[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 79 (Thursday, May 21, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3212-S3213]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          FAST-TRACK AUTHORITY

  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I thank my colleagues, Senators Warren and 
Manchin, because what they tried to do here is to give to the American 
people the same opportunity they had when George W. Bush was President 
and a trade deal was being negotiated. Before fast-track came up, 
everybody saw the deal.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be added as a cosponsor 
to their bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mrs. BOXER. I appreciate that. I am proud to stand with them on this. 
And I do respect Senator Hatch. He is my dear friend. But let's be 
clear. When you go down to that secret room--and I had the same 
experience as Senator Manchin. I couldn't take the proper staffers 
because they didn't have the clearance.
  This isn't about fighting ISIS or the war in Syria or any other very 
high security matter. It is about a trade deal that is supposed to be 
negotiated in the best interests of the people of this country.
  All my friends are saying is that before we give this President the 
ability to fast-track this deal, let's look at it. Here is what happens 
when he gets fast-track authority: Not one Member of this Senate and 
not one Member of the House can offer any amendment whatsoever.
  I think the Senator from West Virginia was very clear on the point. 
What if we find out that there is something horrible in there for our 
State?
  The Senator from Massachusetts pointed out that there are whole parts 
of this deal--and I know I am not speaking out of turn here--where it

[[Page S3213]]

just says that they are still being negotiated. So how the heck do we 
know what we are even voting on? And here we have given away the store 
in this last vote so that we will not have an opportunity to make it 
better.
  When my friend talked about how many jobs were lost in West Virginia 
after NAFTA, my heart sank. Those are a lot of jobs in a smaller State. 
My State is a large State. We lost about 80,000-plus jobs. That is a 
lot. We are a larger State, though.
  Percentagewise, you had 2 million and at the time we had about 30 
million. So in terms of percentages, your people suffered mightily. But 
we suffered mightily. More than 80,000 families lost their jobs.
  I don't want to keep my colleagues on the floor, but I am only going 
to speak for 60 seconds more because my colleague from Delaware is such 
a pal and said I could go before him.
  I have a very simple amendment I am fighting to get a vote on. Listen 
to what it is. It simply says you cannot get fast-track authority to 
negotiate with any country that doesn't pay at least a $2 minimum wage. 
I ask the people who are watching this debate here and at home: Do you 
know that out of the 12 countries we are negotiating with, 7 of them 
have less than a $2 minimum wage?
  Let me be specific. Chile has a $1.91 minimum wage. Malaysia has a 
$1.21 minimum wage. Peru has a $1.15 minimum wage. Mexico has an 80-
cent minimum wage.
  Do you remember NAFTA? Let's do NAFTA. It is going to raise the 
standard of living in Mexico, and the Mexican people won't come across 
the border. We had all those factory jobs leave. And in this, Mexico is 
part of this deal.
  How about Vietnam? 58 cents. And how about Brunei and Singapore? They 
have no minimum wage.
  What kind of a chance do our workers have? I don't care how 
productive they are. We have the most productive workers. The people in 
these countries are very smart. They are terrific.
  Mr. MANCHIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to be added as a 
cosponsor on that amendment.
  Mrs. BOXER. Absolutely.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Ms. WARREN. I ask unanimous consent to be added as a cosponsor on 
that amendment.
  Mrs. BOXER. Absolutely, I am very proud to have Senator Warren.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mrs. BOXER. What kind of chance do our workers have? Do you think a 
manufacturer in their right mind is going to stay here when they can go 
to Vietnam and have some terrific people?
  I know the Vietnamese community in my home State is fantastic. They 
are fantastic leaders. They are fantastic workers. It is sad that the 
ones who are left behind earn 58 cents an hour. What chance do our 
workers have?
  Now, we have 12 million manufacturing jobs left in this Nation of 
ours--this greatest of Nations. What kind of chance do they have? Do 
you know that I cannot get this amendment up for a vote? I think I know 
the reason. They do not want to have to vote against it. I am still 
hopeful. I am holding out hope. I am fighting for it. But it seems to 
me when you are saying to the American people: Do you want your Senator 
to have to go downstairs to a secure room, give up your electronics to 
a clerk, be told that if you take notes you have to leave them behind 
so the clerk can read it, but your staff cannot read it, you cannot 
discuss it with the people who do not have top clearance for the trade 
agreement?

  Then, you have to have the amendment that Senators Warren and Manchin 
have offered, which simply says: Make the trade agreement public before 
we give exceptional fast-track authority to any President. I do not 
care who it is--Democrat or Republican--this is not a partisan issue.
  I have voted for half of the trade agreements, so I have voted for 
many trade agreements but not with countries that pay slave wages. 
Let's be clear.
  This is a tough day for the U.S. Senate. I know we have been split up 
every which way on this, but I think there are certain things we have 
learned from this debate: Secrecy is no good. I respect my President. I 
have talked to him. I know in his heart he is doing what he thinks is 
right, but when he says this is not secret and everyone has access to 
it, I say to my President and I say to my friend Senator Hatch: This is 
not an open process.
  The secrecy is ludicrous. It is ridiculous. It is against the 
interests of the people we represent. I represent close to 40 million 
people. As Senator Manchin said, those people count on us, but if we do 
not know what is in an agreement, how can we be wise about what we want 
to say about it and what we want to do about it?
  I want to thank my friends for coming down here this afternoon. I 
know this is hard on the Senate. We are going to probably be here a 
very long time. But the fact is that people depend on us, and I am 
proud to stand with them.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware.

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