Providing 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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Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in defense of Ronald Reagan Republican free trade principles and in support of trade promotion authority, which is known as TPA.

Since the days of President Ronald Reagan, Republicans have supported free trade because we know that when America competes, America wins. TPA is a vital piece of our free trade agenda because it creates the process that we need to secure trade agreements that grow our economy, create good-paying jobs, and lower prices for American consumers.

For America to continue to determine the rules of the global economy, we need to lead by crafting free trade agreements, and thus, the House is here today to provide to the President the parameters under which he or she should negotiate a trade promotion authority.

Free trade means more good-paying American jobs. Free trade means that American workers make American products at American businesses to be sold all across the globe. More than 38 million American jobs are tied to trade, and these jobs pay well. In fact, trade-related jobs, on average, pay 18 percent more than jobs that are not trade related.

Mr. Speaker, the Republican Party is here today with Ronald Reagan watching from Heaven down on us, to say that we are continuing what he really began, and that is a process of American exceptionalism around the world.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

I support TPA because it provides an unprecedented level of transparency. Let me be clear. A vote for TPA is a vote for jobs. It is a vote so that we can grow our economy. It is not a vote for a secret document. It is a vote to set up a process that ensures the American people understand exactly what any trade deal is before Congress votes on it. We will have 60 days to do that. TPA requires that the President make public the text of a complicated trade agreement for at least 60 days, and we are going to do just that.

Over the last few months, I have worked with Chairman Paul Ryan and Chairman Pat Tiberi and other Members of Congress to strengthen TPA so that the President cannot hijack free trade agreements. I think it is obvious here: no one in this body really trusts the President of the United States to go and negotiate something that we would be in favor of. That is why we are making this trade TPA, so that we are following our agenda, one that we know that we have heard of. We have heard the concerns of the American people regarding immigration, climate change, currency, American sovereignty, and I think we have addressed all of these.

My constituents are just like me. They want to know that we are going to support jobs. But we do not trust the President, and that is why we are doing this deal today. This grants no new authority to the President of the United States.

Just the other day, I began working further after the Senate passed their TPA bill, and I worked with Congressman Steve King of Iowa to ensure that the trade agreements do not require changes to U.S. immigration laws or to obligate the United States to gain access or to extend access to visas.

We had an excellent idea, also, that we took from Senator Ted Cruz from Texas. We just strengthened it and made it more straightforward, and it is in this deal that we do.

This trade package also includes language that would prohibit the administration from attaching any climate change commitments to a trading agreement.

We have also worked to guarantee that American sovereignty is upheld. TPA reflects what the Constitution requires, and that is that Congress maintain authority over any changes to U.S. law and our constitutional rights to approve any trade agreement.

Mr. Speaker, I urge the adoption of this rule. I look forward to the debate that will follow. I urge my colleagues to listen to every single bit of this, and they will understand why a vote for TPA and this rule is the right thing to do.

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