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce
will score the vote on TAA, writing that this legislation is a
thoughtful compromise that preserves the more effective elements of the
five-decade-old TAA program.
I am also pleased that we are dealing with the Generalized System of
Preferences. I think my good friend from the State of Kansas may have
been confused. I was, frankly, frustrated that it had been held up. We
passed it in the last Congress. There was nothing to have prevented my
Republican friends from bringing it forward at the beginning of this
Congress. In fact, I wished that they would have, but they didn't get
around to it until September. I don't know why, but I think the
criticism is misplaced.
Regardless, each day without action on GSP costs American companies
$1.8 million in extra, unnecessary import tariffs. I've watched as the
expiration of GSP has cost Evergreen Container in Portland, Oregon,
$50,000 already this year--$10,000 for this company, $70,000 over here,
another $5,000 here. It adds up. $1.8 million a day.
But it's more than just a trade agreement and helping American
companies. Under the GSP program, we will judge our trading partners on
the protection of American commercial interests, such as the protection
of intellectual property and preventing the seizure of property
belonging to U.S. citizens or businesses. We judge them on the
protection of individual rights, the protection of commonly accepted
labor rights, and the elimination of child labor.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. McDERMOTT. I yield the gentleman an additional 1 minute.
Mr. BLUMENAUER. We ought to add the protection of the environment to
this criteria. I raised it in our Ways and Means hearing. The thought
was we were going to go ahead and not adjust the status quo, but the
protection of the environment exerts tremendous influence on
international trade. The trade in illegally logged timber, for
instance, costs the U.S.-based legal timber industry billions of
dollars a year. If we truly expect trade to be a tool of development,
trade must support environmental protections in our partner nations as
our free trade agreements do.
Concern for the environment is a core element of development. It
reflects the appreciation for civil law, for the protection of the
rights of individuals, and of a concern for the long-term
sustainability of state and society and of the planet. It should have a
place in our GSP program. I hope when it comes next before us that
we've added environmental protections to the criteria.
Mr. CAMP. I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from
Pennsylvania (Mr. Kelly).
Mr. KELLY. I rise in strong support of the bill.
I can speak very clearly about the relationship that we have with
Korea because, in addition to being a General Motors dealer who sells
Chevrolets and Cadillacs, I also sell Hyundais and Kias. I can tell you
of the alliance that we have had, of the very strong partner we have
had in Korea for so many
[[Page H6834]]
years. Since 1949, Korea has fought with us in every military
skirmish--side by side, shoulder to shoulder with us. In the United
States alone, Hyundai has invested over $3 billion in bricks and mortar
in building two plants--one in Montgomery, Alabama, the other in West
Point, Georgia. When we're worried about the number of cars being sold
here, let's understand one thing, that over 60 percent of the Korean
cars sold in the United States are made by Americans.
{time} 1700
There are 60,000 jobs in the United States right now because of
Hyundai and Kia's investment between our borders. And when we look at
our market, our global opportunity, we have got to pass these trade
agreements. We have got to pass the TAA. Why? Because it's good for
America in addition to all these jobs and the possibility of 250,000
additional jobs in the country that's looking for a job almost every
day.
These jobs are there. They're available to us. We have got to get on
with these trade agreements. In addition, let me also state that
Hyundai and Hyundai dealers have raised over $43 million in the fight
against pediatric cancer, which is over 10 times what this Congress has
invested in that fight against pediatric cancer.
The opportunities are outstanding right now. The opportunity is now,
and what better time to pass these agreements than when we're hunting
for the jobs that we need the most for our people and also with allies
who have stood shoulder-to-shoulder and arm-in-arm with us in every
single battle.
I would urge every single Member in this House to please pass the
agreements. Let's move on. Let's get America back to work.
Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from
Wisconsin (Mr. Kind).
Mr. KIND. I thank my good friend and colleague from the committee for
yielding me this time.
Madam Speaker, many of us have been rising throughout the course of
the debate today talking about the merits of the three pending trade
agreements before us and why it's important for us to move forward on
them, the reduction of tariff and non-tariff barriers, greater market
access to the goods, product services that are being made right here in
America, a system of rules that all countries have to abide by that are
parties to this agreement, according to international labor and
environmental standards included in the body of the agreement, fully
enforceable with any other provision, protection of intellectual
property rights, and on and on and on. That's why I'm supportive of the
three bilateral agreements before us.
