Ensuring Tax Exempt Organizations the Right to Appeal Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I am going to be brief because I know Chairman Hatch and I are going to be propounding some unanimous consent requests here in a moment.

On this currency issue, I want it understood that this is a serious, serious issue, and it is absolutely essential that our trade laws include tough enforceable currency rules and that we put in place those rules without doing damage to American monetary policy or to our ability to tackle the big economic challenges in the days ahead.

The Senate has a choice between the amendment offered by Senator Hatch and me and the amendment offered by Senator Portman and Senator Stabenow. My view is this. The Portman amendment could outsource the question of the Federal Reserve's intent and decisionmaking to the whims of an international tribunal. This could take tools out of the economic toolbox that we could need--need greatly--during a potential financial crisis. We hope it will never happen, but the bottom line is the Congress must not set up the possibility of collateral damage for the Fed and our dollar.

The right solution, which Chairman Hatch and I have worked to offer as an alternative, will make sure that America gets the upside of cracking down on currency manipulators and avoids the downside of limiting the Federal Reserve's toolkit of monetary policy. Our view is that we strike the right balance. We make sure that we are going to have the widest array of effective tools available, including strong, enforceable rules. I think we ought to take that route. The alternative could subject our country to disputes over our own monetary policies. That means, as I indicated, that the alternative--the Portman-Stabenow amendment--would, in effect, outsource questions of the Federal Reserve's intent to the whims of an international tribunal.

Now, the Portman amendment tries to carve out domestic monetary policy. It sure sounds like a good idea. But when we have opened ourselves up to attack over our policies, other countries will not have to take our word that our policies are on the up and up. Even with that carve-out, other countries can still come after us.

For example, many countries argued that our quantitative easing policy unfairly devalued the dollar. They were dead wrong on that. But the Senate shouldn't do anything that could strengthen the hand of those countries that want to attack our monetary policies.

Now that Chairman Hatch is here, I wish to propound a unanimous consent request.

Over the past few days, Chairman Hatch and I have been working in a bipartisan and cooperative fashion to come up with a balanced package of amendments that can be voted on. I very much appreciate the work of the chairman and his bipartisan leadership and particularly of my northwest colleague, Senator Murray. It appears regrettable that we have come up short, but for the benefit of colleagues, I wish to propound a unanimous consent request that would be acceptable to our side. These are amendments that I believe are important for the Senate to consider as part of this debate.

I ask unanimous consent that it be in order for the following first-degree amendments to the Hatch substitute be made pending during today's session of the Senate and that no other first-degree amendments be in order:

Cruz-Grassley No. 1384 on immigration; Menendez No. 1430 on trafficking; Sullivan No. 1246 on fish and shellfish; Warren No. 1328 on financial services; Daines No. 1418 on Indian tribes; Donnelly No. 1406 on training programs; Sessions No. 1233 on congressional approval; Boxer No. 1371 on minimum wage; Paul No. 1383 on bonuses for cost cutters; Manchin No. 1413 on State effects; Paul No. 1408 on auditing the Fed; Cardin No. 1230 on human rights; Brown-Portman No. 1252 on leveling playing field; Whitehouse No. 1387 on unregulated fishing; Markey No. 1308 on clean air and water; Merkley No. 1404 on food information; Casey-Murphy No. 1436 on Buy American; Baldwin No. 1317 on trade remedy; Bennet No. 1309 on poverty/hunger;

Further, that the time until 5 p.m. today be equally divided in the usual form; that at 5 p.m. today the Senate vote in relation to the following amendments in the order listed: Hatch-Wyden No. 1411 on currency; Portman-Stabenow No. 1299 on currency; Warren No. 1327 on ISDS; Flake No. 1243 on striking TAA; Brown No. 1251 on China docking; Cruz-Grassley No. 1384 on immigration; Menendez No. 1430 on trafficking; Sullivan No. 1246 on fish and shellfish; Warren No. 1328 on financial services; Daines No. 1418 on Indian tribes; Donnelly No. 1406 on training programs; Boxer No. 1371 on minimum wage; Manchin No. 1413 on State effects; Cardin No. 1230 on human rights; Brown-Portman No. 1252 on level playing field; Whitehouse No. 1387 on unregulated fishing; Markey No. 1308 on clean air and water; Merkley No. 1404 on food information; Casey-Murphy No. 1436 on Buy American; Baldwin No. 1317 on trade remedy; Bennet No. 1309 on poverty/hunger;

