we are working through that right now. i am going over this morning to the skiff, a secured facility where you can read the content. i will be going over that this morning line by line to make sure of everything that's in it. it's important to know all of the components for voting on tpa. the fast track will give the president a chance to negotiate tpp along with other trade agreements. we want to know all that is in that. i support the idea of giving the president the authority to negotiate a trade agreement. there is really no other way to do that. it's hard to figure out how we are going to open up those markets. i will be there in about an hour. host: what do you think of the fact that members have to read this in secret?

guest: i am not a fan of that at all. it requires the president to put online and provide the tpp before congress votes on it. there will be no in from the public and the president could -- the public as 60 days before it is voted on. if it does not fulfill the principles we laid down and the restrictions we are putting on the president or we believe it's not good for our districts or the manufacturers who want to hire people, then we can reject this. that is one of the bright spots where it it gives us the transparency on the tpa that we don't have right now. host: we are going to the

numbers up if you want to participate in our discussion. we are divided by political affiliation. before we go to the calls, it's been a busy week in congress. one of the things that you did was past the transportation bill. guest: we did. we passed the legislation that provides funding for the department of transportation and hud and lays at the expenditures , housing for many americans and rail safety. i have some specific provisions in their that creates a short line safety institute. we have safety institute for the larger railroads, we don't have one for the short lines and they carry a lot of the freight in this country. we are working to advance that. we need to make sure that we are

balancing the budget and living within our means. we need to do everything we can within the budget and grow the economy by investing in long-term transportation. host: amtrak funding was cut. guest: i think amtrak is a divisive issue in congress. it loses money. it's not economically feasible. a lot of people would like to see it he a private entity that could survive on its own. i think you are seeing some members of congress look at ways to cut back some of the waste and amtrak is one of those ways. the devil is in the details. there is a reason not to cut everything. we've got to make tough choices and i think amtrak is one of those areas that is bloated and inefficient and needs reform. host: julian castro testified in

front of you. i want to get your reaction to what he had to say. >> if this becomes law, it will injure our ability to meet the needs out there. as i mentioned earlier, we only service people who qualify for hud services. we had a group of individuals to discuss private/public partnerships. it was very clear in that testimony whether it was the public, the nonprofit sector that said if hud does not do these things, who else is going to do them? there is no private market to serve people who are extremely low income and those of the majority of the people that we service. guest: i think partnerships are a great

i think public-private partnerships are great way to alleviate the pressures that taxpayers face. and utilize entities -- many times the government is not the best tool to solve these problems. there is a way to work with private builders and developers to provide housing in a way that can be done in a more cost effective manner. our housing legislation, i have housing in my district and a lot of folks below the poverty line that do not have any options. we want to work toward economic growth and opportunity to give these people the mobility they have to get out and provide for their own. not everybody can do it.

some people have mental disabilities. some people have physical disabilities -- disabilities. the housing that we passed increases housing for the elderly. a lot of us thought it was a reasonable bill. host: kevin yoder is our guest. the first call up for him comes from sunny in louisiana. caller: good morning. i would like to ask the representative a couple of questions. why did they agree to withhold $700 million from our medicare

tax money to pay for jobs that they know we are going to lose in this agreement? why pick on medicare? because they want to break it, that is why. the republicans have never been for anything to help the working man. why president obama is going along with them on this, i have no idea. i do know that they will all be voted against if they vote for this bill. guest: sonny, i appreciate the question. first of all, i have a 103-year-old grandmother who has been on medicare for a long time. she will be 104 later this month. there are a lot of people who are not working i do not have employer-based care. medicare is something that is important to maintain and protect and strengthen.

one of the things we should work together on is how we come up with long-term solutions to make sure the medicare is there. i have an 18-month-old daughter. wanting to make sure we have a system that is there for her. a lot of young people believe that medicare will not survive the next generation regardless of the changes congress may make to it. we have 10,000 seniors that retire every day in this country the amount of people receiving medicare benefits is growing at a greater rate than people paying into the system because we do not have many jobs being created. i hope this is a system where we can work together and strengthen medicare long-term and not make it into an issue of republican versus democrat. as far as the transportation bill, i believe that is something that came out of the senate. i don't think that is going to be in the house version of the bill.

the medicare reduction. i tend to agree with you. a lot in terms of linking the two and cutting that, one of the challenges i have -- i am still relatively new in the process and there are a lot of budgetary gimmicks that are played in order to make something balance or pay for something. the reality is that we want to strengthen medicare and we have to work together to do that. we want to make sure that is there for you and other seniors in the country that depend on it. host: randy in clearwater florida. independent line. caller: good morning. hi there, representative. my representative is mr. jolly. anyway. guest: good man. caller: the trade agreement.

it is free trade and it is supposed to be fair trade. i can't believe that the house and the senate are not allowed to have amendments to make. you know, it is equal -- you know, all of these big business people behind the scenes -- you know, it is very secretive. could you comment on that? i had other things to say. host: we will leave it there. thank you for calling in. guest: thanks for the question.

what we are working on right now and what the house will be debating is the trade promotion authority and the question before us is should we allow the president to go and negotiate trade agreements. when you have so many countries involved in the negotiation of an agreement, you can imagine how difficult it would be if each agreement could go back to every legislative body in everyone of these countries and be amended or tweet or touched. when someone makes an amendment it has to go back through all other countries. if we are serious about opening up market and realistic about the idea that 95% of the world's consumers live outside the united states and we cannot grow our economy if we only sell to ourselves, then we have to be willing to allow our president to go out and negotiate trade

deals, whether we support them when they are finished or not is another question. that is the content of the transpacific partnership that has yet to be written a negotiated. there are proposals we are reading through. that is not a completed deal yet. i think you are right in that we would love to be able to amend it. we would love to debate it. practically, it is hard to see how we could do that and have an agreement ever written. in terms of who the agreement affects, you mentioned big businesses. certainly, that is a concern that has been raised. most concerns here are from small or medium-sized businesses that do not have an overseas company that can produce there. a big business can set up a new manufacturing plant in asia. a small business needs our help to open up markets to sell goods

overseas and they do not have the luxury to be able to produce goods over there. those are the folks i am thinking about. how do we open up future sales for small or medium-sized businesses so they can create our jobs and grow our economy? one in five jobs created in the united states are tied to trade and they pay higher wages. this is about growing our economy. it needs to be a smart trade agreement. it needs to be an american trade agreement. we have republicans and democrats, including president obama, who are all going to have to be part of this deal. the president is going to have to negotiated and the house and senate are going to have to decide whether they supported once he is done negotiating. i think it is a good balance and all voices will be represented at the table. host: essex junction, vermont.

democrat. good morning. caller: hi, congressman. i do believe that we are going to get more jobs out of this. the unfortunate side is that all of the manufacturing jobs that were good paying are lost and that is why it looks like the import jobs pay more. because the base of pay in the united states is so low now. the other thing i would like to say is that we probably should get rid of the fta, the epa, all of the departments that govern us -- because, like you said you are bowing to the world trade organization, who is not elected. i did not get to vote. who are these people that think they are going to dictate to me and my country? you know?

if i don't want monsanto sprayed on my crops and i want organic, like vermont has voted you are giving away our sovereignty -- all of you congressmen are giving away america to these new corporate governments -- i guess it is -- you are not elected by us. i would appreciate you commenting on our sovereignty. guest: i appreciate the question and i hope things are well in vermont this morning. you touched on a couple of different areas and you mentioned the epa and the fda and other entities. many of us are very frustrated in the amount of regulations and the weight of those regulations that are coming out.

