[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 5 (Thursday, January 9, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S224-S227]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BAUCUS (for himself and Mr. Hatch):
  S. 1900. A bill to establish congressional trade negotiating 
objectives and enhanced consultation requirements for trade 
negotiations, to provide for consideration of trade agreements, and for 
other purposes; to the Committee on Finance.
  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, 52 years ago, in 1962, President John 
Kennedy signed the Trade Expansion Act into law. At the signing he 
spoke about the importance of trade to the United States and its 
partners abroad, on how it helps secure our preeminence in a global 
economy.
  Here is what he said:

       We now have the means to make certain that we build our 
     strength together and that we can maintain this preeminence.

  His words still ring true today. International trade is a cornerstone 
of our economy.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.
  Mr. HATCH. Madam President, my friend from Montana is absolutely 
right. International trade is crucial to America's economy. Last year 
exports supported 9.8 million American jobs, including 25 percent of 
all manufacturing jobs.
  Jobs created through trade are good jobs. On average, U.S. plants 
that export overseas pay their workers up to 18 percent more than 
nonexporting plants. They increase employment 2 to 4 percent faster 
than nonexporting plants. But we can do even better.
  More than 95 percent of the world's population and 80 percent of the 
world's purchasing power is outside of the United States. To succeed in 
today's world, our farmers, ranchers, and job creators must be able to 
fairly access the world market.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Montana.
  Mr. BAUCUS. I hope everyone listened to my good friend's words. He 
made very important points about statistics that I think most Americans 
are unaware of, and if they would think about it more, they would 
realize the importance of trade.
  We export so much more now. Exporting is such a large percent of our 
economy and offers such good-paying jobs that, frankly, I am perplexed 
more Americans don't want to work harder to get trade agreements passed 
so we can export more and get more good-paying jobs in America.
  I must say that today we have a bold plan to strengthen our trade 
ties with

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nations across the Pacific and in Europe.
  What is our goal? Our goal is to seize new export opportunities so 
that we can boost our economy and create jobs here at home. We all know 
the big to-and-fro here with unemployment insurance. The key is to have 
fewer people unemployed. How does that happen? More good-paying jobs.
  But there is a big first step we need to take before we can act on 
our trade agenda. What is that? It is Trade Promotion Authority, 
otherwise known as TPA.
  That is why this afternoon Senator Hatch and I introduced the 
Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities Act of 2014.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.
  Mr. HATCH. Our bill will help guarantee these landmark trade deals 
get done--and get done right.
  First, the bill updates TPA by addressing 21st century issues. What 
are these issues? Nonscientific barriers to U.S. agricultural products, 
unfair competition from state-owned enterprises, arbitrary localization 
barriers which require U.S. companies to turn over their intellectual 
property or locate facilities in a foreign country in order to access 
foreign markets, and unnecessary restrictions on digital trade and data 
which flows across borders.
  Mr. BAUCUS. That is right. Our bill also addresses critical issues 
such as labor, environment, and innovation and for the first time 
currency manipulation. Our bill addresses it.
  Senator Hatch and I worked with our good friend from the other body, 
the Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, to carefully craft 
these negotiating objectives and ensure that Congress is a full partner 
in trade negotiations.
  Our bill helps lay out in clear terms what Congress's priorities are 
for trade. It is our opportunity to tell the administration and our 
partners overseas what we must see in an agreement if it is going to be 
approved by Congress.
  It boosts congressional oversight, increases transparency in trade 
negotiations, and it gives every Member of Congress the right to a 
strong voice in the process.
  Mr. HATCH. Madam President, I want to praise the distinguished 
chairman of the Ways and Means Committee over in the House. He has 
worked long and hard on these issues and is not only a great partner to 
the two of us but to every Senator.
  What the Senator from Montana just said is absolutely right. Our bill 
empowers Congress, but it also empowers our negotiators. Its approval 
will help them conclude high-standard agreements that will open new 
markets for U.S. exports, ultimately bringing jobs and economic growth 
to the United States.
  Lastly, before I turn back to the chairman, I just want to say again 
how critical this legislation is for our Nation and to commend my 
friend from Montana, the distinguished chairman of the Finance 
Committee, for working to make Trade Promotion Authority a reality. He 
has always been a tremendous leader on international trade, and I am 
glad to stand by his side to ensure that the Finance Committee and the 
Senate considers this job-creating legislation in a fair, thorough, and 
expeditious manner.