Further, that no second-degree amendments be in order to the amendments prior to the votes; that all after the Brown amendment No. 1251 be subject to a 60-affirmative-vote threshold for adoption; that upon disposition of the Bennet amendment No. 1309, all other pending amendments, including Sessions No. 1233, Paul No. 1383, Paul No. 1408, Inhofe No. 1312, McCain No. 1226, and Shaheen No. 1227, to the Hatch substitute be withdrawn; that all postcloture time be considered expired; and the Senate vote on the adoption of the Hatch substitute amendment, as amended; finally, if cloture is invoked on H.R. 1314, all postcloture time be yielded back, the bill, as amended, be read a third time, and the Senate vote on passage of the bill, as amended.

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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, on my reservation, I don't have a problem with the Senate voting on the three amendments included in Chairman Hatch's request, but there are a number of other important amendments that are not included in that request that colleagues on my side feel very strongly about and want to have the Senate vote on. Because the chairman's request would not allow these important additional amendments to be considered, I must object.

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Mr. WYDEN. Colleagues, for three decades, our country has never lost an investor dispute case and never paid one dime in penalties. Let me repeat that. We have never lost an investor dispute case and have never paid a dime in penalties. Here is our record: 17 cases, 17 victories.

These provisions are about raising the world to our economy's level of safety for investment. Without these protections, our small businesses with investments abroad will have nowhere to turn if a corrupt government steals a factory or a crooked judge targets them unfairly.

Each of our States has businesses that started in a garage, grew up, and looked abroad for new chances to expand. Let's make the world safer for the American brand.

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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, this trade package is about bringing our policies into 2015. This amendment would throw us back into the 1950s.

President Kennedy, who first proposed TAA, called it a program to afford time for American initiative, American adaptability, and American resiliency to assert itself. To me, those sound like sound bipartisan priorities.

This package will expand TAA and help ensure workers are not knocked off stride in tough times. Let's not turn our backs on this country's workers. Let's not break the bipartisan compact this bill represents.

I strongly urge my colleagues to oppose the amendment.

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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President and colleagues, the Senate now has an opportunity to throw the 1990s NAFTA play book into the dustbin of history and begin a new forward-thinking era in trade. This can be a momentous day for creating more economic opportunity for our people, transparency and sunshine and the forward march of American values.

The legislation can help us pry open the booming markets for our exports. It will strengthen the American brand in the fight against trade cheats and bad actors who block our way. It will raise the bar for worker rights, environmental safeguards, and human rights. It will help strip out the excessive secrecy that makes people skeptical about trade. Colleagues, in a sentence, this is how you begin to get trade done right.

I yield the floor and urge support for cloture.

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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I will be brief.

It would be an understatement to say there have been strong differences of opinion here in this Chamber and in our country with respect to this legislation. I have said from the very beginning that opponents of this effort--trade promotion authority--have a number of very valid points.

There is no question in my mind, colleagues, that there has been way too much secrecy in the past, so Senator Hatch and I set out to make some very significant changes in that. Now, starting with the TPP but with all other agreements, the American people will have that agreement in their hands for close to 4 months before anybody votes here in the Senate or in the House on TPP or a trade agreement. I think that is a step toward a sunshine trade policy.

Second, I thought opponents were spot-on with respect to their comments that we needed a completely new regime with respect to enforcing our trade laws. Again and again the American people say: What are you talking about in terms of passing a new trade deal if you aren't doing a better job of enforcing the laws on the books? So we set about to put in place a tough enforce act to go after cheats. We had Senator Brown's leveling the playing field, which I think is a very important piece of legislation, and an early warning system so that for the first time, rather than waiting until it is too late, businesses and labor unions and others would see what is coming. I think that is a significant step forward.