i am a voice for my constituents on these issues. your representative does not get a chance to weigh in on these. these come down upon average americans like a ton of bricks. one of the counties that i represent in kansas city, they are facing an epa regulation that will increase the cost of their electricity by over $250 million over the next couple years. that is a 20% rate hit for every family in that district. if that is not a hidden tax if that is not giving up the freedom of those people to choose for themselves, they are paying a 20% rate hit. many of these families are below the poverty line, working families -- the last thing they

need is a 20% increase on the electric bill. that is what the epa decided. congress did not vote on it. the cost of doing business and the cost of living in this country has dramatically gone up because of the regulatory burdens of the federal government. i am concerned about trickle-down government. the cost and the weight of all the taxes coming out of washington, many of things none of us have a voice on because they come out of the executive administration, all of those things and up hurting working families the most. working families are the ones who pay for the burdens of government. the tax on medical equipment is not going to be paid by seniors and others who are working families -- the issue with the

wto is that we when -- when we enter into agreements with countries, fair trade or free trade agreement, that there has to be some way to arbitrate if you're violating the terms of that agreement. it is a good point. we just have to figure out a better way to make sure our rights are represented in these agreements. when we violate one of the terms of those, there is an organization that assesses penalties. whether we have to pay or respond to those is a good point. we are a sovereign nation. host: the president has threatened to veto the transportation and housing bill the house passed. he has put forward a proposal to put section eight or diversify housing in wealthy neighborhoods. what is your reaction? guest: i have not looked at that specific proposal.

we are certainly open to modifying or modernizing our housing process. the idea of moving everybody into one area is not necessarily good. a lot of times, they do not necessarily have aspects -- access to transportation. i have communities in my area with food deserts -- they do not have easy access to food. i was stunned by that reality. people don't have basic access to food. we want to make sure people have access to food, basic services health care. sometimes we have seen the sectioning of these folks out of sight and it makes it even harder on them. how are you going to get to work or get to a job and get economically growing? with the veto threat, we are going to work through 12

separate appropriations bills in the house. we are working through balancing the federal budget. while balancing it, we have the needs of our districts. that is a tough job. i hope the president will take a look again at some of these bills. we want to keep the lights on and the government moving forward in an effective and efficient manner. the folks who are calling in expect us to use the money wisely and work hard. in washington, they call it cutting spending when you receive less of an increase than you expected. when the president wants to increase the budget 7% or 8%, we will only increase it 4% and they will call it a cut. the budget that we passed which was decried by many as heartless and too cold and cuts too much still grows government by over 3% per year.

a lot of americans have not seen their paychecks grow by 3% per year. i don't think people are feeling it back home. when we look at threats from the president to veto legislation because we are not spending enough, the american people think we spend enough in washington dc and would rather see us reprioritize dollars. host: our next guest, barbara lee, a democrat of california, had an amendment put in the defense appropriations bill saying that congress should debate an authorization for the use of military force. do you agree or disagree with congress debating that? guest: i disagree with her amendment for technical reasons but i do agree with the principle that congress should be debating an authorization of military force. we should lay out what we think the president shoulnt should be

authorized to do, in terms of defeating isis and protecting the homeland. we are to be able to have the authority to utilize the strength of the american military to eradicate the threat i think if we are to engage in that debate, it is good for everyone in the house and senate to be a part of that. a lot of americans do not know what our mission is right now. earlier this week, the president said that we really have not come up with a cohesive strategy yet. i think that sends the wrong signal to americans. it also gives aid and comfort to our enemies, when we are telling them that there is not a plan. the president needs to lay out specifically what he would like to do, his mission, his plan

and then congress but to work with him to make sure he has the authority to do that. host: >> things have changed a little bit on capitol hill. you've been seeing on your screen the president is up on capitol hill. the house came in at 9:00 eastern to begin work on the two trade measures, the trade adjustment assistance, the trade promotion authority, and they took a break about 45 minutes ago or so for this meeting on capitol hill with president obama, democratic leadership now and the entire democratic caucus. just to give you a look, our producer on capitol hill, greg, tweeting the photo of the president arriving. hello, everybody. president obama flagged by nancy pelosi and also congressman clyburn. also from craig caplan, this is a look outside the meeting room with the press waiting to see what was said.

"politico" says many expected a defeat today for the president's trade deal. his visit to the hill is designed to save that. and from jennifer who covers congress and the white house for huffington post, loud applause in the house democratic caucus just now. here on c-span we're waiting for the house to gavel back in. but that could be a bit as that meeting is under way. we'll open up our phone lines and give you a chance to weigh in your thoughts on capitol hill and the broad issue of trade in general. that's ahead on c-span. we want to show you the debate as it happened on the floor starting with congressman ryan. aker the question before us today, it's really pretty simple. is america going to shape the global economy? or is it going to shape us? 95% of the world's consumers,

they don't live in this country they live in other countries. so if we want to create more jobs in america, we've got to make more things here in america and sell them over there. in fact, one out of every five jobs in america already today depends on trade. and you know what? that's a good thing. because these jobs pay more. they pay on average 18% more. but while the world is moving full steam ahead, we have been standing still, mr. speaker, we haven't completed a trade agreement in years. today there are 262 free trade agreements in place across the world. we are party to 14. since 2007 when the last version of trade promotion authority

expired, there have been 100 trade agreements negotiated and signed. the u.s. is a party to none of those. china is negotiating seven agreements right now including one with 16 countries. in the global economy, if you are standing still, you are falling behind. because all these other countries are negotiating agreements without us. what that basically means is, other countries are lowering their trade barriers between those countries and as a result of them lowering their trade barriers making their products more affordable, getting more market share, they are putting up barriers against our products. making it harder for us to get access to those markets. look, big companies can set up a factory in another country, make something there, and sell it there. getting trade agreements means we move those barriers so we keep those factories here, so

all businesses, big and small, can make things in america, grow things in america, and sell them overseas. let me just give you an example. since the year 2000, there have been 48 trade agreements in east asia alone. america has been a party to overwhelm two of them. and as a result of that -- only two of them. as a result of that our share of imports fell by 42%. the rules of the global economy they are being written right now, mr. speaker. that's not the question. the question is, are we going to write the rules of the global economy with our allies? or are we going to let other countries write the rules such as china? this is why h.r. 1314, the trade act, would establish t.p.a., or trade promotion authority. now, there's been a lot of confusion about this bill. a lot of honest confusion and sometimes a lot of intentional

confusion. let me say really clearly what this bill is. t.p.a. is not a trade deal. t.p.a. is not a trade agreement. t.p.a. is a process for negotiating a trade agreement. congress is not considering a trade agreement today. there is no secret agreement that nobody has read that's being voted on today. all we are voting on today is a process by which congress considers trade agreements. the earliest we would do so would be in the fall at the earliest. why should we care about this process? because a good process gets us a good result. this t.p.a. will give us the leverage that we in congress need to get a fair deal for the american worker. because when other countries know that the deal that they agreed to is the deal congress will vote on, they will give us their best offers. countries aren't going to give us a good agreement if they have

to negotiate with 536 people. here's how it works. congress says to the president, when you submit a trade agreement, we will give you an up or down vote on three conditions. first, you have got to pursue specific negotiating objectives. 150 of them. here's what we want to see in a trade agreement and here's what cannot be in a trade agreement. second you've got to keep us informed. you have to regularly consult with congress. congress must have access to all the negotiating text. right now, it's whatever the administration chooses to give us. they control it. they decide on their terms with t.p.a., congress says, no, no, no. we in congress get access to these negotiating documents while it's being negotiated. we in congress are accredited to go to the negotiation it is we want to. and with the zinke prote --

protocol, if we can't make it we'll send representatives to these negotiations. third, and perhaps most importantly, transparency. the old days they used to call this thing fast track. the president goes out and gets an agreement and then, wham, whizzes it through, have congress vote on it, it's in law. everybody is wondering what just happened? what's in this thing? not again. no more. when an agreement is reached, when america gets an agreement with other countries, before the president can even sign off on it, we make it publicly -- public for 60 days, up on the internet, everybody can read it for themselves and see what it is. that's in this law. never done that before. and then the president can sign it. but when he signs it, it doesn't go into effect. when he signs it it just means he sends it to congress. and then congress considers it. congress considers it and congress determines whether it's going to happen or not.

