OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Trans-Pacific Partnership

Floor Speech

Date: June 26, 2014
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Unemployed and Low-Income Economy and Fiscal

Mr. ELLISON. Madam Speaker, now is not the time for the Trans-Pacific Partnership or fast track legislation. Five years into our economic recovery, high unemployment and stagnant incomes continue to keep consumer spending down. American families still cannot make ends meet. For too many people, that is the reality. Meanwhile, we are being asked to pass fast track legislation for TPP, and I think it is a threat to American jobs.

How do we know? We have already tried this 20 years ago when we passed NAFTA. Similar to TPP, NAFTA promised to create jobs, 200,000 Americans jobs every year, but they didn't materialize. Instead, the United States lost more than a million jobs. In Minnesota, more than 13,000 workers were displaced.

We don't want to see this happen again. It is time to pass a trade bill that lifts labor standards around the world, not encourages a race to the bottom. We cannot afford to offshore any more of our jobs. Let's pass a good trade bill.


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