Many skeptics said there isn't an aggressive approach to protect labor and the environment. It essentially gets shunted to the side. Now we have enforceable standards in this area.

Because of the good work of Senator Ben Cardin, for the first time, colleagues, human rights will be a significant factor in trade legislation.

Finally, we put in place a new process so that this body can put the brakes on a bad deal. We have always talked about fast-track because we want people to have an opportunity to consider a new agreement. We also ought to put the brakes on a bad deal.

I will close with this point: At the end of the day, colleagues, we have always known that one of the paths to more good-paying jobs in our country is exports. There are going to be 1 billion middle-class people--1 billion--in the developing world in 2025. These will be people with money, colleagues. They are going to buy our wine, our computers, our helicopters, our planes, and all kinds of goods and services with the American brand. They are going to buy our products because they buy and use our products with great pride. We all ought to appreciate the opportunity for more exports.

I know there are strong differences of opinion on this legislation. I want it understood that we tried especially hard--and I appreciate the help of Chairman Hatch--to address as many of those concerns as we possibly could.

With that, I yield the floor.

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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, as we bring this very dramatic chapter in U.S. trade policy to its conclusion in the Senate, I wish to take a few minutes to acknowledge the many people who helped in ways large and small to bring about the passage of the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act.

First and foremost, I thank Chairman Hatch for his partnership throughout the process. I think Chairman Hatch and I can smile a bit looking back on some very spirited debates in the process of getting to this point. I do want colleagues to understand that Chairman Hatch has been a true leader in this bipartisan effort in the Finance Committee and on the floor. I thank Chairman Hatch and his staff for all they have done.

I think both Chairman Hatch and I also want to acknowledge our partner in the House, Chairman Ryan. All through the discussions, Chairman Hatch, Chairman Ryan, and myself, all tried to make sure that we would have a bipartisan, bicameral collaborative effort. The three of us obviously don't see eye to eye on everything, but we thought it was very important to try to come together and move an extraordinarily important and challenging economic policy forward for the country. Chairman Ryan has been there every single step of the way, and we look forward to returning the favor as he moves this historic package through the House and on to the President's desk.

We also thank Leader McConnell for his work in shepherding this package through the process. It has not been easy, but Leader McConnell has had a single-minded focus in terms of getting this bill across the finish line.

While we are on the subject of Senate leadership, I especially want to acknowledge the extraordinary contributions of my Pacific Northwest colleague Senator Murray and her staff. Over the last few years, colleagues, we have seen time and time again Senator Murray demonstrate her extraordinary ability. She is a person of modest size, but she is sure good at getting big things done. This bill is no exception, and it could not have happened without her leadership and help.

Finally, I note Chairman Hatch and I wish to thank all the members of the Finance Committee because they had a lot of good ideas, and they were constructive in terms of bringing this debate along, recognizing that we had strong differences. Every single member of the Finance Committee made a meaningful contribution, whether it was to the policy or to the process. Chairman Hatch and I want to say that when you look at a full recounting of all the great work done by Finance Committee members, if we were to do it all night, we would keep you all the way through the recess.

I wrap up with a quick word of my thanks to my staff who have done an exceptional job putting the legislation together: Jayme White, Elissa Alben, Greta Peisch, Anderson Heiman, Keith Chu, Malcolm McGreary, Danielle Deraney, Kara Getz, and Juan Machado.

I close by way of saying I think it is fair to say that there were a lot of observers, both in and outside this body, who thought it would not be possible to move forward on an issue like this--which is going to affect 40 percent of the global economy--in a bipartisan fashion. We know there are going to be a billion middle-class consumers in the developing world in 2025, and they want to ``Buy American.'' They like our brand.

With the extraordinary leadership of Chairman Hatch and many others who contributed to this effort, I think once again there is going to be a very significant array of economic opportunities for the people we represent to get high-skill, high-wage, export-related jobs with products and services that we sell to these countries.

So I close this part of the debate tonight--again, as we began, I think, 7 months ago, Chairman Hatch, by telling you that this, to me, is what we are sent to do, tackle the big issues in a bipartisan way.

With that, I yield the floor.

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