it's a bill like any other bill. congress has to pass it. they have to affirmatively pass it for it to go into effect. if the house of representatives doesn't like the trade agreement, and they vote it down with a simple majority vote, it doesn't happen. that's what this bill does. we have the final say. now, i understand a lot of our members, certainly on our side of the aisle they don't trust this administration. join the club. neither do i. that is precisely why i support this bill. t.p.a. puts congress in the driver's seat. mr. speaker, the world is watching this. the world is watching whether or not, and they are trying to make a decision, is america still america? or is america in retreat? our allies want our leadership. our adversaries are measuring how much we stack up. our enemies would love for us to

retreat. the world is watching as to whether or not america is going to lead in the world whether america in the dawn of the 21st century is going to take command of writing the rules of the global economy or cede that command to other countries. if we establish t.p.a., we are saying on a bipartisan basis we want america to lead. we believe in our country. we believe in our workers. we believe in our economy. we want to open up markets so that we can use american ingenuity and american work to create american jobs. so we can sell our goods and our services our products overseas. so we can create more good paying jobs here at home. that's what this is about. it's about getting us on the playing field. is00 trade agreements negotiated, signed -- 100 trade agreements negotiated, signed,

since 2007. we are a party to zero of those. the rest of the world is moving around. the rest of the world is getting better deals. the rest of the world is freezing us out. we have to get back in this game and lead this game and define this game. with that, mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin reserves his time. the chair rechair recognizes the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i allocate as much time as i use to myself. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for as much time as he wishes to use. mr. levin: i have worked in all my years here to expand trade in ways that spread its benefits to the many not just to the few. charlie rangel and i led the fight to include strong and enforcible labor and environmental provisions and to strike the right balance between innovation and access to medicines in the historic may 10 agreement of 2007. the trouble with this t.p.a. is

that it means no meaningful provisions whatsoever in t.p.p. on currency manipulation, which has destroyed millions of middle class american jobs and allows investors to challenge american health and environmental regulations and others not through the american legal system but through unregulated, arbitration panels. it's about a t.p.p. going in the wrong direction on access to medicines and in some important ways environmental protections. and it's about countries like mexico that deny their workers basic labor rights to gain and uncompetitive advantage over our companies and workers. and vietnam and ma lashesea who stand in clear violation of the may 10 provisions on

international worker rights with no plan we know of. in that sense it's secret of a t.p.p. to change that. far from a progressive trade agreement. . on this and every other area in t.p.p. they are left to be determined whether they were met by those who did the negotiating, and i just want to say these negotiating objectives are so vague they are meaningless and to hold them up is something that holds ustr to action is simply a mirage. instead of passing this bill, which gives a blank check to the administration to finish up t.p.p. negotiations where they are now and leaves congress with only an up or down vote at the end, we should be using our

leverage to impact the negotiations. this bill does not do that. we in congress, despite all the rhetoric, all the rhetoric, we in congress will be in the backseat not in the falsely claimed driver seat. this is what this is all about not protectionism versus free trade, not reflective opposition as sometimes claimed to expand a trade. i've worked for expanded trade. quite the opposite. i want a t.p.p. that is worthy of broad bipartisan support. as to t.a.a., proponents of t.p.a. they're the ones who linked the two together in a single bill. t.a.a. should not be a bargaining chip to get a deeply flawed t.p.a. across the

finished line and that's how this has been set up. this t.p.a. should stand on its own feet. even in its best form t.a.a. was a modest program and i was one of the authors supporting it. but this t.a.a. bill includes a number of shortcomings compared to the high water mark of the program. despite the fact that the need in this country is growing and trade is expanding. the truth of the matter is we need to do far more to train and educate our workers and to invest in our future in order to compete in a global economy. a no vote will give us an opportunity another opportunity to improve t.a.a. and t.p.a. and to achieve our ultimate goal that i and others have been working for months and months and months and

months, and that's the goal, a strong t.p.p. agreement that can gain broad bipartisan support. i reserve the >> debate from earlier today initial debate on the trade promotion authority measure, the trade adjustment assistance measure, the trade bills that are coming up before the house today, but they're in recess now so that the democrats, the democratic caucus can hear from president obama. he is up at this hour, as a matter of fact speaking to democrats and looking for their votes to move these measures through and pass the two actually three bills today that house will take up. we will get warning when the house comes back, probably about 15 minutes of warning, but so far no word on when that meeting will wrap up and when the house will gavel back into session. so we're going to open up our

phone lines or c-span and c-span roux. -- c-span radio. 202-748-8921 for republicans. 202-748-8920 for democrats. and for independents and all others, 202-748-8922. we open the question this morning on facebook, too, your thoughts on giving the president fast track trade authority. we'll try to look at some facebook comments too and you can tweet us using the handle@c-span. headline though, from jack, lauren and "politico" writing of the president's visit to capitol hill. again, this wasn't expected. the president made a last-minute decision to come up. obama rushes to the capitol to save his trade deal. they write that the president went to capitol hill to meet with the house democrats in a last-minute bid to salvage his trade agenda. there he is flankeds by jim clyburn, the assistant democratic leader and of course democratic leader nancy pelosi. and back to the "politico" story, the moment was a big risky moment for the president and his second-term agenda as a

package of trade bills is stalled because of democratic opposition. the president needs to convince democrats to back a measure known as trade adjustment assistance which would provide aid and retraining to workers who lose their jobs due to trade agreements. and the aid legislation they write, which is in serious jeopardy, must pass before the house can vote on the central trade promotion authority that would give obama fast track authority to negotiate the massive trans-pacific partnership. that's where things stand. the democrats meeting with the president at this hour. the house is in recess what they call subject to the call of the chair. we'll get about a 15 minutes' notice when they come back. we'll hear from you, lake of the hills, illinois, and to our democrats' line, travis, go ahead. caller: hi, good morning. >> good morning. caller: i'm reading on congress.gov h.r. 1314. basically i'm just seeing text here tax-exempt organizations the right to appeal act.

the internal revenue code to prescribe regulations for an allowing a request to appeal internal revenue service office of appeals adverse determination on or off may 19, 2014 with respect to and there's not much else to it. is this the bill that everybody's talking about? when i do go more into it i get to all bill information and i have two pages of amendments that really don't have much to it. and i'm wondering, how do we -- how do the citizens get all this information that everybody keeps talking about that's supposed to be transparent to us? >> you're seeing the basic bill information, correct? there is -- the trade deal itself, parts of the trade deal itself or parts of the proposed trade deal is not secret but it is for eyes only on capitol hill. they're giving members a chance to read some of the negotiated

elements of that trade deal. what you're going to see today in terms of these two votes, these are agreeing to things that have passed in the senate so there may be minimal sort of bill information that you see out there. thanks for the call, travis. to durham, north carolina, and we go to bobby on our republican line. go ahead. caller: -- >> bobby. we have sylvia in durham. by the way, we just got word that house is coming back into session about 15 minutes. about 11:00 eastern, just shy of 11:00 eastern we should see the house gaveling back into session. craig caplan tweeting, i don't think you'll ever nail anything down around here. it's always moving, president obama says, as he leaves the democrats' meeting. sylvia, go ahead with your comments. caller: yes, i was watching the house yesterday on this here trade and repeal medicare offset with africa. and today i see that the trade

bill and all that they are wanting to take out $700 million from medicare. medicare and social security is not just to be given away. people work for it. they pay in for it and they pay in still for medicare. looks like to me obama's trying to pull the wool over everybody's eyes. the people that love their children and grandchildren better wake up and open their eyes and hold their children with all their hearts and love them because there's so many muslims and communists in that white house that's pushing all of this mess and i'm telling you, america has been sold out and obama should have never been elected as president because he doesn't know what he's doing. i could go up there and run the

white house and i do not have a college education. i got common sense. >> all right, sylvia, we appreciate your comments. the president leaving the capitol after meeting with democrats. they'll need more votes than they had yesterday. the rule passed 217-204 with only eight democrats voting in favor. if all of them are present and voting in the house, they'll need about 217 or 218. here's bobby in jupiter florida, on the independent's line. go ahead. caller: how you doing today? >> doing fine, thanks. caller: my whole thing about this is if the republicans give obama the authority to negotiate, nothing has been finalized yet. once he gets the trade deal, then they get to vote on it. that's what people are missing. i'm originally from pittsburgh. heavy union town. i think this is all about the unions with the democrats.

