United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Act

UNITED STATES-PERU TRADE PROMOTION AGREEMENT IMPLEMENTATION ACT -- (House of Representatives - November 08, 2007)

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Mr. CLYBURN. I thank the chairman for yielding to me, and I thank the other side for allowing me this minute.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the Peru Free Trade Agreement. This may come as a surprise to many of my colleagues, because I have seldom supported our previous trade agreements that have come before this body.

My reasons have been quite simple. I have considered most of the trade deals that have been offered to this body to be unfair to my constituents and many communities in my region of the country. But I want to thank the drafters of this legislation for bringing a bill to the floor that I consider to be fair. This bill addresses critical environmental and labor concerns that are very important to me and my constituents. This bill will help farmers in my district and all across this country compete in the global marketplace.

Because of the size and the diversity of this body, it is not an easy task to bring legislation to the floor that pleases everyone. Trade bills are almost certain to engender disagreements among our Members.

As I mentioned earlier, I have found many shortcomings with previous trade initiatives that have come before this floor. This bill, however, charts a new direction in trade legislation and should serve as a template for those of us to use in moving our trade policies in a more worker friendly and environmentally protective direction.

We have come a long ways with our trade policies in recent years, and we may still have a long ways to go before we are able to consistently get trade bills that are as good as I would like.

But it is important that this new Congress continue working to bring trade bills to the floor that are fair. This bill is a fair bill, and I encourage my colleagues to support it.

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