  Mr. BAUCUS. Madam President, I thank very much my good friend from 
Utah. As President Kennedy said 52 years ago, this is about working 
with our trade partners to build strength together. It is about 
maintaining U.S. preeminence. That is why TPA is so important--because 
it makes our job-creating trade agenda work, and it helps to secure our 
future.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.
  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, I am happy to be on the floor to hear the 
news from Senator Hatch and Senator Baucus that they have reached an 
agreement on trade promotion authority. I wish to congratulate them on 
that, working with Chairman Camp on the House side.
  This is incredibly important. These two Senators have worked closely 
together, as Republican and Democrat, over the last few months with the 
administration to put in place the opportunity for American workers, 
American farmers, and American service providers to be able to sell 
their goods and their services on a level playing field by opening more 
markets for U.S. products. I congratulate them. It is sad to me that 
for the past 5 or 6 years we haven't had trade promotion authority, and 
without their strong efforts we still wouldn't have it today.
  It has been noted that this administration, the Obama administration, 
is the first one since FDR not to have asked for even the ability to 
open these markets through what is called trade promotion authority and 
its predecessors until last March. So until last spring they hadn't 
even asked for it. They did ask for it, and thanks to the hard work of 
these two Senators and Congressman Camp, we are now going to have that 
opportunity. This gives our workers, our farmers, and our service 
providers the ability to access these markets Senator Baucus and 
Senator Hatch spoke about.
  It is critical to economic growth. If we look at the growth in the 
last two or three recoveries, much of it was because of expanding 
exports. We all believe the current level of economic growth is 
disappointing. It is anemic growth. We are looking at long-term 
unemployment being at historic levels, as we have spoken about on the 
floor all week. One solution, clearly, is for the United States to do 
more exporting, and we can't do that without trade promotion authority.
  I speak as a former U.S. Trade Representative who had the honor of 
traveling the world representing our great country. I will tell my 
colleagues, when we got down to the negotiating across the table with 
another country in terms of how to knock down both tariff and nontariff 
barriers to trade, if they didn't know there was an ability with an up-
or-down vote to get that trade agreement done in the U.S. Congress with 
something like trade promotion authority, they would not have put their 
last and best offer on the table. That is a reality.
  Our system is different from most systems in countries around the 
world. We have to have trade promotion authority--that has been our 
experience--in order to get these trade agreements done to help knock 
down barriers to the people in the United States who make the best 
products in the world, who provide the best services in the world and 
are just looking for a fair shake and a level playing field.
  So these two Senators, by doing this today, have opened up the 
possibility now for us to have trade agreements that give us the 
opportunity to grow our economy and create, as they both said, good-
paying jobs and good benefits, and I congratulate them for that.
  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, will my colleague from Ohio yield?
  Mr. PORTMAN. I am happy to yield to my colleague and ranking member 
from Utah.
  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I wish to compliment the distinguished 
Senator because he served as the US Trade Representative. He traveled 
all over the world. He understands how important these issues are. He 
understands that without TPA, we wouldn't be able to get these 
particular trade agreements done. He understands how hard we have 
worked to try to come up with language we could all accept in spite of 
some of the proclivities of this administration.
  He worked diligently with both sides of the aisle on these issues as 
the U.S. Trade Representative and continues to as a member of the 
Senate Finance Committee. I am so grateful we have him on the Senate 
Finance Committee, with all of his knowledge and his experience, to be 
able to help us on these particular issues.
  I was a little nonplussed last week when one of the leading trade 
union presidents in this country got on television and was decrying 
international trade. I made the point a little bit earlier that it 
means tremendous numbers of jobs, high-paying jobs, growth in our 
economy. It is hard for me to understand why anybody in the union 
movement would be against these free-trade policies. They basically 
allow us to export our goods while, yes, we import others, but that is 
what free trade is all about.
  I wish to personally express my very high opinion of the 
distinguished Senator from Ohio because I can tell my colleagues that 
we are so lucky to have him in the Senate with all of his experience in 
this particular area but in

