Rep. Kelly Applauds Ways & Means Committee Approval of Trade Promotion Authority

TPA is “good for American workers, good for Congress, good for nation’s economic future”

WASHINGTON — U.S. Representative Mike Kelly (R-PA) – a member of the House Ways and Means Committee – issued the following statement after today’s full committee mark-up hearing at which the committee approved H.R. 1890, the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015, which will establish a trade policy partnership between presidential administrations and Congress known as Trade Promotion Authority (TPA).

“This responsible legislation will equip Congress with the power to secure the most successful trade agreements possible for America. It is critical for guaranteeing strong, job-creating trade deals that will help American workers and ensure that the United States is leading, shaping, and dominating the global economy. Through TPA, Congress will lay out specific negotiating objectives that must be pursued by every administration – Democrat or Republican – as well as serious consultation and transparency requirements for each president to follow. In other words, Congress will always be in the driver's seat and writing the rules of the road. This will ensure that the hardworking men and women at countless manufacturers throughout the Third District will always have an advocate at the table.

“It is a matter of modern economic fact that 96 percent of the world's customers now live outside the United States. If we want to grow our economy and create more high-paying jobs here at home, then we need to sell more American-made products and services overseas. It's that simple. According to the most recent studies, more than 8,000 jobs in the Third District are directly tied to trade. More than $4 billion of manufactured goods and services are exported from our District annually. TPA will pave the way for new trade agreements which are expected to create more than 66,000 new jobs throughout Pennsylvania and more than 1.4 million new jobs nationwide. Overall, TPA is good for American workers, good for Congress, and good for our nation's economic future.”

NOTE: Expert analysis demonstrating how trade economically benefits Pennsylvania’s Third District as well as the state and nation at large can be found here, here, here, and here.

According to General James L. Jones, former Supreme Allied Commander Europe and Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps: “[T]rade runs right to the heart of international security in the 21st century. Maintaining global stability, essential to America's peace and prosperity, is no longer a function solely of our ability to deploy and defeat, but rather of our capacity to engage and endow—and ultimately to turn promise and opportunity into jobs and a higher quality of life. By leading on trade, the United States tightens our bonds with allies around the globe, strengthens our influence in would-be hotspots, and fosters greater global stability through expanding economic cooperation.”

Nearly every presidential administration since that of Franklin Roosevelt has been given a TPA-like mechanism to help expand trade. (Richard Nixon pursued it until his resignation, after which his vice president and successor Gerald Ford was granted it.)

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