The First 100 Days Of The Republican-Led Senate

Floor Speech

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Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I am pleased to hear of yet another accomplishment that has happened in the Senate since we have gotten things opened up and functioning again.

I wish to say that last year when Republicans were running for office, we promised that if we were reelected, we would get Washington working again for American families. That wasn't a campaign slogan; that was a commitment.

I am proud to report that after 100 days in office, Republicans are making significant progress. To start, Republicans have the Senate functioning again on a basic level.

From an operations standpoint day to day, over the past few years when the Democrats controlled the lawmaking process in the Senate, it largely ground to a halt. Instead of bills being drafted in committee and then brought to the floor for open debate and amendment, bills were crafted behind closed doors. Members in the minority party were shut out of the process, and so were many rank-and-file Democrats. Last year, Democratic leadership allowed a total of 15 amendment votes--slightly over 1 amendment vote per month in the world's greatest deliberative body, known for unlimited amendment and unlimited debate. Contrast that with the first 100 days under Republican control. In the first 3 1/2 months of the 114th Congress, the Republican-led Senate has held more than 100 amendment rollcall votes. More than half of those votes have been on Democratic amendments.

When you shut one party out of the legislative process in the Senate, you shut out the voices of millions of Americans. Republicans experienced that under Democratic control, and we were determined to make sure things were different this year.

Since Republicans took control of the Senate, Members of both parties have had the opportunity to make their voices heard, and we are seeing a lot more bipartisan legislation as a result. In the past 3 1/2 months, the Republican-led Senate has approved 12 bipartisan bills. We have passed bipartisan legislation to approve the Keystone Pipeline. We have passed a bipartisan bill to prevent suicides among veterans. We have passed a bipartisan reauthorization of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program and a bipartisan bill to provide restitution for victims of child pornography. Last week, we passed the first significant bipartisan reform of Medicare in years.

Mr. President, last week also brought the announcement of a new bipartisan agreement, a bill to reauthorize trade promotion authority.

With 96 percent of the world's population and consumers outside the borders of the United States, trade is essential to economic growth.

Since 2009, increasing exports have accounted for more than 1.6 million new jobs in the United States. Manufacturing jobs that depend on exports pay on average 13 percent to 18 percent more.

U.S. farmers, ranchers, and manufacturers rely on access to foreign markets. In my home State of South Dakota alone, exports support more than 15,000 jobs in industries ranging from farming and ranching to machinery and electronics. Farmers and ranchers in South Dakota, where agriculture is the No. 1 industry, depend on exports for a substantial part of their income. Exports of major South Dakota crops, such as soybeans and corn, have soared over the past few years. In fact, in 2013, total agricultural exports from South Dakota totaled $3.8 billion.

Previous free- and fair-trade agreements have been a boon to America's farmers, ranchers, and workers. In 2013, countries with which our Nation has free-trade agreements purchased 12 times more goods per capita from the United States than non-free-trade agreement countries.

Since 1934, almost all of the U.S free-trade agreements have been negotiated using trade promotion authority or a similar streamlined process. Trade promotion authority is designed to put the United States in the strongest possible position when negotiating trade agreements.

Under TPA, Congress sets guidelines for trade negotiations and outlines the priorities the administration must follow. In return, Congress promises a simple up-or-down vote on the resulting trade agreement instead of a long amendment process that could leave the final deal looking nothing like the original one. That simple up-or-down vote is the key: It lets our negotiating partners know that Congress and trade negotiators are on the same page when it comes to the content of trade agreements, which gives other countries the confidence they need to put their best offers on the table. That, in turn, allows for a successful and timely conclusion of negotiations.

Currently, the administration is negotiating two major trade agreements that have the potential to vastly expand the market for American goods and services in the EU and in the Pacific.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership is being negotiated with a number of Asia-Pacific nations, including Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, and currently Vietnam. Currently, American goods face heavy tariffs in many of these countries. Tariffs on consumer goods in Trans-Pacific Partnership countries reach as high as 85 percent, while tariffs on agricultural products range even higher. Poultry tariffs in Trans-Pacific Partnership countries, for example, go up to 240 percent. That is a tremendous burden on American producers.

American farmers, ranchers, manufacturers, and consumers would all benefit from the conclusion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement and the United States-European Union trade agreement. These trade deals remove many of the barriers currently facing U.S. products in these regions, which would allow American goods to compete on a level playing field with their foreign counterparts. Reauthorizing trade promotion authority is essential to bringing these two agreements to a successful and timely conclusion.

The bipartisan trade promotion authority bill that was introduced last week by the senior Senators from Utah and Oregon reauthorizes this key tool and includes a number of important updates, such as provisions to strengthen transparency of the negotiating process and ensure that the American people stay informed. It also contains provisions I pushed for to require negotiators to ensure that trade agreements protect digital trade as well as trade in physical goods and services. With the importance of digital trade in the 21st-century economy, it is essential that any new trade promotion reauthorization include new guidelines specifically targeted at digital trade. I previously introduced legislation to help ensure that the free flow of digital goods and services is protected, and I am pleased that the bipartisan deal that was reached includes many of the measures I have advocated.

The best way to solve the challenges facing our Nation is for Democrats and Republicans to come together to develop solutions. We have done a lot of that so far in the Republican-led Senate, and I look forward to doing a lot more of it.

I hope those Democrats who have opposed trade promotion authority in the past will join the White House and Senate Republicans to pass this important bill for American workers and businesses and make the TPA reauthorization our next bipartisan achievement.

Mr. President, I wish to add that we also have a bill that would require Congress to approve any nuclear arms agreement with Iran--also a very big bipartisan bill, as it was reported out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

These are things which can be accomplishments for the American people. It starts with getting the Senate functioning and operating again, where people have the opportunity to come to the floor and debate these issues, to offer amendments, and to get those amendments voted on. That is what our commitment has been in the Senate. I argue--and I think the record bears this out--that it is making a very consequential difference in terms of the things we are able to get done for the American people. I certainly hope we can continue that pattern.

I yield the floor.

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