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many other areas as well. He was at OMB as well. There are very few 
Senators in this body who can claim they have experience equivalent to 
that of our distinguished friend from Ohio. I personally express my 
admiration and my resolve to help him help those on the other side of 
the aisle understand how important his words are here today, how 
important it is to have free trade, and how important it is to have 
trade promotion authority so we can have free trade.
  Every President since FDR--including him--has been for trade 
promotion authority--every President.
  There is a fear around here amongst some of the Democrats that the 
unions are going to turn against them. My gosh, the Unions are going to 
be main beneficiaries of major trade legislation. It is hard for me to 
comprehend how they can even make a semi-argument against this matter. 
Hopefully, they will realize this is in their interests, too, because 
it puts us in the real world, getting real jobs that have higher pay 
than we wouldn't otherwise get if we didn't have these free-trade 
agreements and if we aren't able to get TPA passed. I suspect we will 
get this passed in large measure. I think, with the distinguished 
chairman of the committee, my friend who has just spoken, will be one 
of the main reasons why we do.
  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, will the Senator from Ohio yield for a 
question?
  Mr. PORTMAN. I am glad to yield.
  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, first of all, I wish to ask my good friend 
from Ohio if he could expand on what I think is a very important point, 
and it is namely this: With the world becoming more competitive and 
with globalization, it is evermore important for the United States of 
America to strive ahead and to keep working to develop good products, 
good high-technology products, and to compete in the world. I believe, 
frankly, when we are treading water, we are sinking. We have to keep 
moving ahead if we are going to make products and boost incomes and 
help the American people.
  That leads me to another point. If the Senator could tell us a little 
more and explain to, frankly, some people who may not realize this, 
what is involved in TPP. What is TPP? Of course, we need trade 
promotion authority in order to get TPP.
  Isn't it important, isn't it critical, isn't it crucial that the 
United States include a strong Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement not 
only for economic reasons but also for geopolitical reasons to show to 
the world, to show to Asian countries that are wondering where the 
United States is--is the United States going to show up? Is the United 
States going to maintain its presence in Asia? What will happen if we 
don't pass trade promotion authority? How will that affect the Trans-
Pacific Partnership negotiations, and what effect will that have on 
other countries in Asia and their perception of the United States?
  My understanding is--and we know this better than anybody--that 
unfortunately President Obama was unable to travel to Southeast Asia to 
attend the ASEAN conference, and many people around the world are 
wondering whether the United States is going to show up anymore in 
Asia.
  If the Senator could address how important is it that we engage 
countries in the Pacific as we negotiate a Trans-Pacific Partnership, 
including the economic reasons, but also if he could address the 
geopolitical issue, the degree to which it is important for the United 
States to negotiate a successful agreement and to be there, to show up.
  Mr. PORTMAN. Reclaiming my time, I appreciate the question from my 
colleague from Montana. I will say just based on his question that we 
are going to miss his wisdom and his experience on the trade issue. He 
takes some political risks sometimes, I know, as he did in coming up 
with an agreement on trade promotion authority, because there are many 
on both sides of the aisle--especially his side of the aisle--who take 
a different view of this issue. He has been willing to help to educate 
them as to why this is in the interests of Montana farmers and ranchers 
and workers.
  Senator Hatch spoke earlier about the impact of trade on the people 
he represents.
  My colleague is absolutely right. The trade promotion authority 
enables us to take that step toward things such as the Trans-Pacific 
Partnership, called TPP--a lot of alphabet soup here with TPA to TPP. 
That is important, as the Senator just said, because this is the 
fastest growing region of the world--these are the Pacific countries, 
countries in South American but also in Asia; it is where the majority 
of the global GDP is now; and it is an area where, frankly, because of 
China's strong interest in trade, other countries in the region are 
looking to the United States to provide not only a market but also to 
help them with regard to their own markets; therefore, more U.S. 
exports, more of that, as my colleague said. The best technology in the 
world is in the United States, the best products in the world that are 
made here--to be able to export to those countries. So they want to 
have this relationship with us.
  As a future Ambassador to China, I will stipulate that I think the 
Senator from Montana understands this issue very well. But what this 
Trans-Pacific Partnership does is two things.
  No. 1, it expands trade in an area of the world that again is the 
fastest growing part of our globe and a place where the tariffs and 
nontariff barriers are higher, relatively speaking, than they are here. 
In other words, by lowering barriers we get a relative advantage.
  This agreement also, I hope, will deal with the currency issue, as my 
colleagues have negotiated in this trade promotion authority, which I 
support. This is pioneering work they have done in this area. We have 
to ensure that currency levels are appropriate, that there are not 
unfair trade advantages being given by countries that depreciate their 
currency by interfering in it.
  So I believe it is about trade, and that is very important for our 
workers and our farmers and our service providers, but, second, it does 
have this geopolitical element where those countries in the Asia 
Pacific area are allies of ours and are looking to us to develop a 
stronger relationship on the commercial side but also on the 
intergovernmental side to be able to ensure that the U.S. role 
continues in that area.
  I think this TPA that these Senators have negotiated today that they 
are announcing is incredibly important because it is the first step 
toward the Trans-Pacific Partnership and other agreements we can 
complete, as we just have recently under the old TPA, with South Korea, 
with Panama, with Colombia--countries where we are seeing expansion of 
exports as well as a stronger relationship with key countries in the 
region.
  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, if I might ask one more question very 
briefly, and that is this. One more opportunity here with trade 
promotion authority--with trade promotion authority, clearly we are 
going to get a Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, and without trade 
promotion authority, we won't. Other countries will go their ways in 
the Pacific and wonder, where is the United States?
  There is another issue in addition to that. I wonder whether my good 
friend would agree with this. Not only does trade promotion authority 
enable our country to negotiate trade agreements with the Pacific--
TPP--but isn't it also true that it allows the United States, with the 
passage of the TPA, to negotiate with European countries? And doesn't 
that mean that between Asia TPP and TTIP with the European countries, 
that it is about 70 percent of world trade and is an opportunity for 
the United States to lead in the harmonization of trade provisions and 
regulatory provisions not only in Asia and in the Pacific but also in 
Europe? It is an opportunity to lead? And if we don't pass TPA, is the 
United States squandering a huge opportunity to lead here in a way that 
would raise productivity and raise incomes not just in our country but 
in other countries of the world?
  Mr. PORTMAN. Reclaiming my time, the Senator is absolutely right. The 
alternative is not to pass a trade promotion authority and to have 
continue to happen what has frankly been going on over the last 6 or 7 
years, which is these other countries around the world are actively 
negotiating agreements, as the Senator from Montana says, using their 
own standards but also opening markets for their workers, their 
farmers, and their service providers, and cutting us out of market 
share.

