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Floor Speech

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Mr. CRAMER. I agree with much of it, but it does have several critical flaws, and it is not ready for prime time.

In most, if not all, States, it is already illegal to prevent or try to prevent lawful voters from trying to register to vote. We all agree that every qualified voter should have an opportunity to register for an election. But this proposal is written so broadly that it would prevent election officials from rejecting the registration of an illegal immigrant. It could prevent poll workers from stopping a 16- year-old from voting in an election. In other words, this would seemingly make it illegal for voting registration officials to actually do their job.

I assume it is not intentional, but it is obviously a big problem. Other sections of the bill create significant First Amendment concerns. It would create criminal penalties for political speech that misstates endorsements a candidate has received. Nobody approves of lying, but there are enormous problems when the Federal Government starts sending people to jail for what they say. Even the ACLU opposes my colleague's bill because this bill is so anti-First Amendment.

Just a few days ago, Secretary Hillary Clinton claimed that a former third-party candidate was a Russian asset and that a Democratic Presidential candidate she doesn't like is Russia's preferred candidate in the upcoming election. Should Mrs. Clinton have violated Federal law because she perhaps misstated a political endorsement as a way of making a political point? We don't want to start down the road where the Federal Government referees free speech.
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Mr. CRAMER. Mr. President, it has been a year since the United States, Mexico, and Canada agreed to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement, the replacement for NAFTA and the modernization for the NAFTA agreement that has been so important to all three of our countries. In fact, we are coming up on 1 year since it was signed by leaders of all three countries. In fact, the country of Mexico has ratified the USMCA. Canada is waiting for the United States to take the next step so they, too, can ratify this very important trade agreement.

This agreement between the three countries on the North American continent is estimated to add $68.2 billion to the U.S. economy and create 176,000 new jobs. The USMCA would also increase exports to Canada by 5.9 percent, to a total of $19.1 billion, and shipments to Mexico by 6.7 percent, or $14.2 billion. Imports from Canada and Mexico would rise by 4.8 and 3.8 percent, respectively.

But the ratification process has to begin with the Democrats in the House under the trade promotion authority with which this deal was struck. The Democrats leading the House seem to be more focused on taking away one person's job than creating 176,000 new ones here in the United States. It is time for Speaker Pelosi to act on something that is nearly unanimously agreed to.

While not every person agrees to it, I don't think there is any question that if she would bring up the USMCA for a vote in the House, it would pass. We know that when it comes over to the Senate, it will pass here for many good reasons--for the reasons I already stated, for economic reasons and job creation reasons.

But I also want to add that passage of the USMCA is important to negotiations with other countries. Having Mexico, Canada, and the United States in one accord adds leverage to the President's negotiations with China, especially now that we have a bilateral trade deal with Japan that President Trump has negotiated so effectively, and when working with other neighbors and allies on other bilateral trade agreements. All of this adds to leverage in negotiating with China.

I want to speak for a couple of minutes about the specifics to my State of North Dakota. We are a border State with Manitoba and Saskatchewan in Canada, and our northern border is by far our biggest trading partner. In 2017, my State of North Dakota exported $5.8 billion worth of goods to the global marketplace. Those exports contributed to 28,000 jobs. Of that $5.8 billion, we exported $4.9 billion of goods to Canada. That is 84 percent of North Dakota's exports that go to our northern neighbor, Canada. When adding Mexico into that equation, that is 88 percent of the value of North Dakota's exported goods and services going to USMCA countries.

Farmers and manufacturers can be very pleased with the renegotiated terms that will now benefit them directly with a commitment from Canada to reduce trade distorting policies and improve transparency, something that we have a little issue with in the original NAFTA.

In addition, the new agreement assures nondiscriminatory treatment for agricultural products standards--a major win for our farmers. Specifically for North Dakota, I spoke directly with President Trump concerning the biased Canada grain grading issue and wrote a line he actually used in a speech.

I worked closely with U.S. Trade Representative Lighthizer and chief agriculture negotiator Doud to ensure that our grain growers were relieved of the unfair practice of grading North Dakota grain as sub- par feed. This is estimated to double U.S. exports of grain to Canada.

North Dakota grain growers deserve better, and they will now be recognized properly if we can get the House of Representatives to bring the USMCA up for a vote.

Our manufacturing workforce will be pleased with the automotive and machinery provisions that are included in this deal. Going forward, vehicles are mandated to have 75 percent of North American content to be imported without tariffs, compared to 62.5 percent. Also, at least 40 percent of a vehicle eligible for duty-free importing must have been built by workers earning at least $16 an hour. This is a big win for labor. This wage requirement will ensure that the market is not being flooded by cheap labor, particularly from south of the border.

Renegotiating and reorganizing NAFTA into the USMCA was an essential move for our State, given the economic relationship and mutual reliance North Dakota and Canada share as neighbors. I applaud President Trump for securing his promise to approve a superior deal for our State and our country. It is my sincere hope that the House and Senate will act to ratify this agreement as soon as possible in order to cement this win for our country.

We must demand that Speaker Pelosi set petty partisan politics aside, even if just for a day, to bring this important ratification up to the House so it can be passed and sent to the Senate so we can be on our way to a new, improved, modern U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement.

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