The Economy

Floor Speech

THE ECONOMY -- (House of Representatives - March 05, 2007)

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Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Speaker, let me thank the Member from Maine for his excellent leadership, looking out for the hard-working people of this whole United States.

It is true, I am honored to come from the Fifth Congressional District of Minnesota, but as I stand before you tonight, Mr. Speaker, I am honored to associate myself with the Member from Maine, with the Member from Ohio and Pennsylvania, because working people all over America need a fair trade and balanced trade situation. We can no longer abide doing trade deals which essentially support environmental policies that degrade other nations, that degrade workers in other nations, and that degrade human rights in other nations, and then thereby give other nations a competitive advantage over us because of the exploitation and ignoring important environmental regulations. And it is all very important because we need leadership tonight, Mr. Speaker, leadership which is willing to stand up and be counted for the American people, leadership which will not go with the wind but will actually change the wind. That is the leadership we need at this time.

Let me say that we need a trade policy that does three things, basically: respects workers' rights and their dignity; protects our fragile environment; and upholds basic human rights. Today's trade policies in America do only a few of those things but very little of what we need.

What we see is a continual erosion at the very heart of America: the middle class. It started first with the elimination of our manufacturing jobs. And I now represent Minnesota, the Fifth District of Minnesota, but I started life out in Detroit, where I saw plants closing on a daily, weekly basis, and I saw jobs outsourced on a weekly basis. But now what we see is a situation in Minnesota where that has taken hold and we see jobs leaving left, right and center, and it has got to stop.

The global economy has evolved to a large extent and is reminiscent today of the Robber Baron era, where huge transnational companies scour the planet for the cheapest, most exploitable labor and the most lax environmental standards. We have the opportunity to change that in Congress, and we must change it.

But what kind of global economy do we want? The answer to that question must be determined and will be determined to a large extent by the rules incorporated in free trade agreements that define so much of the global economy. By what we decide in this Chamber, we will determine the shape of the global economy.

If we want sweatshops in the global economy and the continued erosion of our middle class, we could continue negotiating and passing trade deals with no protection for workers or the environment. Trade deals that threaten the prevailing wage laws. Trade deals that could force us to privatize public services.

But if we truly believe in a global economy that lifts the living standards at home and around the globe, one that seriously values the environment on which all life depends, then what we must do is we must do better. If we want a better global economy that lifts standards everywhere, we need to change our approach to trade agreements as we enter into this fast-track arena coming up.

First, we need to put an end to the fast-track trade negotiating procedure which previous Congresses have ceded to the Executive branch. The Founding Fathers wisely delegated that role exclusively to the branch of government closest to the people: the Congress. And we have the perfect opportunity to take back our constitutional responsibility by allowing fast-track promotion authority to expire in June. We can and will put forward a different, more humane method of negotiating international trade agreements, but it is time for fast track to die a rightful death.

Secondly, we must stop passing more trade deals designed to spread the sweatshop model of the global economy. It has become clear that NAFTA, after 13 years of real-life experience, has not worked. It has cost us a million manufacturing jobs, left Mexican workers without rights and still working for wages far below the Mexican poverty level. It has displaced more than 1.5 million Mexican farm families, leaving many with no alternative but to migrate north for a better life.

The same applies to CAFTA and the pending Peru and Colombia ``free'' trade agreements. Colombia is distinguished by being a country where trade unionists are assassinated more than in any other nation in the world.

Instead, we can construct a new global economy built on generosity and inclusivity; one that raises living standards and supports the vast and growing global middle class. But we can only do it by casting off the failed policies of recent decades and by building the middle class.

The choice is ours. The choice is clear. It is time to reclaim Congress's free trade authority and our country's, and the world's future.

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