WASHINGTON - Ways and Means Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI) and Trade Subcommittee Ranking Member Jim McDermott (D-WA) today made the following joint statement regarding Thursday’s scheduled mock mark-up of the three pending FTAs. Also, Ranking Member Levin on Thursday intends to offer an amendment to include the Action Plan Related to Labor Rights in the Colombia FTA implementing bill:
“There are two fundamental problems with the Republican approach to Thursday’s mock-mark up. None of the bills being marked up includes Trade Adjustment Assistance, which should have been passed months ago, and the Colombia FTA implementing bill fails to incorporate the Action Plan Related to Labor Rights - a fatal flaw.
The Action Plan is an agreement between the two countries on how Colombia is addressing issues of worker rights, violence and impunity and the Administration should have stood firm on its inclusion in the implementing bill, just as we expect it to stand firm on TAA."