But to be honest with the American people, and as long as trade
remains a two-way street, there will be adverse impacts of trade on
companies and workers here in America. When that occurs, then the
workers of that business should not just be left on their own.
That's why the reauthorization of the Trade Adjustment Assistance is
important today, to move forward hand-in-hand with those trade
agreements so those workers will have an opportunity to upgrade their
skills, to go to school, to have a better match in the job market and
find placement as quickly as possible. Since 1962, the TAA program has
assisted those workers who lost their position as a result of
international trade, helped them retrain and acquire skills needed for
them to be more competitive in the global marketplace.
In Wisconsin alone in 2010, we had an estimated 10,359 workers who
were covered by this program, and my State's not alone. In fact, the
three largest TAA State recipients were Michigan, Ohio, California.
In 2010 in Wisconsin, 52 percent of the TAA participants were
successfully employed within 3 months of leaving the program, and 88
percent of those participants continued that employment over the next
few quarters. The benefit of this program not only helps workers in my
State, but also those specifically in western Wisconsin that I
represent.
In 2010, again, when Chart Energy & Chemicals in La Crosse moved some
of its production line to China, approximately 230 employees were laid
off, but they were able to receive reemployment and training services
under the Federal TAA program. When Northern Engraving Corporation shut
down its Luxco division tool shop in La Crosse, 27 workers were laid
off; and they too qualified for assistance so that they could get
reintegrated in the regional economy.
There are many more examples of that throughout Wisconsin and, I am
sure, throughout the country. And that's why it was a bit discouraging
that it took so long for us to reach an agreement on TAA
reauthorization when there's wide bipartisan support and great support
on the outside, from the Chamber of Commerce to the AFL-CIO, saying
this is the right and decent thing to do for America's workers if we
are going to move forward in a proactive trade agenda.
I want to take a moment and commend my good friend and colleague, the
chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Mr. Camp, for the work that
he did with Senator Baucus in order to get the TAA reauthorization in
the place that it is today. I think it was very helpful.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Miller of Michigan). The time of the
gentleman has expired.
Mr. McDERMOTT. I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.
Mr. KIND. I thank my friend.
As I mentioned in committee last week during the markup, I think it
would make sense if the committee, Ways and Means that had
jurisdiction, were to hold some hearings as we move forward on ways
that we can improve the efficiency and the outcome of the TAA program.
Any program is worthy of change and improvements. I think this is right
for that.
My concern is this is only a 3-year reauthorization. I hope we can
continue bipartisan support that continues beyond 3 years so it's not
having to be linked to other trade agreements, but I think our
committee has some work to do to improve a very successful program.
I encourage my colleagues to support it.
Mr. CAMP. Madam Speaker, I would advise the gentleman from Washington
that I have no other speakers and am prepared to close.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. McDERMOTT. I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Washington
(Mr. Smith).
Mr. SMITH of Washington. Madam Speaker, I thank the Ways and Means
Committee for their excellent work on the trade agreements and, most
importantly, on Trade Adjustment Assistance; and I agree with the
comments of my colleague from Wisconsin about why this program is so
important.
I mean the bottom line is the TAA and the trade agreements themselves
are part of figuring out how to help American workers and the American
economy compete in a very, very difficult global economic situation.
The amount of skills that our workers need now are vastly beyond what
they needed in previous generations, and the need to update them
constantly in order to continue to be competitive, to continue to be
employable are a significant challenge for American workers.
This program is one way to give them help, to help give them the
training and the skills that they need to continue to be employable. It
is incredibly important for our workers, and we have heard the
statistics about the number of workers in our country who have
benefited from these programs.
But I also submit to you that it is critically important to our
economy. Our economy needs a skilled workforce in order to compete.
Trade Adjustment Assistance is one way to help our workers get those
skills that they need. Certainly it helps them, but it also helps our
businesses and our overall economy.
I, along with my colleague from Wisconsin, support all three trade
agreements. I believe trade is critically important to growing our
economy as well, and it's simple math. Ninety-five percent of the
people in this world live someplace other than the United States of
America, but the United States of America is responsible for 20 percent
of the world's consumption.
