Support for Veterans in Effective Apprenticeships Act of 2019
Floor Speech
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Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I come to the Chamber today to rise with my colleagues to talk about the USMCA, or the United States-Mexico- Canada Trade Agreement.
But before I talk about the vote that I hope is in this Chamber on fairly short order, I would like to go back to December of 1993. In December of 1993, President Clinton signed NAFTA. A month later, it was ratified, and, to be honest with you, it started a period of time in North Carolina where we suffered. We had a challenge to actually determine how we were going to react to a very different North Carolina, where there are textiles and a number of other industries that suffered initially under the NAFTA implementation. But today, North Carolina is one of the greatest benefactors of NAFTA. As a matter of fact, we are one of the top States in the country for job creation and commerce, and Canada and Mexico are our two most important export markets.
The problem is, NAFTA was implemented in 1994. I think that was back when the Backstreet Boys were topping the charts and MC Hammer was popular. It was a long, long time ago. It is time to modernize it. It was before the internet was even invented.
We have so many opportunities to modernize our trade relationship with our two most important trade partners, and the USMCA is the opportunity to do that. While it only took about a month to ratify the NAFTA agreement--knowing that there was a lot of work to be done before we completely benefited from it--we waited a year to ratify an agreement that will be immediately beneficial to the American economy. It will create more than 170,000 new jobs and $70 billion a year in additional economic activity, putting us on a level playing field.
Our automotive industry, which has grown over the last 20 years, with several automotive manufacturing facilities in the South, and many businesses in my State support it.
It will open up the markets for our farmers. North Carolina is the ninth largest agriculture economy in the United States, with nearly $90 billion a year in agriculture products. We want those markets open in Canada and Mexico so that we can grow our farm economy in North Carolina.
We also want to recognize that the USMCA agreement is a very, very important step in getting China to come to terms with fair trade with the United States. When we settle an agreement with two of our most important trade partners, then, China will take notice and they will follow the President's lead and understand that we no longer are going to allow them to compete unfairly.
There are provisions in the USMCA that I hear Speaker Pelosi talking about that, frankly, give me some concern. The House is entitled to make changes to the baseline agreement that both the Mexican Government and the Canadian Government have ratified, as proposed and as signed by the President. They give me concern, and we hope that Speaker Pelosi will keep to the baseline agreement.
But now we have to get to work to get this agreement ratified so these kinds of things continue to be positive stories that come out of North Carolina and positive stories that come out of Nebraska and Iowa and across this Nation. There is no downside to this agreement. As a matter of fact, one of the reasons I know there is no downside is that there are dozens of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle in the House who are prepared to vote for it in the form in which the President will sign.
This is a very, very important agreement. I do have to agree with my colleagues in that the only reason I can imagine we didn't have this agreement ratified last year was due to the focus on all things impeachment. This is a good deal. I have no doubt that if President Clinton had signed this agreement in 1993, it would have been ratified a month later. Yet we have waited a year for this agreement to get any airtime in the House Chamber.
We need the USMCA signed today. We need the USMCA put into place so that we can realize the immediate economic advantage for hard-working farmers, for small businesses, and for the 170,000 new jobs that will be created so that we continue this economic recovery that started with tax reform and regulatory reform.
This is another step in the right direction, and no reasonable Member of Congress should be holding off on what is a great decision on the President's part. It is a great decision, and it is a great policy for the American people. It is going to help my farmers in North Carolina, and it is going to help my small businesses. It is going to continue to make the U.S. economy the envy of the world.
I ask Speaker Pelosi and my colleagues in the House to get to work. You can walk and chew gum. Go ahead and focus on impeachment if you want to, but from time to time, why don't you take some Chamber time and some of your resources to do right by the American people. That is what the USMCA does, and that is what we need the House to do. I guarantee you, when it comes to the Senate, we will quickly send it to the President's desk.
I thank the Presiding Officer.
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