[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 192 (Tuesday, December 3, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6795-S6796]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



              United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement

  Mr. MORAN. Madam President, I appreciate the opportunity to be on the 
floor today to speak about something of significance, certainly to 
Kansas but to the country.
  We await House action on USMCA--the trade agreement between Canada, 
the United States and Mexico. It is a trade agreement that is 
attempting to replace NAFTA and an agreement that is of significance, 
as I say, to the folks back home in my State.
  For the last 2 years, I have engaged in a campaign to try to elevate 
the importance and to make sure my colleagues, the administration, and 
people here in Congress understand how important exports and trade are 
to the United States' economy.
  In Kansas, we are an export State. What we produce, what we 
manufacture, and what we grow in the fields of our State in many, many 
instances end up someplace else outside the United States.
  I have spoken on the Senate floor before. I have met with the 
President. I have talked to his Cabinet officials. I wrote an open 
letter to U.S. agricultural groups, encouraging them to fully engage in 
support for USMCA approval. I have had speaking engagements in places 
across the country, trying to rally farmers and ranchers and 
manufacturers and others to fight to preserve our trading relationship 
with Canada and Mexico.
  On Saturday, at home in Kansas, I was with the Kansas Farm Bureau at 
a townhall. It kicked off their 101st annual meeting to discuss issues 
facing Kansas agriculture. The topic of trade and its importance to the 
products that we grow was the most important and most discussed topic 
at that townhall meeting.
  USMCA was signed over a year ago. It is time for the House to pass 
this important agreement, and, in order for the House to pass it, the 
Speaker needs to bring it up for a vote.
  Canada and Mexico are Kansas's No. 1 and No. 2 export markets. They 
account for over one-third of exports from our State. Since 2013, 
unfortunately, farm income at home has fallen by 50 percent. So net 
farm income in Kansas is down half in the last 6 years.
  Many producers are struggling. They have struggled to hang on to 
their operations, and when farmers aren't doing well, it means that the 
communities they live in and support aren't doing well. The question is 
often this: What business will we lose when farmers are not having 
financial success? What young men and women who grew up on a farm or 
grew up in that small town will, perhaps, even reluctantly,

[[Page S6796]]

find a job someplace else because the economy is not helpful to them as 
they start their careers?
  USMCA will continue to provide duty-free market access to farm 
commodities, while also expanding trade opportunities for dairy 
producers and leveling the playing field for the wheat we export to 
Canada.
  USMCA is important to manufacturers as well. USMCA will protect the 
integrated North American supply chain that is critical to 
manufacturers in our State.
  Wichita is known as the air capital of the world due to aerospace and 
aviation manufacturing. Kansas is also home to automobile, farm 
equipment, and other manufacturers.
  Twenty-five percent of Kansas manufacturers--mostly, small to medium-
size businesses--export to Canada and Mexico.
  Nearly 25 years after its enactment, NAFTA was due to be modernized 
and to reflect changes in today's economy. USMCA will strengthen the 
rules on intellectual property rights and address digital trade issues. 
This modernized agreement will serve as a template for future trade 
negotiations, putting the United States in the driver's seat for 
setting global trade rules and norms.
  Kansas, as I said, is an export State. If we are not exporting, the 
ability to earn a living, to save a family farm, and to keep our small 
manufacturers across the communities that dot our State disappears. The 
ability to earn a living in Kansas depends upon selling food and 
manufactured goods around the world.
  We must continue the fight for more trade, not less. Again, I ask the 
House of Representatives to quickly consider and please do not let this 
calendar year come to an end without the NAFTA replacement in place.