If we're going to grow, we need access to other markets. Korea,
Colombia, and Panama are good steps in that direction to give us access
to those other markets so that our businesses can
[[Page H6835]]
have the possibility of growing their businesses and taking advantage
of the growing economy.
It has been Asia and other parts of the world that are growing the
most. We need access to those markets. Trade agreements like this give
us that opportunity.
But as I have said for the entire 15 years I have been in Congress,
that alone is not sufficient to protect American workers in our
economy. Access to overseas markets on its own isn't enough to take
care of our workers as they should be taken care of.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. McDERMOTT. I yield the gentleman 1 additional minute.
Mr. SMITH of Washington. They need training. That's the other
critical piece of these trade agreements that I want to emphasize.
For the first time--not the first time, actually we did it in Peru--
thanks, actually, to the leadership of the gentleman from Michigan (Mr.
Levin) and Mr. Rangel and others, we have enforceable workers' rights
in all three of these agreements.
There have been justifiable criticisms, for instance, in Colombia of
the ability of workers that organize and collectively bargain. But this
agreement will give us the enforceable ability to make sure that they
do. If Colombia or any one of these countries doesn't live up to the
ILO standards and requirements, this agreement now gives us the ability
to use trade sanctions to make sure that they do.
That is an incredibly important step forward to protect the workers
in this country. It needs to work together, access to overseas markets,
to trade agreements and adequate protections for our workers so that
they can compete in that environment with TSA, with the workers' rights
provisions in these trade agreements. I believe that all three trade
agreements and this TAA bill do this.
I thank the Ways and Means Committee, both Republican and Democrat,
for their work in making this happen.
Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from
Michigan (Mr. Levin).
(Mr. LEVIN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
{time} 1710
Mr. LEVIN. I rise in strong support of this proposal, this bill. It
restarts TAA and the GSP program. You know, this should have happened
long ago. The Republican decision to let it lapse over 8 months ago was
very wrong. And as a result, and we're not sure of the exact numbers
because that isn't public, but hundreds of service workers were
completely shut out. Fewer manufacturing workers became eligible, and
those who did qualify for TAA received less assistance and support. So
now we're taking action today that's long overdue.
I heard last night somebody said that the trade agreements were being
held ``hostage'' to the TAA program. They just got it 180 degrees
wrong. It was the TAA program that was being held hostage to trade
agreements, and that never should have happened.
Well, now we can act. I just want to say, some people, I think, look
upon TAA as kind of the teaspoon of sugar to make the trade agreements
go down. That could not be more incorrect. What TAA does is to help
those who are thrown out of work because of trade, through no fault of
their own. And if we're going to have a competitive workforce, people
need to be able to be retrained. And interestingly enough, if you go to
any place where TAA operates, you'll see a wide variety of people who
have become eligible and who are being helped.
So I very, very much support this bill which preserves the integrity,
although not all, of the TAA program, and the 2009 reforms.
I close by saying I also support the GSP provisions in this bill. I
think there is a misconception. It does help, indeed, developing
countries who rely on the GSP. But as our ranking member knows from all
of his work, it also benefits American companies and the workers they
employ. In fact, the majority of GSP imports are inputs used to support
U.S. manufacturing, including raw materials, parts and components, and
machinery and equipment. So not only did failing to extend GSP hurt
developing countries, it hurt American businesses and their employees.
A wide spectrum supports this bill, and I hope all of us on this side
of the aisle will vote in favor of it.
Mr. CAMP. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Washington has 5\1/2\
minutes remaining. The gentleman from Michigan has 13\1/2\ minutes
remaining.
Mr. McDERMOTT. I yield myself the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker and Members of the House, I think it's important that
we are passing this TAA today. But it is just the tip of the iceberg of
the problems faced by workers in this country. I think that we are
picking one group and saying, well, if you can qualify for having lost
your job because of international trade adjustment of one sort or
another, you're eligible for some benefits. But I think that in the
much larger sense the House faces a problem. We're seeing it in the
streets. We're seeing it on Wall Street. We're seeing it on my Central
Plaza. We're seeing it here in Washington, DC. We're seeing it in
Atlanta. The workers of this country are very upset, and there's a long
agenda that is sort of dealt with here for one small group of workers
that ought to be available for all workers.
