The 2009 Trade Adjustment Assistance - heralded as a major bi-partisan achievement at the time - has been expired since February.
Since that time the Department of Labor has denied workers TAA because they were only covered through the 2009 reforms.
Some Republicans have so wrongly stated that TAA picks winners and losers. No. TAA helps workers who have lost out from the impact of trade turn into winners again.
The Administration has stated that TAA must be renewed before consideration of the pending Free Trade Agreements. On May 16th National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling said, "The administration will not submit implementing legislation on the three free pending trade agreements until we have a deal with Congress on the renewal of a robust, expanded TAA program consistent with the objectives of the 2009 trade adjustment assistance law."
When this mock-up was announced, USTR Ron Kirk said, “We welcome the effort to move the three pending trade agreements forward in the House... However, we note that the Ways and Means Committee documents released today do not provide a path forward for the bipartisan agreement to renew Trade Adjustment Assistance, and therefore are at odds with the Administration’s stated intentions for advancing a package that includes both the free-trade agreements and assistance for workers adversely impacted by trade."
Just such a deal was announced ten days ago. Today the Senate is holding a similar mock mark-up on the FTAs, and they are including the TAA language presumably agreed to by some Republicans.
So the question for Republicans on the Committee today is: Why are you proceeding this way?
TAA should have been extended long ago, as I proposed to the Administration they send us Korea and TAA months ago, and today we should be discussing the merits of all three trade agreements as changed by the Obama Administration.
As to the Korea FTA, we should be talking today about the fact that Obama Administration did what the Bush Administration failed to do - they turned a one-way street in trade to a two-way street, which must be a key principle in crafting and enforcing trade agreements.
As to the Panama FTA, we should be talking today about the fact that the Obama Administration did what the Bush Administration failed to do - they negotiated an agreement to address tax haven concerns and Panama has acted before Congressional consideration to bring their labor laws into compliance with international standards and the standard now within the FTA itself.
I support these FTAs as changed, but if the amendment we will offer to incorporate TAA into the FTA to ensure its enactment does not pass, I urge a no vote on these agreements at this mock mark-up.
We should certainly be talking today about the Colombia FTA, where there exists a major flaw in the implementing legislation that must be addressed.
What has held up consideration of the Colombia FTA are labor laws and practices that did not meet international standards, violence against workers, and impunity for those who committed the violence. The development of an Action Plan on worker rights - and its agreement between our government and the Colombian government - represented a vital prerequisite to action on the Colombia FTA.
Republicans total refusal to include in the implementing bill a reference to the agreement on an Action Plan addressing the core issue which had prevented consideration of the FTA and the Administration’s acquiescence to that refusal are totally unacceptable.
As such, the implementation legislation is not satisfactory, and we will offer an amendment today that says before the Administration provides for entry into force of the Colombia FTA they shall make a determination that Colombia has met their obligations under the Action Plan as of the date of entry.
This is a vital improvement to the legislation for the following reasons.
There are numerous, important commitments under the Action Plan that are scheduled to be completed after a likely vote on the Colombia FTA, most of these commitments by the end of this year. Entry into force of the FTA would take at least six months after a vote, so linking the FTA to the Action Plan would add further assurance for the completion of Action Plan commitments.
The FTA includes a fully enforceable worker rights standard which makes it vital to include a clear reference in the implementation legislation to the Action Plan and its specific provisions; they provide an important context for enforcement of the FTA worker rights standard. It also signals that the Administration is fully committed to enforcing worker rights under the FTA.
The Santos Administration has taken some important steps to date to implement the Action Plan. Its inclusion in the implementing legislation both acknowledges those efforts and provides leverage and encouragement to reformers in Colombia to push for vigorous implementation of reforms and to overcome resistance to that implementation.
Worker rights and the Action Plan deserve to be elevated, not relegated. They need to be focused on, and not shunted aside. I am proposing an amendment to accomplish that vital goal and if it fails I urge a no vote.
The issue today is not the need for expanded trade. There clearly is that need. But it is also vital as trade expands to maximize its benefits and minimize its downsides. Our two amendments are an effort to carry out that goal and we will continue to pursue that effort before these bills are presented for a formal vote.
