[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6001]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP

  (Ms. KAPTUR asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, Japan's Prime Minister addressed 
Congress.
  Each U.S. President has their Japan opening initiative. All fail, as 
will President Obama.
  Soothing words are what Prime Minister Abe gave Congress yesterday. 
But here is the scorecard for U.S. trade with Japan:
  There hasn't been a single year of trade surplus for our country, not 
even balance. Rather, over the last 20 years, we have had 
$1,963,654,100 trillion lost dollars; U.S. dollars that have gone to 
Japan from us buying their products, but their markets remain closed to 
ours.
  The Trans-Pacific Partnership is not a trade deal. It should be 
debated as a treaty. It is a foreign policy arrangement that is part of 
the shift to Asia.
  As for the trade portion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, it 
facilitates the movement of more U.S. jobs and corporations into 
Vietnam and other nations in the region. Labor costs there are chasing 
cheap labor a third of that of China now, and will ease the movement of 
those goods back into--guess where--our country again.
  We have seen it before. It is time for Congress to stand up for the 
workers and communities of the United States of America. Let us start 
building back our middle class rather than keep shipping it out every 
place but here.

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