i voted democrat a lot of times. i voted for bush in 2000 just because of all the -- i thought he was stronger than gore. but like i said, they just got to see what's in the bill. vote up or down on the bill, yes or no, but nobody knows what's in the bill because nothing has been negotiated yet. >> headline in "national journal," republicans, meanwhile, are infuriated about heritage action, that's the political group of the heritage foundation, a look on trade and a look at steve king. even steve king just called heritage action illlogical. the house gaveling in about 10 minutes or so with more debate on the trade measures. from washington, vern, democrats' line. caller: yeah, i've been a democrat all my life. it's unbelievable that the congress of the united states, especially the democrats, would keep negotiating these bad

trade agreements. now, we most -- we lost millions of jobs under nafta, cafta, w.t.o. i mean the american people have had it out here. as far as i -- the democrats are concerned if they pass this trade bill, they're going to lose the white house next year. and i -- like i said, i've been a democrat all my life. i voted for scoop jackson. i'm from the world war ii generation, my friend. like i said, the american people are getting the shaft. the unions -- this one woman talks about communism, we don't have any communists in the white house. [laughter] caller: we had a couple, we'd be better off, and i'm no communist. like i said, the congress of the united states and president obama is a big disappointment. i voted for him twice. i wrote letters to him. he wrote letters to me.

he's got my name and address. he knows. when he was elected i thought we had another roosevelt. >> well, we'll see if the president's visit swace the democrats he needs to sway. some comments on twitter @c-span. this one is from duke who tweets, all of you have jobs nafta killed in local factories. what are republicans doing about it? this one says, they run around bloviating about it. house votes on t.p.a. t.a.a. vote out any g.o.p. who supports this corrupt secret deal. and one more here from dei anna who says the g.o.p. has lost their mind. prepare to lose in 2016. on the political side of things. want to let you know this is from the iowa caucus. the iowa straw poll is dead after unanimous vote by the republican party of iowa. and jeff of abc saying 16 years saying after george w. bush won the iowa straw poll, the state kills it today in an effort to

preserve the caucus' smart move by the iowa republican party. back to your calls on trade. this is kimber from caldwell ohio, on our republican line. caller: you might as well have -- this is like a one-party system. there are no democrats and republicans anymore. and i've been a republican for years. it might as well just be one party, but this t.p.a. is no different than the t.p.p., nafta, you name it right down the road, and this relinquishes power to obama. if they don't -- half these people that are voting on it, voting for it haven't even gone down and -- in the basement -- if it's in the basement and in secret then there's a problem with it. i think the american people deserve to, you know, deserve to know what is exactly in the bill before they vote on it.

>> all right. let's hear from new york dennis is there on the others line. how do you say your town there, dennis? caller: aquabach. beautiful wine country. >> go ahead with your comment. caller: it's kind of listening to the callers ahead of me. overwhelmingly if you're rapp or a democrat, there is dissension there's skepticism. as voters as a whole, we don't trust our politicians and that's the problem. secret not secret, we'll see 60 days, you only get 60 days, up and down vote, it's all nonsense b.s. political chargin. people are getting frustrated, furious. like i said whether you're a republican or democrat, you can't take a stand. my congressman is lee zeldin. i've been to his office many times. he still doesn't know what he's going to do with t.p.a. how do you know at this point? boolt line is none of these

trade deals have worked out for the average american. it's not a labor thing, it's an american people thing. they haven't worked it out. the numbers show it. the only people who benefit from it is international corporations and banks. the fact these corporations can sue us and change our laws -- it just happened on wednesday where we don't have labeling for american food, that's going to expand. that's frightening. that's our u.s. sovereignty. it should be our ability to make our own laws if we want to. let's honor the constitution, have congress negotiate out in the open, not in secret, and let them do their jobs. let's stop with the rhetoric and the nonsense from both parties and let's do it the right way. >> all right, dennis, thanks for that. here's a tweet from chad who covers capitol hill from fox about the meeting that just wrapped up. representative gene green emerges from the obama meeting says obama didn't change his mind. "i'll vote against it." house gaveling in within 10 minutes now. we'll have live coverage, of course on c-span. bill's next up in manchester,

new hampshire. welcome. bill? go ahead. caller: yes, sir. i'm listening. my name. my name is bill. i'm a u.s. citizen but i was born in algeria. i was born in algeria. but i'm a u.s. citizen. >> ok. so what do you think about the trade deals? that's what we're talking about here. caller: yes, sir. i agree. i agree. some people on c-span, they used to call me, tv viewer, that would be me bill. >> ok, bill. let's move on to virginia who is in independence ohio, republican line. virginia there.

hi. caller: virginia on the line. i live in the independence area. actually southern hills, ohio. >> ok. caller: i am fearful that congress is going to be spineless and for some reason they have been -- >> i think you may have hung yourself up there. sorry about that, virginia. lancaster, california, and glen's on the independent line. caller: good morning. >> hey there. caller: we feed into medicare out of our own pockets as american citizens, everybody pays into medicare and you stole it during the a.c.a. and the republicans talked about that. and now you're stealing it over a trade deal plus you're probably going to push immigration for legal immigration. how about just raising tariffs to what the other countries have or maybe a little more and

building stuff here for american citizens in the united states? we're a proud hardworking people. we can do things. we can build stuff here for us. we don't need these -- we don't need this trade deal that's just ruining our country like nafta did. it is disgusting. i can't believe you're even -- they're even talking about passing this thing. they say they're just debating part of it, but they're going to pass it the next vote they have. >> well, debate's ahead on the house floor live here on c-span within the next five minutes or so. and coming out of that meeting some reporting here from jonathan of "the new york times" two tweets that obama's message to dems, quote play it straight. don't get cute killing trade assistance to kill trade promotion authority. we go back to new york and mary's on the democrats' line

there. mohopic, new york, hello. we'll try corning, new york and gregory on the others line. caller: hey, how you doing? >> hi, gregory. caller: yeah. it looks to me everybody doesn't matter what side of the aisle, we think it's a terrible idea. it's never worked in the past. it's not going to work now. it's just another way to kill american jobs. and i just hope that people voting on this understand that the american people are paying attention this time and workers do vote. thank you. >> ok. you're seeing a big look there what we see from the house tv gallery. house is in recess subject to the call of the chair, and we had warning within the last 15 minutes or so. just noticed they're coming back in. we'll be there live shortly. waukegan illinois, maurice on the democrats' line. go ahead. caller: hello, sir. how are you? >> fine, thanks.

caller: my name is maurice, a 22-year-old african-american male living in the united states. i'm a u.s. citizen. i feel that this is a good bill . you know, if they do ship the jobs or the trading jobs do have a loss, i feel that it would be great that the people who do lose their jobs will get the training needed to advance their career, but it's hard because i know republicans and nonconstituents, they will disagree with me on this. i'm going to keep it short and sweet. the other callers before, they were liking to deny obama -- >> we're going to let you go now. the house has gaveled back in. there's steve womack back in the chair. live here on c-span. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] an act to

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trade have always been connected. this is not new. this plan it is not ours to waste, but to use what we need and leave this planet greener and more peaceful. this congress -- history will not be kind to us. i urge each and every member of this congress to do what is right. stand up for the working people in our country. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio is recognized. . mr. paulsen: thank you. it's difficult to overstate the importance of trade with other countries. you know, the benefits of trade are huge and enormous for our economy. if you take all the trade agreements that we have with other countries around the world, you add them, we have a trade surplus. if you take the trade agreements -- the nontrade agreements the countries we

don't have trade agreements with, we have a deficit. so these agreements help us, they benefit us. there's no doubt that u.s. has been on the sidelines in recent years. this gets us back in the game, making us create a healthier economy here at home, changing and making sure that our status as a global leader will be right back on top, higher paying jobs, better paying jobs and this is an opportunity also, to make sure that united states is setting the rules for our economy for the world economy instead of china. mr. speaker, if you're for these things, you should be for this legislation. trade promotion authority allows these agreements to move forward with congressional oversight, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i now yield a minute and a half to the gentleman from illinois, a member of our committee, mr. davis. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois is recognized for 1 1/2 minutes. mr. davis: thank you mr. speaker. and i rise in strong opposition to the trade bill before us. i'm also in opposition to using

one cent of medicare money for anything other than paying for health care for senior citizens. i'm not anti-trade. i believe in trade, and i want a trade bill, but i want a trade bill that creates jobs and economic opportunity for the communities that i represent. i want a trade bill that creates fair wages and opportunities for employment. i don't want a bill that continues to help the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and the middle class gets squeezed into oblivion. and i don't want to fast track. as a matter of fact, the jobs and economic development have left the communities i represent fast enough. they don't need our help, and they don't need to be gone. we need jobs in america. i'm going to vote against this, and if i do and if it's the

