Providing for Consideration of the Senate Amendment to H.R. 1314, Ensuring Tax Exempt Organizations the Right to Appeal Act, and Providing for Consideration of the Senate Amendments to H.R. 644, Fighting Hunger Incentive Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this rule because America's middle class and our workers have been under economic attack. I rise to voice my opposition to the very restrictive process being used to shove these job outsourcing trade deals through Congress.

The Republican leadership has denied our House any amendment, even on currency manipulation, on legislation that is sure to impact every single American, turning our oversight role into little more than a rubberstamp. This makes a mockery of the House's clear, constitutional authority on trade and commerce.

Worse still, this limitation is being pursued because Republican leaders simply do not want to go to conference with the Senate. This belies every American, every Member their right to be represented and have a voice in this process.

Hundreds, however, of multinational corporations and lobbyists, the 1 percent, helped to write, amend, and draft the TPP, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, line by line.

But today, years into the process and with negotiation in the final stages, Members of Congress were only recently given our first access. To read it, you have to go to a secure room, deep in the Visitor Center.

We are supervised. Any notes we take are confiscated, and we can't discuss what we find with anyone unless they have top secret clearance.

The trade deal is a secret deal because they want to fast-track it through Congress, hoping Congress really won't understand what is in it. And I find it hard to imagine a more dangerous or irresponsible approach than fast-tracking another trade deal through Congress.

TPA, the authority to fast track, is a gateway to the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Both will further harm workers and communities to a faster global race to the bottom, with more outsourcing of jobs, more lower wages, more dropping benefits, more lower standards for worker safety, compensation, and environment. We have seen that since NAFTA passed 30 years ago.

For decades, I have fought against destructive trade deals that were brought down on our Nation's workers and communities.

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