Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Speaker, I submit this letter from Mr. Trumka because I think, perhaps more than anybody else in this whole country, he is in touch with workers and what they need; and labor has been a solid wall of opposing the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Trade Promotion Authority.

The fact is, when people said we don't know what it is and it is an unknown, that is not true. We have, as Members, been able to go and read some of it. Pieces of it have been leaked. And everything I have
seen so far has been incredibly disappointing and represents a real threat to the interests of working people, which Mr. Trumka is an expert on.

I mean, I think it is really odd that we think the person who is expert at representing American workers knows so little and workers in general know so little about what is good for them. Maybe we should
listen to the people who have borne the brunt of these trade bills in this country, from NAFTA all the way down.

Mr. ELLISON. The fact is, yeah, we do need Trade Adjustment Assistance.

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Mr. ELLISON. If this Trans-Pacific Partnership is anything like the trade bills we have seen so far, we are going to need a way bigger Trade Adjustment Assistance than this represents.

Trade Adjustment Assistance is a good thing, but it is an admission that we are going to have displaced workers. We are saying people will be hurt by this trade bill, and so we are going to try to mitigate some
of the harm.

The billions and billions of dollars that will be made by transnational corporations from the Trans-Pacific Partnership--well, let me tell you, we ought to be doing a whole lot more than the meager
amount of Trade Adjustment Assistance that is captured in this bill.

I will tell you this, the interests of the American people are what we should be thinking about. I have not heard a word about how this is going to help raise workers' wages. In fact, there is every reason to
believe that this will put downward pressure on American workers at a time when we have seen historic income inequality and stagnation of worker pay.

America needs to be the land of opportunity, not the land of economic stagnation caused by trade bills like the one I am afraid we are about to talk about. I am moving on the TPP, and we will fight that.

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