wrong vote, i'm going to be voting with the people that i represent, the people who sent me here, the people who have said, represent us. they want a no vote. i vote no because i represent them. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio. mr. tiberi: thank you, mr. speaker. i now yield one minute to the gentleman from nebraska, mr. smith, a leader on trade, a member of the ways and means and trade subcommittee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from nebraska is recognized for one minute. mr. smith: mr. speaker, i rise today in support of the trade act of 2015. we have the opportunity to remove major trade barriers which make it harder to sell u.s. products to consumers in other countries. to grow our economy we must expand our access to 96% of consumers outside the united states. nebraska's producers, farmers, ranchers and others want to serve new markets, and this bill is an important step

forward. a number of concerns have been raised, and i want to clarify a couple of points. many nebraskans are concerned about the president's actions on a number of issues. to address these concerns, we need to actually pass this bill and establish more than 150 congressional parameters that the president will be required to follow as trade negotiations take place. some might be concerned that no one is allowed to read proposed trade agreements. we must pass this bill, actually, to ensure that every member of this body has full access to negotiating text and any final agreement is publicly posted online for 60 days before the president can sign it. this bill also ensures we have a up or down vote on any trade agreement and contains new provisions if the executive branch doesn't follow our rules. this bill is an important step for opportunity and growth, and i yield a aye vote. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: mr. speaker, i now yield two minutes to another valid member of our committee,

mr. blumenauer from oregon. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oregon is recognized for two minutes. mr. blumenauer: thank you. democrats just left a very powerful presentation from the president of the united states to our members who simply ask that our members vote their -- play it straight. vote for things they believe in. for instance 125 democrats voted for trade adjustment assistance to help workers displaced because of things in the global economy. we have a provision before us today that is actually stronger than what 125 of us voted for before, and yet there are some that are thinking, well, they may not vote for it. i have ads run against me for cutting medicare and yet i'm going to ask to enter a letter from the american hospital association, american medical association, american home care

and hospice to point out there were no cuts to medicare because of the changes we are involved in making. now, this is part of the problem we're having dealing with how to concern trade promotion authority. this is something that all of us should embrace. it sets the rules for the administration to negotiate and how we'll evaluate it. it will guarantee, as my friend from nebraska just pointed out, everybody in america will have almost five full months to look at it before it's ever voted on. and it contains the strongest environmental and labor provisions of any trade provisions in history. that is what people talk to me about when they wanted nafta fixed. trade promotion authority that we have here will do it. it is very important. i have not stopped working to improve this package. i've got things i want to

change, work with the senate, work in conference committee and if we ever get an agreement, then i will evaluate the t.p.p. based on what's in it, not explanation innuendo and reckless charges. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. without objection, the gentleman's reference to the letter will be entered into the record. the gentleman from ohio. mr. tiberi: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield one minute to the gentleman from illinois, a new member of the ways and means committee, bob dold. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois is recognized for one minute. mr. dold: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, we want to make sure that we're moving forward and providing american leadership when it comes to trade. my friend from oregon here just ar particularally noted -- ar particularly noted why this needs to move forward. one in three manufacturing jobs relies upon exports. 95% of the world's consumers are outside the united states. i want to make sure we have good high-paying jobs right

here at home and to be able to do that is to make sure we're deciding what are the rules of the road when it comes to trade. the rules of the 21st century and the global economy are being written today, and the question is -- will the united states of america be there to be able to write these rules, to be part of the process? because if we don't, certainly china and others will. putting the united states and our businesses our workers at an enormous disadvantage. we want trade deals that are enforceable, accountable and have high standards. this is about creating good, high-paying american jobs. this is what we all want, and frankly we have an opportunity to move forward. and my minute's up so i'm going to yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i now yield to another member of our committee, mr. pascrell of new jersey two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for two minutes. mr. pascrell: i'll tell you

what an innuendo is. it's saying that the jobs that we lose are going to replace by just as good or better jobs. well here's the record. remember you're given assistance to workers who already lost their jobs. wouldn't it make sense logically to try to save the job in the first place? or do we believe, as bush said -- president bush said 2004, february, in his economic report hey, if they make it cheaper overseas we got to do something else. that's a way out. that's innuendo. if you want to talk about inequality, the jobs we're losing in manufacturing pay over $600 a week. and the jobs that are being replaced $330. who are we kidding here? get to the facts. get to the facts. past trade deals have hurt the

american worker. and by the way you placed this thing, those who are proponents of this legislation that we are against trade. nothing can be further from the truth. we want fair deals that help our workers. that's what this is all about. my town, textile business, lost everything 40, 50 years ago. 25,000 to 30,000 people were employed with that textile industry, and we sat here in the congress of the united states and watched these people lose their jobs and you sure as heck they want the retail jobs. you know what they paid, fast track and the underlike pppp will continue the trend of corporation -- trans-pacific partnership will continue the trend of corporations offshoring american jobs, driving down wages. and now we're going to be competing with the vietnamese who pay nearly 60 cents an hour. everybody can't be like us. we understand that. we're not against trade. we want it to be fair, we want

the american worker to be protected. that's what this is all about. we had our fears confirmed when the president told us that china wanted to join the t.p.p. that's the icing on the cake making a bad deal even worse and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from ohio. mr. tiberi: thank you, mr. speaker. i'd like to remind my friend that globalization occurred long before any trade agreement. my dad lost his job his steelworker job years before nafta. and in fact we have a trade surplus, mr. speaker with 20 -- i don't have enough time to yield, sir. we have a trade surplus with 20 countries we have a trade agreement with. a deficit with the countries that we don't. it's now my privilege to yield a minute and a half to the gentleman from pennsylvania, a member of the ways and means committee, pat meehan. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for 90 seconds. mr. meehan: i thank the chairman and i thank the speaker. i rise in support of the trade act of 2015. 95% of the world's market is

outside the united states, and selling our goods to these markets is critical to america's future prosperity. one in five of american jobs are directly tied to trade. and if we can't knock down the tariffs that are placed on american goods around the country, the world's going to buy these goods elsewhere. simply put a strong trade agenda is essential to america's national security and the economic opportunity of hardworking taxpayers. if you want a strong trade agreement with better protections for u.s. workers, you want trade promotion authority. t.p.a. allows congress to hold the administration accountable and gives congress the chance to vote down a bad deal. without it we're negotiating from a disadvantage, and if we're not setting the rules on global trade, china will. mr. speaker, trade promotion authority means stronger, better trade agreements. i urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support it, because what's happening right now is if we don't have an increasingly aggressive

china in there setting the rules, the trade agreements give us the chances on things like labor things like the environment, things like a fair and open internet. those are the kinds of future things that will create future jobs and keep the world safer and better. i urge my colleagues to support this mr. speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i now yield to another valid member of our committee, ms. sanchez from california, a minute and a half. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california is recognized for 1 1/2 minutes. ms. sanchez: mr. speaker, i rise to speak against this misguided t.p.a. bill. many of my colleagues have highlighted the reasons to oppose the bill, but i want to focus on two specific fundamental issues, labor and civil rights. there is nothing in this that requires countries to bring their labor laws and regulations into compliance before this deal takes effect. how can we have an agreement that doesn't require everybody to play by the same rules? that's just ridiculous. we need trade agreements that prohibit signatory countries

from murdering jailing, torturing or firing citizens for doing such outlandish things such as trying to unionize and bargain for safer working conditions. enforceable labor provisions tell trading partners that we mean business on labor rights before letting their goods into the u.s. frayed agreements should not continue a race to the bottom for workers. we should be setting the standard. i'm frustrated that t.p.p. negotiations are nearly complete and we are just now giving the administration their marching orders. but here we are and those marching orders should be clear, especially on labor rights. additionally in the ways and means market for this legislation, i offered a commonsense amendment to address the issue of countries whose laws call for imprisonment, torture and even death for the supposed crime of one's sexual orientation. i was baffled to watch every single republican in the committee vote to say it's perfectly acceptable to do

business with countries that have these laws. perhaps it was naive of me to think we could have at least one bright line rule for the most basic of human rights, not to be put to death based on their -- a person's actual or perceived sexual orientation. mr. levin: an additional 30 seconds yielded. ms. sanchez: not to be put to death based on the person's actual or perceived sexual orientation. if you want to do business with the u.s., we shouldn't tolerate such bar barrack behavior. for these -- barbaric behavior. for these reasons i ask my colleagues to vote no against this legislation and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio. . mr. tiberi: i yield to an important member of the ways and means committee, mr. roskam. mr. roskam: one of two things is going to happen. we are either going to lean forward and claim the best days

of america which are ahead of us or we're going to recede from those and the choice is here and today and i urge us to move forward because i truly believe if we pursue an aggressive trade agenda and the united states leads on that, good things are going to happen. there's another part of the story and we have the opportunity to make history as well. included in the t.p.a. is bipartisan legislation that i offered to shield israel from being the victim of the insidious boycott, difficult investment sections movement in europe. first time that congress is combating boycotts against israel. we saw orange, a company partially owned by the french government recede back from doing business in israel. the language i offered was unanimously adopt and it's

simple. if you want to trade with the united states, you can't boycott israel. i want to thank the chairmen for layer relationship in working with me on these important issues. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield a minute to the gentleman from virginia, mr. beyer. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. beyer: i rise to stand and boldly as i can for the american worker. 10 million americans are unemployed middle-class wamings have been stagnant. every low wage that could have moved overseas has moved overseas. we have to do something smart, honest brave and bold and based on the unanimous consent of economists and tear down the barriers so they can buy our goods and services and need to strengthen environmental laws.

