Trade agreements are first of many bipartisan steps needed to help job creation

Statement

Too often, it seems Washington doesn't get the message that Americans want partisanship put aside when it comes to job creation. While there may be principled disagreement on some issues, there are lots of areas where Republicans and Democrats can--and should--find common ground.

Our office recently launched a website at toddyoung.house.gov/jobs to promote those broad areas of policy agreement: Regulatory review, simplification of the tax code to get rid of loopholes that benefit special interests, and passage of pending free trade agreements. Each of these are ideas supported by President Obama that I, too, can support.

The pending trade agreements with Panama, Columbia and South Korea provide the first opportunity for Republicans and Democrats in Congress to work together in the interest of strengthening our economy. On October 3, the president formally submitted those agreements to Congress, and I suspect they'll be voted on in the House in very short order. I plan on supporting the passage of each one.

This is an issue of national importance, one that is especially important right here in southern Indiana. According to data from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, foreign exports out of our 9th Congressional District total nearly $4 billion a year and support over 10,000 jobs. Much of that economic punch is delivered by our large agriculture sector, which would benefit greatly from access to new foreign markets.

For example, Tyson's chicken processing plant in Corydon, Indiana, told me during a recent visit that one of their best-selling products is chicken feet. While there isn't a huge demand for chicken feet here in the United States, in parts of Asia they are a delicacy--and Tyson's can't provide their consumers with enough.

Or consider this: For five years, the United States and Columbia have been working on the finer points of a trade agreement. In the meantime, Canada and Columbia quickly worked out their own agreement, which took effect earlier this year. Since June, the supply of U.S. wheat being exported to Columbia has dropped by over 20%, while Canadian wheat exports to Columbia have already doubled. A recent European Union agreement with South Korea has also put American business at a competitive disadvantage.

As such stories are increasingly commonplace, new trade agreements will be required for Hoosiers to reap the full benefits of foreign market access. We're being outflanked by the rest of the world, and that directly impacts American workers. In a global marketplace, we need to give our producers and manufacturers every advantage we can. On this point, President Obama and myHouse Republicans colleagues and I agree.

I'm hopeful that opening more foreign markets to American products is just the first of many bipartisan steps we will take in the next few months to give our businesses a leg up over foreign competition. No stone should go unturned as we work to get our economy moving again and start putting Hoosiers back to work.

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