[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 154 (Friday, October 14, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1878-E1879]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




OPPOSITION TO THE FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS, H.R. 3078, H.R. 3079, AND H.R. 
                                  3080

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JAMES R. LANGEVIN

                            of rhode island

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 14, 2011

  Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 3078, the 
United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Act, 
H.R. 3079, the United States-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement 
Implementation Act, and H.R. 3080, the United States-Korea Free Trade 
Agreement Implementation Act.
  Trade opportunities are an important component of our nation's 
economic growth, but it is critical that our free trade agreements are 
fair and environmentally sound to ensure that American workers and 
companies can compete on a level playing field with our foreign trading 
partners. While I favor expanding global trade, I oppose trade 
agreements that lack key labor and environmental safeguards, thus 
allowing our trading partners to exploit regulations in their own 
countries that are far weaker than those in America.
  These three trade agreements were negotiated under the Bush 
Administration, and I have long been skeptical of their potential 
impact on our workers, our environment and our domestic businesses. I 
am also concerned that grave and ongoing human rights violations 
against labor leaders and human rights workers in Colombia are not 
fully addressed in this legislation. While the current administration 
and my Ways and Means colleagues continued negotiations to revise these 
trade agreements by incorporating international labor standards and 
environmental agreement compliance, I remain unconvinced that these 
provisions will be meaningfully enforced. Unfortunately, I do not 
believe these trade agreements meet the minimum requirements necessary 
to protect our workers from increased job losses, safeguard our 
environment, or convince me this is the right step for our nation, and 
for these reasons, I voted against the three trade agreements.
  I was pleased to vote for H.R. 2832, the Trade Adjustment Assistance 
and Generalized System of Preferences extension bill, which will extend 
the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program to assist workers laid 
off as a result of international trade by helping them retrain and 
acquire skills needed to compete in the global marketplace. TAA is a 
valuable program that provides unemployment benefits

[[Page E1879]]

and training programs for unemployed workers, as well as technical and 
financial assistance for employers.
  I will continue to support trade agreements that include labor, human 
rights and environmental safeguards and that benefit all Rhode 
Islanders--businesses, workers and consumers.

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