and bring the law of law to those countries. and we need much stronger intellectual property protections around the world. we have to take globalization head on and can't isolate ourselves. we tried protectionism and got the great recession. mr. speaker, i stand for the american worker and i support the administration's commitment to free trade and lifting the middle class. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio. mr. tiberi: i would like yield one minute, 30 seconds to the gentleman from texas a leader on trade, a past chairman of the trade subcommittee, mr. brady. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: thank you for your leadership on trade and american success. so who has the power? this is the question. when your family or your business wants to buy a product

who decides what you can buy and at what price, is it you or special interests or union bosses or the government? if you build a better product, come up with a new idea, who has the power to decide where you can sell it around the world, is it you or special interests or government and again the union? american trade is about giving you the power and you the freedom to buy and sell and compete around the world with as little government interference. it's not just enough to buy america but we want to sell our products around the world. when we do we win. when you say we are selling in the u.s. we insist we sell in your countries. when we don't, america grows weaker and our manufacturers and our farmers and local businesses, they get priced out and shut down. so american trade is about our job and our prosperity. this bill sets the rules for

trade so these agreements where everyone benefits, everyone plays by the rules and everyone has the same opportunity. i'm voting yes for more american jobs and more american economic opportunity and less government control of our trade. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i now yield a minute to ms. kaptur, long time veteran of this congress. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from ohio is recognized for one minute. ms. kaptur: i thank mr. levin of michigan and rise in strong opposition to this fast track trade debate. proponents of t.p.a. are trying to lure votes by adding $700 murks million to trade adjustment assistance to take care of unemployed people are going to lose their jobs as more and more billions of our wealth

are outsourced. what a if anything leaf. it's too little for the damage about to be done. the working families and communities are focused on congress today hoping we will stand up and do what's right for america. this outsourcing trade deal rewards the few at the expense of the many. it's a great deal for wall street. it's a great deal for transnational corporations, but for main street and workers, it's another punch to the gut. this week's scenario remind me of the nafta fight to pick up members to deal with cuts and protect the corn industry. but in this deal, we don't protect people. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for an additional 30 seconds. ms. kaptur: there is no protection against human trafficking. that has been stripped out. we have protections for corn, but not for people.

in return to secure votes, a few thousand people may benefit handsomely, but america won't. we will rack up trade deficits as world markets remain close to us. state-run enterprises will eat more of our lunch and for america's working class, millions will be left out in the cold. the t.p.p. will be a pathetic package. i urge no no, no votes. stand up for america. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. tiberi: with the 20 countries we have trade agreements with, we have a trade surplus. with the countries we don't, we have a trade deficit. speaks for itself. in ohio, 89% of our exporters 89% are small and immediate-ium sized companies with less than 500 people and most of these are

spent at community colleges and technical colleges and use that money to train workers and upgrade skills. i wish my dad, who lost his manufacturing job way before nafta, who lost his steel worker job way before any bilateral trade agreement to globalization had t.a.a. to help him get a new job. as the president said in reality, a vote against this t.a.a. bill will be a vote to actually cut funding for community colleges. as the president said yesterday a no vote could potentially kill t.a.a. forever. with that, mr. speaker i yield a minute and 30 seconds to the gentleman from washington state a member of the ways and means committee. mr. reichert. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 1 1/2 minutes. mr. reichert: americans are asking themselves are things ever going to get better for

america? the only answer has to be yes. and today we begin that process. today it's time for action. today we vote on a trade legislation that is absolutely critical for america's future. today we send a message to the world across this globe a strong message that we are america. we are strong. we are free, and we are united. a yes vote on t.p.a. and t.a.a. today is a vote for a healthy economy, it's a vote for creating jobs, it's a vote for higher wages it's a vote for selling america. that's the message we are going to send across this globe today. america is back and we are going to be strong in this world economy. hardworking taxpayers deserve a government that gives you, mr. speaker, the citizens of this

country, freedom choice and control to pursue their future. every american deserves this, build your own business, hire employees, promotions and provide for your family. mr. speaker it's what real leaders, real leaders will deliver today. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield a minute to the gentleman from nebraska, mr. ashford. mr. ashford: i believe this is a vote for the ages. my constituents in nebraska are asking me, brad, can we govern, can we come together can we move this country forward? what we do here today will determine how we do move forward as a nation, what kind of country do we leave our

children. yet, in my view, mr. speaker, we are at our best when we reach for the moon. this, in my view is one of those moments, mr. speaker. this is a vote for better jobs, a stronger economy for american workers, for american exceptionalism, i believe, mr. speaker, this is a vote for the ages. please support t.a.a. and t.p.a. to make life better for all americans. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio. mr. tiberi: i yield one minute to the gentleman from louisiana mr. boustany, a leader on trade and leader on the ways and means committee and leader for louisiana. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from louisiana is recognized for one minute. mr. boustany: after 1945, u.s. set up the global trading system. and countries around the world

are taking advantage of it. the world's not sitting still. hundreds of trade agreements exist that we only have 20 and we are sitting on the sidelines sitting still. american leadership is needed. if we are going to grow this economy, create good paying jobs for workers and farmers we need to open markets. 95% of the markets are outside the united states. let's be fair. and give them market access. t.p.a. is the catalyst to opening those markets and for growth. and the world's crying for american leadership. i'm afraid american prestige is on the decline. countries are watching us to see how we vote today. we have the opportunity to show that american will lead the global system we cre aed. i think if we don't do this, we

have dealt a serious blow to american leadership. it's a catalyst for american leadership. let's pass t.p.a. mr. levin: could you tell us how much time each side has. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan has 8 minutes remaining and the gentleman from ohio has 5 1/2 minutes remaining. mr. levin: i yield one minute to the gentlelady from new york, ms. velazquez. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. velazquez: time and again we are promised trade deals create opportunity. time and again, they instead send jobs abroad. in the first seven years of nafta, new york city's textile shut 7,900 jobs, fast track trade policies have cost the u.s. one million jobs. new york lost a lot of

manufacturing jobs since nafta. why will the transpacific partnership be different? if it is approved, the u.s. will lose 10,000 jobs to just two of the 12 t.p.p. members japan and vietnam. new york already had a $47 billion trade deficit last year. this agreement will make the situation worse. when i go home, i don't hear people telling me we need to rush into another trade bill. the only people pushing fast track are lobbyists and big corporations. 20 seconds. well, that is not who i represent. i would rather stand with new york working families who oppose fast track. vote no. i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio. mr. tiberi: i yield one minute to the gentlelady from south dakota, a leader on the ways and means committee, a leader on trade, i yield one minute to mrs. noem from south dakota. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. . mr. knollenberg: we sell 11 1/2 times goods to that country than if there was no agreement in place. trade has been and continues to be an important part of the american -- mrs. noem: we have to continue to expand opportunities to export american-made products to these countries. but first we have to set the rules of the road. the constitution allows the president to negotiate trade agreements but only congress can approve or disapprove them. what we're voting on today ensures that congress sets the priorities and the rules that the president has to follow. it allows an open and transparent process where the public can view any potential

