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Committee on Ways and Means For Immediate Release BIPARTISAN TRADE PROMOTION COMPROMISE PASSES KEY MILESTONE The President will regain the ability to negotiate trade agreements and bring them to Congress for an up or down vote under a bipartisan compromise bill passed this evening by the Committee on Ways and Means. H.R. 3005, the Bipartisan Trade Promotion Act of 2001, passed by a vote of 26 to 13. “When nations open their borders to trade, all parties benefit,” said Chairman Bill Thomas [R-California]. “This carefully crafted and well-balanced compromise - the product of months of hard work by Members from both parties – will restore the President’s fundamental ability to speak for the United States in negotiating agreements in our country’s interest.” The bipartisan compromise preserves Congress’ consultative role while retaining the President’s flexibility to negotiate the best deal. Congress retains the right to vote down any trade agreement if it does not approve. Trade agreements generate economic growth, creating new and better paying jobs, spawning technological advances and helping to advance American foreign policy objectives. One of every four dollars in the U.S. economy is linked to trade; twelve million Americans owe their jobs to exports. The compromise includes a clear negotiating objective on labor and environment that will ensure that a party to an agreement does not fail to effectively enforce its own labor and environmental laws in a manner that affects trade. A negotiating objective on enforcement provides negotiators with direction to treat all principle negotiating objectives equally, and gives them with the flexibility to determine the mechanism that will most effectively encourage compliance. Since the President’s authority lapsed in 1994, the United States has fallen behind other nations in striking new trade agreements. Over 130 such agreements are in place worldwide; the United States is a party to only three of them. |