[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 7708-7709]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           AMENDMENT NO. 1243

  Mr. FLAKE. Mr. President, I want to talk about trade for a minute. 
Let me start by saying that I believe in free trade. I strongly support 
swift renewal of the trade promotion authority we are considering 
today. We all know the benefits of increased market access for U.S. 
goods and services are good for American consumers and businesses.
  Renewal of trade promotion authority will pave the way for future 
free-trade agreements between the United States and many other nations. 
Countries around the world are not standing still on trade, and we 
cannot afford to sit idly by while they move ahead and engage with each 
other. History has shown that without trade promotion authority, there 
is virtually no chance that the United States will successfully reach 
agreement to lower trade barriers with other countries. We have to have 
this authority.
  I am pleased to have the opportunity to participate in these 
deliberations, with a shared goal of making sure the trade legislation 
we are considering today ends up on the President's desk. Toward that 
goal, I want to raise an amendment I filed that is currently pending.
  The proposal we are now debating will renew trade promotion authority 
for 6 years, but it will also renew trade adjustment assistance. This 
program will be expanded as well. The Flake amendment No. 1243 will 
strike the trade adjustment assistance title, or TAA, in its entirety 
from this package. It is unfortunate that Congress has grown accustomed 
to tying legislation that expands trade opening for U.S. businesses 
with this costly trade adjustment assistance.
  I reject the notion that these tradeoffs are necessary. When Congress

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takes steps to embrace trade liberalization, it is a responsible 
reflection of the changing realities in the global marketplace. Almost 
95 percent of the world's consumers live outside of our borders. The 
export of U.S. goods and services has been and will continue to be a 
vital part of our economy. Adjusting and modernizing U.S. trade 
priorities to increase economic opportunity is a realization that there 
is a necessary shift in our economy. Changing economic trends and 
conditions are a recurring part of our country's history. Look no 
further than the emergence of digital technology to see a familiar 
example. But it is only in the case of trade policy changes that the 
Federal Government is expected to layer on additional benefits for 
impacts to the workforce.
  When you look at this economy and you look at how we have grown and 
if you look at the shifts in the economy from the industrial age 
onward, there have been shifts and there have been dislocations, but 
this is the only area where we say: All right, we are going to try to 
account for that with adjustment assistance beyond what we already have 
with the Federal Government.
  Now taxpayers can at least breathe a sigh of relief that an amendment 
offered earlier this week that would have dramatically increased the 
program's authorized funding, this TAA funding, was handily defeated.
  If this program is approved, we can expect to see $450 million a year 
spent on training, employment, case management services and job search 
and relocation allowances alone. In fact, all told, TAA reauthorization 
will likely cost the U.S. taxpayers about $1.8 billion.
  TAA benefits were expanded in the 2009 stimulus bill. Those expanded 
benefits were, for the most part, continued from 2011 through 2014. 
Now, this reauthorization will restore much of that benefit expansion 
from the manufacturing sector to the service sector and will cover any 
jobs moved overseas, not just those related to countries with which we 
have free-trade agreements--this is despite the application criteria 
for Federal adjustment assistance having been notoriously lax, most 
notably when employees who were laid off after the Solyndra Federal 
loan guarantee debacle were awarded TAA benefits.
  To be clear, it is not as if those who claim to need trade adjustment 
assistance are somehow turned away from existing Federal unemployment 
benefits. These trade adjustment allowance benefits provide a weekly 
payment to those who have already received unemployment insurance 
benefits. Including unemployment benefits, these payments can last as 
long as 130 weeks.
  Duplication in Federal job-training programs has been highlighted 
extensively in the past. According to a 2011 Government Accountability 
Office report, although some of these have been repealed, 79 Federal 
agencies spent $18 billion to administer 47 programs in fiscal year 
2009. Again, some $18 billion was spent to administer 47 programs in 
fiscal year 2009.
  Supporters of trade adjustment assistance claim that the needs of 
workers impacted by vibrant international trade are somehow special in 
nature, but when the price tag for all existing and newly authorized 
training programs and funding reaches into the billions, those 
arguments wear a bit thin.
  There have also been persistent questions related to the program's 
effectiveness, TAA's effectiveness.
  The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service noted that 
``estimating the impact of the program, for example the differences in 
employment outcomes of TAA beneficiaries versus otherwise identical 
workers who did not participate in TAA, is extremely difficult.''
  A 2012 study by Mathematica Policy Research commissioned by the 
Department of Labor did a comparison of TAA beneficiaries to those who 
were not receiving them. They found that after 3 years, TAA recipients 
actually had lower reemployment rates. However, after 4 years, 
employment rates for both groups were statistically the same. So, 
overall, TAA recipients ended up earning less annually.
  At best, the impact of TAA is a multibillion-dollar question mark. At 
worst, research says it is ineffective and even counterproductive.
  While trade adjustment assistance is of dubious value, we certainly 
know that renewing trade promotion authority is an incredible 
opportunity for the U.S. economy. It is my fervent hope that Congress 
will move forward in approving legislation reauthorizing TPA. It is 
also my hope that one day we can recognize the benefits of trade and 
the fact that it lifts our economy. I hope we can advance a sound trade 
policy without these costly adjustment assistance programs.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.

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