Now, we're going to have to extend unemployment benefits at the end
of this year unless, like last year, at Christmastime, we'll be saying
to people, You know what? We don't care about you; you're done. We
haven't extended unemployment benefits. We ought to be doing it right
now. It will be caught in the crush of all what happens at the end of
the year, but it needs to happen.
Foreclosure relief. We continue to have foreclosures in this country
with no way out for the workers of this country, including these. We
didn't do anything for foreclosure problems for somebody who's lost
their job because of trade. We make no adjustment. We don't say that
you can lower the amount of your loan or the banks must negotiate. We
don't do anything for people who are struggling with foreclosures in
this country.
Health care. Health care in this bill makes it possible for people to
get health care coverage. But there are thousands and thousands and
thousands of workers, 14 million of them walking around in this
country, with no health care, and we have done nothing this session to
implement the Affordable Care Act.
Finally, I would just say there is one last issue that needs to be
thought about. What happens to a worker who, training or not, exhausts
all their unemployment benefits, and they have a family and they have a
house? Now in the 1930s what people did was backed the car up to the
house, put the furniture up on top, and drove off and got a job in
California. You have got millions of people today who are tied to a
house in Flint, Michigan, or Toledo, Ohio, or a thousand places. They
can't drive off to Florida and get a job, or to California. They're
stuck. And so they find themselves with no access to any kind of way to
pay their mortgage. They're going to get foreclosed. Then they can
leave, of course.
Or we've got to find some way to make it possible for workers in this
economy as it recovers to somehow get by. If we don't care, if we just
care about the workers who are lost because of trade--that's nice and
we ought to do that. We're doing the right thing, but we ought to be
thinking much broader than that if we're serious about coming out of
the problems we have in this economy.
I urge everyone to vote for this bill and begin the drumbeat for the
unemployment insurance extension and a couple of other things.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. CAMP. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
I support H.R. 2832, the bill that renews the Generalized System of
Preferences, known as GSP, and also contains the Trade Adjustment
Assistance, also called TAA.
This bill really is the cornerstone of the carefully crafted
bipartisan and bicameral agreement that then prompted the President to
send the three trade agreements to the Congress last Monday. So this
has allowed us, this legislation today, has allowed us to move forward
on a long-stalled trade agenda.
[[Page H6836]]
The bill renews GSP, which the House passed last month, and that is
the largest trade preference program and is estimated to account for
82,000 U.S. jobs that are directly or indirectly related to that
program.
The second portion of this bill, the bill that reauthorizes Trade
Adjustment Assistance, is absolutely critical because it is one of the
core items that has allowed these trade agreements to come forward. And
this legislation really does ensure smaller government and less
spending on an important program in these difficult economic times
where we have a growing debt and deficit.
This program was streamlined and scaled back, and just quickly I'll
note some of the highlights. There is no TAA for public sector workers.
The number of weeks was reduced from 156 in the 2009 law down to 117
weeks. Also, there is no double-dipping. These benefits run
concurrently with current unemployment insurance, or UI benefits, and
the health care subsidy was reduced in this legislation.
We also eliminated half of the allowable justifications for the
program's training waivers to ensure that those who are eligible for
TAA are in those training programs with only limited exceptions.
We also consolidated and reduced all the non-income support
expenditures. We reduced funding for the TAA for firms, and also added
enhanced performance measures. Now, no worker will qualify for this
unless certified by the Department of Labor. This is an important
attempt to bring some reform and integrity to our unemployment
programs, particularly by strengthening the job training provision
where 80 percent of the waivers were used to waive people out of the
requirement they job train.
{time} 1720
This is an important reform; and it's going to be an important reform
in this bill to make sure we implement it so as we move forward on the
employment insurance debate later this year, as the gentleman from
Washington State alluded to, we actually have a track record on some of
these items and can see how they're at least beginning to work.
So I urge my colleagues to support not only all three trade
agreements, but also what really was the cornerstone for bringing those
three trade agreements to the floor, H.R. 2832.
I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. All time for debate has expired.
Pursuant to House Resolution 425, the previous question is ordered.
The question is on the motion that the House concur in the Senate
amendment.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the ayes appeared to have it.
Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the
order of the House today, further proceedings on this question will be
postponed.
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