During the second day of Democrats’ crippling $3.5 trillion tax hike and spending hearing, top Republican on the Ways and Means Committee Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) emphasized that the Biden Administration’s trade moratorium and House Democrats’ delay on job-creating trade programs surrenders American jobs, investment, and companies to our foreign competitors.

 

On the President’s trade moratorium, Rep. Brady said:

 

“It’s not enough to buy American. We need to sell American. But President Biden has imposed a de facto trade moratorium where we are dead in the water. President Trump fully notified Congress about negotiations with the UK, Japan, China and Kenya, open discussions with the EU when they would be ready. But under this President, it’s zero. Nada.

 

Rep. Brady continued, noting that Democrats’ $3.5 trillion tax hikes will also surrender America’s economic competitiveness:

 

“When this committee and this reconciliation process concludes with job killing taxes, that are an economic surrender to our foreign competitors, we’re going to go back to the bad old days where we saw American jobs moving overseas, American manufacturing moving overseas, American research and innovation, and headquarters all moving overseas.”

 

CLICK HERE to watch Rep. Brady’s remarks on TAA.

 

CLICK HERE to watch the full hearing.

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

 

Dems’ Trade Delay Is Hurting American Workers, Small Businesses, and Our Jobs Recovery.

• Top Republican on the Ways and Means Committee Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) and Rep. Buchanan introduced the Trade Preferences and American Manufacturing Competitiveness Act in June.
• The bill would renew the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) and Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) — two vital trade programs that protect U.S. workers and small businesses.
• Democrats’ delay of renewing these two key trade programs that support high-paying jobs in every state has already cost American businesses over $450 million. Further delay will cost even more—including jobs to American workers and families.

 

READ: BUCHANAN: Dems’ Trade Moratorium Means Fewer American Jobs, More Wasteful Spending

 

READ: Brady, Buchanan Lead Letter to Biden Calling for Renewal of Trade Promotion Authority

 

A transcript of Rep. Brady’s remarks on TAA appear below.

 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Trade is bipartisan, and with very few exceptions, Trade Adjustment Assistance has been extended on a bipartisan basis linked with new trade rules for the President or new trade agreements that level the playing field for American workers and farmers. 

 

So it begs the question – why are we bloating up Trade Adjustment Assistance, when there is no trade agenda? It’s like buying three spare engines and you don’t own a vehicle.

  

It’s not enough to buy American. We need to sell American. But President Biden has imposed a de facto trade moratorium where we are dead in the water. President Trump fully notified Congress about negotiations with the UK, Japan, China and Kenya, open discussions with the EU when they would be ready. But under this President, it’s zero. Nada. 

 

Not only that, but President Biden doesn’t even want trade authority to negotiate new trade agreements. How can you, ‘fight for US workers’ when you don’t want the authority to do it, you don’t want the tools to do it, and you don’t want to be anywhere near the arena? 

 

So why is America sitting on the sidelines while our foreign competitors are on the trade field aggressively dividing up the world’s customers, for their farmers and their workers, but we’re nowhere near that?

 

Look, the EU has reached new trade agreements with Japan, China, with 14 of the Asia Pacific countries, and the UK. New agreements with Japan, Europe, Australia and working toward one with the Asia Pacific. And we are nowhere to be seen.  

 

We need to build on the historic bipartisan support for USMCA where this committee and this Chairman, this ranking member, and all my colleagues worked together to create a new trading relationship with Mexico and Canada. We should be building off that framework. American needs to lead. 

 

Our workers cannot afford this Administration to huddle in the corner, afraid to even begin negotiations or to create a level playing field for American farmers and workers. 

 

I’ll close with this. My guess is this really isn’t the issue trade adjustments. There are 41 or so, last time I counted, different job training programs in the federal government. My guess is we’re going to see all of them bloated up. Because when this committee and this reconciliation process concludes with job killing taxes, that are an economic surrender to our foreign competitors, we’re going to go back to the bad old days where we saw American jobs moving overseas, American manufacturing moving overseas, American research and innovation, and headquarters all moving overseas. 

 

We haven’t seen, as you know, these job killing tax hikes, but by most measurements, they will put at risk or kill up to 4 million American jobs over time. That’s what’s at the heart of this. 

 

I think we need to stop talking about how we muscle up job training programs, and how we work together to actually keep America as the most competitive economy on the world. How we fill these over 10 million job openings. How we make sure we’re not surrendering economically to China and Russia, Europe, and the Middle East. 

 

With that, I yield back.