[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15242]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               FREE TRADE

  (Mr. BACA asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. BACA. Mr. Speaker, as policymakers, it is our job to learn from 
the mistakes of the past and not repeat them.
  Nearly 700,000 American jobs have been lost as a direct result of 
NAFTA. In my district, the 43rd Congressional District, we have lost 
over 2,000 jobs since the passage of NAFTA and other trade agreements; 
and the United States has gone from a $1.6 billion trade surplus to a 
$97 billion trade deficit with Mexico. Yet we stand this week ready to 
pass three more NAFTA-style trade agreements: Korea, Colombia, and 
Panama.
  My constituents face a 15 percent unemployment rate. They need us to 
create jobs, not shift them overseas where thousands of jobs will be 
sent.
  I ask you, who benefits from these trade deals? Not the American 
working families. Major corporations are the ones who benefit with this 
misguided agreement.
  This is a debate about the haves and the have-nots. It is time to 
stand up for working families. I say it's time to stand up for working 
families and do the right thing for the American people.

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