trade deal for 60 days before it's sent to congress. if the president doesn't follow our rules, we can take t.p.a. away, or if we don't like future trade bills we can simply vote them down. but we need to assert the power of congress in the process and ensure that public gets to weigh in down the road. that's what we're doing here today. i urge my colleagues to support this bill. america is counting on it. with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: it's now my pleasure to yield one minute to the gentleman from north carolina, mr. price. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from north carolina is recognized for one minute. mr. price: mr. speaker, i thank my friend for yielding. over the past two years i have been a part of efforts good-faith efforts to write the strongest possible fast track bill. the process the legislation has gone through recently with ways and means democrats denied every opportunity to improve the legislation in committee, while republicans were accommodated in the customs bills with anti-immigrant, anti-environmental provisions, it's moved in precisely the

wrong direction from what might have gained my vote. i plan to vote against t.p.a. today. but i strongly oppose the devious and reckless efforts to bring down t.p.a. by trying to defeat the trade adjustment assistance act. t.a.a. is a good bill which reflects long-standing democratic priorities and the objectionable medicare offset that it contained has been removed. t.a.a. has been critically important in north carolina. i refuse to put displaced workers at risk for the sake of a political tactic. i urge my colleagues, play it straight. support t.a.a. whether or not you support t.p.a. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio. mr. tiberi: mr. speaker, i yield one minute to a new member of the ways and means committee, the gentleman from missouri, jason smith. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from missouri is recognized for one minute. mr. smith: thank you mr. speaker. today i rise in support of t.p.a. because trade is too important to southeast and southern missouri to leave in

the hands of this president or any president. t.p.a. would bring more transparency and involvement to the negotiation process and gives congress more authority over the president. without t.p.a., the president can keep congress and the public in the dark on trade negotiations. without t.p.a., the president alone sets the negotiating objectives. without t.p.a., members of congress are not entitled to read the text of negotiating documents during the process. and without t.p.a., the president does not have to publish updated summaries of trade bills during the negotiations. however, with t.p.a. members of congress can be involved in the negotiation process to get the best deal for our folks back home. with t.p.a. for the first time ever, all bills negotiated would have to be public for 60 days before congress votes on them. and with t.p.a. congress directs the negotiating objectives for trade bills. with t.p.a., members of congress will have open access

to the text anytime they want. mr. speaker, we need t.p.a. so that american trade bills can be transparent, effective and enforcive. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield to the gentleman from california, mr. sherman, one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for one minute. mr. sherman: they have not played it straight as part of legislative procedure. they took a designate bill and split it up into two or three pieces. it is one package. if you're against fast track, vote no on t.a.a. it is not the opponents who came up with this crazy procedure. if they had played it straight we could play it straight, but now we're in a position to use the legislative tactics afforded by this house, pursuant to a rule come up -- that is complicated beyond belief to sink this whole package by voting no on t.a.a.

vote no on trade adjustment assistance because if that happens, republican leadership has said we go home. what's the good of having a little bit of trade adjustment assistance if we lose millions of jobs because we put them on a fast track to asia? vote -- take nancy reagan seriously. when it comes to all three bills today, just vote no. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio. mr. tiberi: i'll reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves his time. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: now it's my pleasure to yield a minute to the gentleman from texas, mr. cuellar. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for one minute. mr. cuellar: thank you very much, ranking member. mr. speaker, president john f. kennedy once said, the u.s. did not rise to greatness waiting for others to lead. economic isolation and political leadership are wholly

incompatible. this is a moment for the united states to lead. i'm voting yes on the trade bills that we have today. trade is good for the united states. 95% of all the consumers are outside the united states. trade is good for texas. last year we had over $289 billion of goods that were exported from texas. 1.1 million jobs were created in texas. millions of other jobs created in the united states. now, who are those small companies -- who are those companies exporting? 93% of those companies in texas are small and medium sized so therefore this is how we create good jobs here in the united states. gentlemen, ladies, let's support trade, fair trade, and, again, i ask you to support the trade bills today. thank you and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio. mr. tiberi: i'll continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: continues to reserve. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: how much time do we have, please? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan has 3 3/4 minutes remaining.

mr. levin: i yield two minutes to the gentlelady from connecticut, ms. delauro. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from connecticut is recognized for two minutes. ms. delauro: mr. speaker, the debate today is about one issue. it comes down to one question. do we support hardworking americans or do we abandon them? and a vote for these bills is a vote against jobs and it's a vote against wages. the trade adjustment assistance bill is underfunded. it excludes teachers, police officers firefighters and farmers who are hurt when production jobs are shipped abroad go overseas. if we want to protect working families we must stop fast tracking bad trade deals. fast track denies public scrutiny, it denies debate in this house and it relinquishes

our congressional authority and does not allow us to amend a piece of legislation that will have such an effect on people's lives in this country. why is this trade agreement in so much difficulty? why, because this is the first time that a majority of the congress is starting to say we need to prioritize what is happening to the hardworking men and women in our country. what is happening to their lives? what is their struggle? and this trade agreement is only going to hurt their ability to have a job and to increase their wages. if we want to change that, then our job today is to vote down this bill, say no to trade adjustment assistance and say no to fast track and i yield

back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio. mr. tiberi: thank you, mr. speaker. before i yield to the gentleman from kentucky, i just want to point out the record here. no public service worker has ever been certified for t.a.a. under the 2009 stimulus t.a.a. that was passed. and i will also reiterate a statement from the white house with respect to t.a.a., mr. speaker. quote, if you are a member of congress and you vote against t.a.a. this week, you are signing the death certificate for this assistance. with that, mr. speaker, i yield one minute to the gentleman from kentucky, mr. barr. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky is recognized for one minute. mr. barr: thank you, mr. speaker, for the opportunity to speak in favor of this important legislation for jobs, our economy, transparency and accountability. free trade is critical for my constituents in central and eastern kentucky. more than half a million kentucky jobs are related to international trade. and expanding trade agreements will provide even more opportunities for job growth. our state has a diverse economy that is synonymous with certain

products including coal, bourbon and thoroughbred racehorses. we produce vehicles such as the toyota camry and even aerospace technology. to continue the growth in these signature industries, we need to establish fair and strong rules that hold other nations accountable for their unfair trade practices. we need to tear down barriers that block kentucky goods from foreign markets. what does free trade mean for kentucky? in 2013, two years after our last free trade agreement was completed, the car of the year in south korea was the toyota camry, manufactured in my district in kentucky. let's be clear. the president already has the authority under the constitution to negotiate trade agreements, but by passing t.p.a., we will ensure that congress has the input into the final product and that america will shape the rules of global trade, not china. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized and let the chair remind him 1 3/4 minutes remaining.

the majority side has two minutes remaining. the gentleman is recognized. mr. levin: i yield the balance of our time to our colleague from wisconsin. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized for the balance of the time, 1 3/4. mr. pocan: thank you mr. speaker. and thank you, mr. levin. i grew up in an auto town where almost everyone had a family member who worked in the industry. but today there are no cars made there anymore. to me trade deals should be about whether or not we'll fight for american jobs and american worker wages. bad trade deals cost us both. unless we have a say unless the american people have a say, this trade deal will do exactly the same and cost us more jobs. i've read the text and i know where we're at with it as of now. i'd like to see a deal that has better, real protective teeth for labor and environmental law, strong protections for american sovereignty and better protections for food safety and more.

bottom line, i want a trade deal that protects american jobs and lifts our wages right here at home. if we vote for t.p.a., we will have no ability to make it better. for this trade deal or any other trade deal in the next six years under any president if we want the american people to have a voice, a real voice, we must retain our authority to impact trade deals and vote against t.p.a. and all votes that affect it today. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back his time. the gentleman from ohio, two minutes remaining. mr. tiberi: thank you, mr. speaker. let me set the record straight. all three bills that we're voting on today can be read. this is t.p.a.. this is the bill that will hold the president accountable. this president, the next president. this is the bill that tells the

administration what we expect. this is the bill that congress inserts itself into to the president's negotiating. listen ladies and gentlemen, the world is trading. the world is globalized. the world's globalized long before america decided to pass nafta long before. and in fact nafta in 1993, the year before nafta took effect, the u.s. had a steel trade deficit of three million net tons with canada. 2003, the u.s. had a steel trade surplus of $11.2 million net tons with canada and mexico. nafta's benefited the north american steel industry. total u.s.-canada steel trade has increased 99% from 1993 to 2014. total u.s.-mexico steel trade has increased 352% between 1993

and 2014. that's why the steel industry in america supports this bill along with the enforcement that we're going to debate in a little bit. in ohio, honda of america is a net exporter is a net exporter. this is about jobs. this is about allowing those people those workers some of my constituents in libertyville to build more cars in ohio to send them overseas. the only way we do that is to break down barriers. more jobs. listen, i get job loss. my dad lost his job of 25 years. ladies and gentlemen, we need to pass t.p.a. to increase the number of jobs. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back his time. all time for debate has expired.

