HRES 251 IH 
this year and bringing those agreements to Congress for 
consideration immediately thereafter’’; 
Whereas, testifying before the Senate Finance Committee on 
February 16, 2011, Treasury Secretary Geithner said of 
the Trade Agreement and our two other pending trade 
agreements, ‘‘We’d like to pass all of them, alongside 
trade adjustment assistance, and we want to do it this 
year . . . They’re overwhelmingly in our favor economi-
cally, and if we don’t do it, what that means is that busi-
ness just goes to other countries. It just makes no sense 
as a country. . . . [T]he world is watching to see wheth-
er we find a way to rebuild a political consensus in the 
United States on agreements like these. And our hand, 
strategically, in Asia and in emerging markets, will be 
much stronger if we can demonstrate, through these 
agreements, that we’ve found a way to rebuild that con-
sensus on trade’’; 
Whereas, on March 2, 2011, six former U.S. Trade Rep-
resentatives, two former Ambassadors at Large to Latin 
America, and eleven former Assistant Secretaries of State 
for Western Hemisphere Affairs, a bipartisan group rep-
resenting both Republican and Democratic administra-
tions, stated in a letter to the President and leaders of 
Congress, ‘‘The time to ratify the Colombian and Pan-
amanian FTAs is long overdue. Therefore, we respect-
fully urge you to agree on a firm deadline for ratifying 
the Colombian and Panamanian Free Trade Agreements 
within the first half of 2011’’; 
Whereas Senator Baucus, in a Senate Finance Committee 
hearing he chaired on March 9, 2011, with Ambassador 
Kirk as the sole witness, said that ‘‘. . . the time has 
passed to ratify the Colombian free trade agreement. It’s 
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HRES 251 IH 
long past. I mentioned in my opening remarks, we’re los-
ing market share hand over fist. Hand over fist, we’re 
losing market share . . . . This is a no-brainer, Mr. Am-
bassador, no-brainer, and I just hope we get this passed 
quickly’’; 
Whereas, on March 17, 2011, in testimony before the Trade 
Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee, 
Deputy United States Trade Representative Miriam 
Sapiro said, ‘‘The Colombia FTA holds the prospect of 
substantial benefits for U.S. workers, businesses, farmers 
and ranchers. . . . The Obama Administration shares 
the sense of urgency we have heard from many Members 
of Congress to advance the Colombia FTA’’; and 
Whereas in establishing the President’s Export Council in 
July 2010, President Obama stated, ‘‘We also want to 
deepen and broaden our relations with Panama and Co-
lombia. So we’re working to resolve outstanding issues 
with the free trade agreements with those key partners, 
and we’re focused on submitting them as soon as possible 
for congressional consideration.’’: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives urges 
the President to expedite the submission of the United 
States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement to Con-
gress. 
Æ 
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