Date: 2007-06-18
Speaker: LINDA T. SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Thank you. Congressman MICHAUD. and I also thank BETTY SUTTON for being here this evening to talk about the Presidents Trade Promotion Authority and its effect oil working families. Mr. MICHAUD and I cochair the House working group. and we have been working very hard this year to emphasize the impact that our current failed policy has on average households. We are here because we believe that our trade policies should ensure a fair shake for American working families. not just for those who sit in corporate board rooms. We have already spoken many times in this House about the flaws in the new trade deal recently announced by the administration. This new deal. which applies to the Bush fiegotiated Free Trade Agreements with Peru and Panama. is an improvement over past FTAs. but it still doesnt give American families much to be excited about. quite honestly. Despite additional labor and environmental provisions. these agreements are based on the NAFTA trade model. the -same failed NAFTA model that has hurt the American family for the past decade. the same NAFTA trade model that didnt bring about the jobs or the prosperity that we were promised. the same NAFTA model that didnt stop the immigration flow from Mexico. the same NAFTA model that hasnt been able to assure that our trading partners uphold the strong labor and environmental standards that we do here in the United States. thus putting our workers at a competitive disadvantage. If the longsoughtafter labor and environmental protections the administration promises to include in the Peru and Panama FTAs are no stronger than those that we were promised in NAFTA or its cousin CAFTA. they are little more than hollow promises. Yet the FreeTradeAtAllCosts lobby asks the American people to have faith that the administration has really turned over a new leaf. They are asking us to trust that enforceable labor and environmental standards will be included in the text of the Peru and Panama agreements. But even if these agreements are the best written. fairest trade agreements possible. so long as they rely on this administration to enforce the labor and environmental standards they contain. they are not worth the paper that they are written on. This administration has failed to protect workers here in the U.S. The RP Texas City explosion. the Sago mine disaster and the 9/11 first responders and cleanup workers who have developed serious breathing afTments. these are just the most notorious examples of this administrations lack of dedication to provide even the most basic protection to workers: the right to work in a safe environment. Even the U.S. Chamber of Commerce says these new worker and environmental protections cant be enforced. Now. if that isnt telling. I dont know what it is. They flatly came out and said they are not enforceable. This President has lost our trust. and with it any argument that he has to renew his trade promotion authority. The administrations track record does not demonstrate a commitment to the working families of America. Free trade was supposed to create economic opportunity for everyone. for big businesses. as well as small businesses. working families at home and abroad. but that. quite frankly. hasnt been the case: The truth of the matter is that the NAFTA free trade model favors the wealthiest at the expense of small businesses. workers. families and ultimately communities. like the communities Mr. MICHAUD was talking about that are dependent upon millwork for their life blood. More than a decade after NAFTA and NAFTAstyled replicas. its clear that the promise of economic prosperity has yet to arrive. Our trade deficit has ballooned into the tens of millions of dollars. Real wages for American families are down. and our manufacturing base is falling apart. We need an administration committed to protecting the rights of workers. and until we get one we cannot grant this administration an extension of Fast Track authority. The American people deserve better. They deserve a commitment to trade that expands their opportunities rather than diminishes them. I urge all my colleagueson both sides of the aisle to help our working families get back on track to economic prosperity. I urge them to oppose the Fast Track renewal. and I want to thank. again. my two colleagues for their leadership on this issue. because they have been trying to carry this message to those who have been unwilling to hear it.