Trade Promotion Legislation

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I have one final matter. For all the issues that may divide Democrats and Republicans these days, there is one thing many of us can agree on--trade is good for America. There is bipartisan agreement that trade is good for American wages with export-related manufacturing jobs paying nearly 20 percent more than other kinds of jobs, and there is bipartisan agreement that trade is good for American jobs overall.

According to one study, trade supports nearly 40 million jobs nationally--about one out of every five jobs and more than one-half million jobs in my State of Kentucky alone. In fact, Kentucky's exports in goods and services have already increased dramatically since the enactment of trade agreements with countries such as Australia, from about $10 billion a year to almost $30 billion a year. Trade is good for Kentucky and trade is good for America, and that is why this is an issue where the White House and Congress are working together to support American jobs and wages.

While the United States has historically been a world leader in opening more markets to the products our country makes and grows, we have fallen woefully behind in recent years.

Thankfully, emerging agreements with countries in Europe and the Pacific present us with a real chance to catch up. These agreements present us with the unique opportunity to export more of what we make over there so we can create more American jobs right here at home. But we cannot make this important progress for America's middle class without passing the right kind of trade legislation in Congress first.

There is bipartisan agreement--at least in principle--to do exactly that, but the details will obviously be important. We want to ensure we get those details of that legislation right so we can get the best agreements possible for the American people. We certainly don't want to be considering legislation that would make these goals harder to achieve--undermining future economic and job growth.

The good news is our country has decades of experience with the kind of bipartisan trade promotion legislation that allows for the best deals for American workers to be negotiated by America's trade representatives and then approved by Congress. Several members of my conference will speak about that issue on the floor today. Like many of our Democratic friends, these Senators are interested in getting the best deals possible for the American people--the kind of deals that would only be possible with truly effective and bipartisan trade legislation. So they will explain this important issue, and that is just what is needed. They will explain it in further detail.

Before I leave the floor, I wish to recognize the good work of the chairman of the Finance Committee for being an incredible advocate on this issue, and allow me to also recognize the ranking member of the Finance Committee for working hard to try to get this right. We all look forward to working with these Members, and all Members, on this very important issue.

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