The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 3009” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Commerce was published in the Senate section on pages S9026-S9027 on Sept. 23, 2002.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 3009
Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I rise today to express my full support for the conference report on H.R. 3009, the Andean Trade Preference Expansion Act, which was passed by Congress and signed by the President just prior to the August recess. I was unable to come to the floor during the consideration of the conference report, but I wanted to take this opportunity to express my views on this important legislation.
H.R. 3009 was by far the most comprehensive trade legislation to come before Congress in fourteen years. By passing this bill, we accomplished four key goals: granting the President Trade Promotion Authority for the first time in 8 years; dramatically enhancing Trade Adjustment Assistance for displaced workers; renewing and expanding the Andean Trade Preference Act to provide legitimate export opportunities to Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, and; extending for 5 years the Generalized System of Preferences providing tariff cuts for over 100 developing countries.
I support all four of these goals, and I voted enthusiastically in favor of this bill. I am particularly pleased that the enhancement of the Andean Trade Preference Act is the underlying bill for this important legislation. This issue has been of great personal importance to me.
When the Senate was considering its version of Andean legislation in May, we heard time and again about the success of new, legitimate, exports from the region like cut flowers and asparagus.
Since December 4 of last year, when the original ATPA legislation expired, these and many other legitimate exports from the region have been subjected to substantially higher tariffs. These higher tariffs hit the fresh cut flower sector particularly hard as higher tariffs impacted peak sales periods for the Valentine's Day and Mother's Day holidays.
This legislation will return trade benefits to all of those products previously covered by ATPA and, most importantly, this legislation has been made retroactive to December 4, so that any duties that were paid during the lapse of ATPA will be refunded.
I am pleased that the conference report is not simply a renewal of ATPA, but includes enhanced benefits for new products. Times, and our trade policy in the region, have changed since 1991 when the original ATPA legislation passed. Most notably, the passage in 2000 of the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act provided enhanced trade benefits to Caribbean countries, but inadvertently disadvantaged imports from the Andean region.
Nowhere else was this more critical than in apparel assembly where some 100,000 jobs in Colombia alone were at risk of being relocated to CBI countries. Under the enhanced ATPA program in the conference report, the Andean countries will now be competitive suppliers in the region. And this new ATPA benefit will also benefit U.S. producers of textile, yarn and cotton by making these U.S.-produced components more competitive with Asian goods. In fact, the U.S. apparel importers predict that the ATPA provisions in this bill will lead to over $1 billion in new orders. The next time ATPA is debated in this chamber, I look forward to hearing floor statements that show that this projection has come true. I also hope to hear of new successes from increased exports in footwear, watches, tuna, and other new products afforded ATPA benefits under this legislation.
Enhanced trade benefits in the apparel sector should, in my view, be the new norm in the Western Hemisphere. I continue to be concerned about the demise of the Multi-Fiber Agreement in 2005 and the effect the end of this agreement will have on U.S.-Caribbean and Andean apparel assembly partnerships. If we want a competitive apparel industry in the Western Hemisphere post-2005, we must be developing greater efficiency in the region now.
Secretary of Commerce Don Evans has been leading this effort for the Administration, and the Commerce Department has developed a Western Hemisphere action plan to enhance post-2005 competitiveness in the region. I will be writing to Mr. Evans shortly to encourage a similar initiative for the Andean region.
I also want to say a few words about two other key parts of this trade bill--Trade Promotion Authority and Trade Adjustment Assistance. It has been eight long years since Trade Promotion Authority expired. In my view, that is far too long for the United States to be sitting on the sidelines while other countries are aggressively negotiating trade agreements. With Trade Promotion Authority, the Congress and the President will be speaking with a unified voice during negotiations.
TPA will strengthen the United States' negotiating position in ongoing Doha Round of negotiations in the World Trade Organization and will provide much needed momentum for the Free Trade Area of the Americas negotiations. With TPA, USTR will be able to close negotiations on bilateral agreements with Chile and Singapore with the confidence that Congress will consider the agreements as negotiated.
I am pleased that the conference report retained a number of provisions that will help to ensure that import-sensitive agriculture products, such as citrus from my state, will be given an increased level of attention during trade negotiations. I believe these provision are necessary to help rebuild consensus in support of trade within the agriculture sector. TPA can also help our citrus growers gain market access in Europe and elsewhere around the world, if we achieve our goals in the WTO agriculture negotiations.
Of course, TPA is only the first step toward trade negotiations. Whether or not we are successful in achieving our negotiating objectives will depend on close cooperation between the Congress and the administration. I look forward to working with the Administration on this effort.
The final comment I will make is on Trade Adjustment Assistance. I am pleased that Members of Congress were able to work together in a truly bipartisan fashion to address the health care needs of American workers adversely affected by foreign trade agreements. This trade legislation will nearly triple the existing Trade Adjustment Assistance program by providing new and more comprehensive coverage options. These new benefits will provide critical assistance to the over 2,000 Floridians who presently receive Trade Adjustment Assistance, particularly those from the apparel and electronics sectors where job losses have been most severe.
For the first time, displaced workers will be eligible for a 65 percent advanceable, refundable tax credit that can be used to pay for COBRA or other state continuation plans. Health benefits will also be available to individuals who work for businesses that supply or contract with firms affected by trade. This comprehensive legislation represents a critical step towards our overall goal of lowering the number of uninsured, and I applaud my colleagues who supported it.
I was pleased to vote for the comprehensive trade legislation encompassed by H.R. 3009. Passage of this bill was a major accomplishment of this Congress and proof that the Congress can work together in a spirit of bipartisanship. I am excited about the opportunities I believe this legislation brings to not only our country, but to the rest of the world.
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