PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF SENATE AMENDMENT TO HR 2832 EXTENDING THE GENERALIZED SYSTEM OF PREFERENCE PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF HR 3078 UNITED STATESCOLOMBIA TRADE PROMOTION AGREEMENT IMPLEMENTATION ACT PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF HR 3079 UNITED STATESPANAMA TRADE PROMOTION AGREEMENT IMPLEMENTATION ACT AND PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF HR 3080 UNITED STATESKOREA FREE TRADE AGREEMENT IMPLEMENTATION ACT

Full program:House Session
Oct 11, 2011

David DreierU.S. Representative
[R] California, United States

Length: 2 minutes, 55 seconds


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00:00:00 MR.
00:00:01 DREIER: I YIELD MYSELF THE BALANCE OF THE TIME.
00:00:02 MR. SPEAKER, I'D LIKE TO GET THE DEBATE BACK TO WHERE IT WAS.
00:00:05 WE HAVE BEFORE US FOUR PENDING ISSUES.
00:00:09 WE HAVE TRADE AGREEMENTS WITH COLOMBIA, PANAMA, SOUTH KOREA AND WE HAVE THE VERY IMPORTANT TRADE ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE.
00:00:19 MR. SPEAKER, OUR FELLOW AMERICANS ARE HURTING.
00:00:22 JOB CREATION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IS SOMETHING THAT DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS ALIKE ARE TALKING ABOUT.
00:00:27 I WAS LISTENING TO THE WORDS OF ONE OF THE PROTEST LEADERS UP IN NEW YORK AND THIS GUY WAS SAYING THAT THE PROTESTS ARE ABOUT ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL JUSTICE AND HE SAID, WORKING CLASS AMERICANS CAN NO LONGER BE IGNORED.
00:00:44 NOW, MR.
00:00:45 SPEAKER, THIS MEASURE THAT IS BEFORE US, ACCORDING TO THE INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION, WILL CREATE 250,000 NEW JOBS HERE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
00:00:56 I ARGUE THAT IF WE HAD HAD THESE AGREEMENTS IN PLACE, THE PAIN THAT SO MANY OF OUR FELLOW AMERICANS ARE FEELING AT THIS MOMENT WOULD NOT BE AS GREAT AS IT HAS BEEN BECAUSE FOR HALF A DECADE, HALF A DECADE THESE AGREEMENTS HAVE BEEN LANGUISHING, WAITING TO BE CONSIDERED.
00:01:14 NOW, THE LAST TWO SPEAKERS I YIELDED TO HAPPEN TO BE DEMOCRATS.
00:01:18 I'M VERY PROUD OF WORKING -- HAVING WORKED CLOSELY TOGETHER WITH SAM FARR AND GREGORY MEEKS ON THESE AGREEMENTS.
00:01:24 THERE ARE LOTS OF OTHER PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN INVOLVED AND WORKED TIRELESSLY FOR YEARS.
00:01:28 OVER THE LAST TWO DECADES I'VE HAD A WORKING GROUP THAT I STARTED WITH FORMER WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN, BILL ARCHER, GOING ALL THE WAY UP NOW TO WORKING WITH DAVE CAMP AND KEVIN BRADY AND WALLY HERGER AND OTHERS.
00:01:45 DEMOCRATS HAVE JOINED WITH OUR BIPARTISAN TRADE WORKING GROUP BECAUSE THERE ARE DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS WHO WANT US TO GET BACK TO THE BIPARTISAN APPROACH TO OUR GLOBAL LEADERSHIP ROLE.
00:01:57 THEY WANT TO OPEN UP MARKETS AROUND THE WORLD FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND WITH PASSAGE OF THESE THREE AGREEMENTS, MR.
00:02:05 SPEAKER, WE'RE GOING TO HAVE ACCESS TO $2 TRILLION OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITY AND 97 MILLION CONSUMERS.
00:02:13 MR. SPEAKER, WE NEED TO SUPPORT THIS RULE, WE'RE GOING TO HAVE DEBATE GOING INTO THIS EVENING AND WE'RE GOING TO HAVE DEBATE THROUGHOUT THE DAY TOMORROW.
00:02:20 LET'S SUPPORT THE RULE AND WITH THAT I MOVE THE PREVIOUS QUESTION AND YIELD BACK

Mr. DREIER. I yield myself the balance of my time.

I'd like to get the debate back to where it was. We have before us four pending issues. We have trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, South Korea, and we have the very important trade adjustment assistance.

Mr. Speaker, our fellow Americans are hurting. Job creation and economic growth is something that Democrats and Republicans alike are talking about. I was listening to the words of one of the protest leaders up in New York. This guy was saying that the protests are about economic and social justice, and he said working class Americans can no longer be ignored.

Now, this measure that is before us, according to the International Trade Commission, will create 250,000 new jobs here in the United States of America. I argue that, if we had had these agreements in place, the pain that so many of our fellow Americans are feeling at this moment would not be as great as it has been because, for half a decade, these agreements have been languishing, waiting to be considered.

The last two speakers I yielded to happen to be Democrats. I am very proud of having worked closely together with Sam Farr and Gregory Meeks on these agreements. There are lots of other people who have been involved and who have worked tirelessly for years. Over the last two decades, I've had a working group that I started with former Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Archer, going all the way up now to working with Dave Camp and Kevin Brady and Wally Herger and others. There have been many people who have been involved in working with this. Democrats have joined with our bipartisan trade working group because there are Democrats and Republicans who want us to get back to the bipartisan approach to our global leadership role. They want to open up markets around the world for the United States of America; and with the passage of these three agreements, we're going to have access to $2 trillion of economic activity and to 97 million consumers.

Mr. Speaker, we need to support this rule. We're going to have debate going into this evening, and we're going to have debate throughout the day tomorrow. Let's support the rule.

With that, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.

The previous question was ordered.

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