pelosi speaker of the house of representatives pursuant to the order of the house of january for two thousand and seven the chair will now recognize members from a list submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour debate the chair will alternate recognition between the parties with each party limited to twenty five minutes in each member of the majority minority leaders in the minority whip limited to five minutes each but no eventual to a continued beyond nine fifty a m the chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois mr weller for five minutes good morning and thank you mr speaker this week the house will vote on a trade agreement between the united states and peru by moving forward on the us through free trade agreement where cycling united states will not retreat from trade will maintain its commitments to our partners i note that my district depends on exports with farmers manufacturers and workers and the us through free trade agreement is good for the eleventh district develop noise this agreement is about economics and it's about the big picture of our hemisphere we know the numbers for the united states on day one eighty percent of our exports consumer and industrial products become duty free immediately l o l noise small and medium enterprises will benefit greatly elimination as well as the largest employer in the district i represent caterpillar union workers to build world famous caterpillar machinery will benefit when their products such as off highway trucks are no longer taxed when they arrive in peru these vehicles sell for about one million dollars and face a twelve percent tariff meaning one hundred twenty thousand dollars is added to the price of the vehicle that goes away on day one making caterpillar equipment more competitive with asian competition and meeting caterpillar  workers will build more machinery for export the proof e p a is good for all noise farmers so it means we come duty free immediately meaning new markets for our farmers before this agreement illinois pork and corn read a competitive disadvantage to chile an have lords who face lower tariffs in the united states are products going into peru now are pork producers and corn farmers will be competitive in fact farmers groups say peru and the colombia free trade agreements and the best deals ever negotiated on behalf of agriculture in fact the us proof free trade agreement as a potential to increase farm exports by well over seven hundred million dollars a year we benefit from to a trade but this agreement is broader implications beyond increasing exports are only farmers manufacturers peru is a leader in the hemisphere and the leadership of president the ladle and now president garcia is making a difference poverty is being reduced real jobs are being created and peru is becoming an economic success story for the hemisphere peru is achieving results at home not by falling anti american rhetoric or by giving in the populace demagoguery but by sound economics and partnership united states we congratulate president garcia on his eight percent economic growth and poverty reduction and i know poverty is down to forty nine percent this past year this trade agreement is not the solution to poverty but it's a tool and it will help in one thousand nine hundred four two hundred seventy thousand relied on exports today more than one million rely on exports thanks to trade generated by any trade preferences granted by this congress now this agreement as a potential to create one million more formal jobs improve because of exports helping with peacekeeping in haiti and its host campus the international law enforcement academy peruvians elected president garcia to maintain the independence their country from extremist ideology and to continue on a moderate path now is the time to complete the trade commitment once people cross the hemisphere are waiting to see what the united states is going to do and whether we're going to answer the question that are we going to stand by our commitments to our friends i urge my colleagues to pass the proof free trade agreement this week with a strong bipartisan vote let's strengthen the us through partnership it's good for both united states and it's good for her thank you and i yield back