[[Page S227]]

  So what has happened is the European Union, the Chinese, the 
Canadians, and others have been actively pursuing agreements while we 
have been on the sidelines because we have not had trade promotion 
authority. So not only does this give us an opportunity, with this 
possible agreement with the European Union--which would be an agreement 
not like a free trade agreement but would be a partnership on 
investment, on standards, on being sure there is a harmonization that 
is more like the beneficial metrics that we use in this country that 
can help both in our economy and, as the Senator says, globally--none 
of this can happen without us being able to say we are going to have 
the possibility of taking trade agreements to the Congress for an up-
or-down vote--a fair vote. Every one of these agreements will have to 
be voted on separately because in these other countries they will not 
put that last, best offer on the table until they know that. They are 
not going to be nickeled and dimed and amended to death as they get to 
the Congress. That is just reality.
  We have to get off the sidelines. We have to get reengaged. We have 
to help our economy, our workers to get their fair share, to get their 
market share. Right now we are losing that market share, as literally 
over 100 trade agreements have been negotiated while we have been 
sitting on the sidelines without having trade promotion authority on 
both bilateral and regional agreements.
  So the Senator is absolutely correct. This is a great opportunity for 
us to, frankly, take this anemic economy and give it a little shot in 
the arm. It is part of an overall effort we ought to be doing to 
provide the kind of economic opportunity we all want for the people we 
represent.
  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?
  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, I am happy to yield to the Senator from 
Utah.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.
  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I think we should all be listening to this 
man, this Senator from Ohio, who has had a wealth of experience not 
just in budget matters but also especially in these trade matters.
  There are 11 countries in the TPP, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and 
we would like to come to an agreement on it. There are 28 different 
countries in the European agreement on TTIP that we would like to bring 
to fruition, and you can go on from there.
  Having said that, I cannot compliment my friend from Ohio enough. But 
I also want to pay tribute to our chairman of the committee. He is 
willing to do this. He believes in it. He has had plenty of witness 
that this is the way to do good trade, and he is willing to stand up 
and see that it is done. I cannot think of a better sendoff to China as 
the new Ambassador--as soon as we finally finish these confirmation 
proceedings--than having passed TPA, which enables us to do free trade 
agreements all over the world and enables our fellow countries to 
realize that we can get it done.
  I want to pay tribute to the chairman, as well as my colleague from 
Ohio, for their work in this area, and to say that this country will be 
much the better once we pass TPA and then get these trade agreements 
done so the United States resumes its role in the world as the world's 
chief economic competitor, and doing it in a way that would benefit the 
whole world but, more importantly, benefit this country.
  So I want to thank my colleague from Montana, and my colleague from 
Ohio as well. My colleague from Montana is going to be here at least a 
little bit longer, and hopefully we can get this passed in his honor. I 
think he deserves that honor. I know the distinguished Senator from 
Ohio and myself will do everything in our power to assist in this 
matter.
  Mr. BAUCUS. I thank the Senator.

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