[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 60 (Thursday, April 23, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H2448-H2449]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1230
               A NEW TRADE MODEL FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

  (Ms. KAPTUR asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, Congress spent this past week trying to 
fast-track Trade Promotion Authority and the new Trans-Pacific 
Partnership proposal for trade agreements with several nations in the 
Pacific; but why rush such a significant piece of legislation that 
cedes Congress' constitutional authority to the executive branch?
  Meanwhile, Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe and President Obama are 
scheduled to meet on April 28 to further fast-track this agreement.

[[Page H2449]]

  Rushing this process is an easy tactic to try to silence a reasonable 
opposition, but, based on our country's history of making trade deals 
that drive up our trade deficit and outsource millions of U.S. jobs, 
the American people should be alarmed. I and many others are sounding 
that alarm.
  Japan is one of the most significant partners in this agreement, and 
it is the world's second largest currency manipulator and is one of the 
leading protectionist markets in the Pacific. They have much to gain 
from a weak trade agreement.
  Japan is the world's third largest automobile market, but 96 percent 
of that market belongs only to Japanese automobiles. Since 2000, we 
have been able to sell 183,000 cars there, but guess how many they sold 
here--16.3 million. That is 89,000 to 1.
  There is something wrong with trying to work a deal that rewards a 
country whose markets are closed. We need a new trade model that 
creates jobs in America again and that does not reward currency 
manipulators and protectionist markets.

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