pursuant to clause 1-c of rule 19, further consideration of the motion to concur is postponed. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition. mr. tiberi: pursuant to house resolution 305 i call up h.r. 644, the trade facilitation and trade enforcement act of 2015 with the senate thereto. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will designate the senate amendments and designate the motion. the clerk: h.r. 6 4, an act to amend the internal revenue code of 1986 to permanently extend and expand the contributions of food inventory, senate amendments. mr. tiberi of ohio move that the

house concur in the senate amendment to the title h.r. 644 and concur in the nat amendment to the text, with the amendment printed in part a of the house report 114-146 modified by the amendment printed in part b of that report. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 305, the motion is debatable for one hour. the gentleman from ohio, mr. tiberi, and the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin each will control 30 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from ohio. mr. tiberi: i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to include extraneous material on the trade fa tilltation and trade enforcement act currently under consideration. the letters exchanged between the committees of jurisdiction be included in the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. tiberi: i recognize the

gentleman from arizona, mr. schweikert for one minute. mr. schweikert: thank my friend from ohio. have you ever had one of those moments when you are compeled to come down here and run up to the mic because you are enraged with some of the things you are hearing. beyond the simple facts of the rhetoric you know, looking at the trade surpluses and deficits, countries that we actually have trade agreements with we have a surplus in manufactured goods. but let's move beyond the basic math of growing our economy. the demographics issue we have in our country and the need to have markets around the world. some of the crazy things i'm seeing put out in the media by big labor, the willingness to make up stories, to make up facts goebels would have been

proud of them. and now we look back, it wasn't true. nafta has been a net positive and all the scary things that were supposed to happen never happened. be careful we aren't getting conned by madeup stories. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. levin: i want everybody to understand how these three bills are sequenced and how and why they were set up this way by the majority. so people will understand our votes. the sequence of the first vote will be t.a.a. next t.p.a. and next, customs. the reason for this t.a.a. first

is to try to maximize the votes among democrats for t.p.a. that's really why they were set up this way. and why customs last? it's because there are many democrats who will vote at least, some, there aren't that many, perhaps, who will vote for t.p.a. who don't like the customs bill. so everybody who's listening should understand the rationale for this sequencing. and everybody should understand our reaction to the sequencing. and what's happened here, the way this has evolved is this. for years, i have worked to try to build bipartisan and strong

bipartisan support for trade agreements. and we often have succeeded. peru it was over 100. we worked on korea and got less, but the leadership and i voted for it because we worked together eventually for a truly bipartisan bill. this t.p.a. bill doesn't have that. and essentially waste happened in part because of that is that the leverage has been lost by the administration to some extent and on our side to resist items like in the customs bill. that's really what's happening here. and so the customs bill has to go over to the senate. but everybody should understand the predictment that this places

the administration in and all of us. for example, the language regarding malaysia and human trafficking or human trafficking generally, what this customs bill does is weaken the language that's in the senate bill. this is on human trafficking. sex, human trafficking, it also relates to workers. hundreds of thousands of people for example, in malaysia and other countries, essential come to those countries, often their passports are taken. they have no rights and we say this should not happen and malaysia is in tier three. and the original amendment said any country in tier three should

not have the benefits of t.p.p. and this weakens it. and places this in -- if it's succeeded, in the t.p.a. bill. secondly on climate change. we worked hard to incorporate the may 10 agreement. we worked hard on worker rights on environment, on medicines. actually because the administration then and the administration would not negotiate it. mr. rangel and i negotiated the peru free trade agreement with the government. let no one say i'm not for expanded trade. it had an annex relating to

forestation and deforestation and illegal logging. why? because the amazon affects all of us and it affects trade. and so now what we have is language which if accepted here and then in the senate, would essentially preclude that kind of an agreement. that's what happens when you don't proceed on a truly bipartisan basis and there's no leverage for some of us. so also let me talk about currency. there is a provision in immigration, which could have an impact in terms of the negotiations. i don't know that there will be. but what i do know is that this amendment takes out the schumer amendment on currency.

so let me just say a word. you put some language into this bill on currency. it's like every other negotiating objective. it's not even swiss cheese with lots of holes, it's the weakest kind of cheese that has no real substance to it except maybe a good taste but this has a bad taste. so those negotiating objectives really are not meaningful. and it's the person who negotiates it, who judges whether those vague negotiating objectives have been met. so you take out the schumer amendment. now what's been the impact of currency manipulation on jobs in the united states of america? this is one of the bases of the feeling of a lot of people in

various communities including the labor community, but way beyond and our citizenry. we lost because of japan's manipulation of currency and then china's. we lost several million jobs. that's the reality. and so when people come here and say this bill of theirs, this t.p.a. bill will help in terms of job creation and they say as was said many times in various places, these are jobs we've already lost. nonsense. there are more jobs in manufacturing and other places yet to be lost that relates to the worker provisions in terms of mexico, which competes with us that also relates to currency manipulation. and the president has now said

that china is interested and there will be no meaningful currency manipulation in t.p.p. essentially, we are opening the door for more and more currency manipulation. so this is the reason for the depth of our feeling about this t.p.a.. everybody should understand the depth of the feeling for so many of us whether labor, environmental or medicines or whatever to what's going on here . so i think this customs bill makes t.p.a. even worse and essentially has tied the hands because there is not a strong bipartisan basis.

i think of the administration to really throw its weight around in terms of these amendments. i'm afraid some of them are going to become law. and that should not vice president happened. so i strongly urge strong opposition to this customs bill h.r. 644. it's one of the several reasons we should be voting no on the three votes that are coming before us. i reserve the balance of our time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. without objection, jask wisconsin will now control the time for the majority. mr. ryan: at this time it's my pleasure to yield one minute to the distinguished speaker of the house, mr. boehner. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio, speaker of the house, recognized for one minute. the speaker: let me thank the gentleman from wisconsin for his leadership on the committee and leadership on this bill.

i thank chairman sessions and the members of the rules committee for all of their work. i'm going to thank mr. tiberi, chairman of the trade subcommittee of the tremendous job he has done. and i'm grateful to all members who have offered constructive contributions to this debate. my colleagues, we're not here today to debate any particular trade bill. the day for that may come, and when it does, we want to make sure that agreement reflects the people's priorities. it means more jobs, higher pay and more opportunities for workers, farmers and small businesses. that's why we want to make sure that this agreement is nt reached or rushed and make sure there is no agreement that's in secret. and we want to make darn sure there is less authority for the president and more authority for the american people. that's what this bill does.

it's a means to an end and the end is more free trade that's good for our economy and good for our country. which brings me to another priority in this bill. and that's american leadership. when america leads, the world is safer, for freedom and for free enterprise. when we don't lead, we are allowing and in effect actually inviting china to go right onsetting the rules of the world economy. and what that does is keep our workers and our products on the sideline. but we're americans are we? we aren't people who stand still. we don't give in to doubt and defeatism. this is one of those meements where we need to remember that this country is an idea. it's an idea of people who choose their own destiny and people who dare to be exceptional. my colleagues, you'll recall

that the prime minister of japan was here earlier this spring. and during his address, which is about the need for america to lead on trade, he talked about how this is, and i'll quote, an awesome country and because here he said, and i'll quote choose the best idea, no matter who it comes from. well today the best idea is to vote yes. not for the president, not for ourselves, but for our kids and grandkids. i know some members of this body don't like trade promotion authority or trade adjustment assistance, but today, i'm here to vote for both because it is the right thing to do. i yield back. . . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield to the gentleman from new jersey, mr. norcross. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. norcross: thank you for yielding.

talking about these three bills and how they are linked together. but we look at a couple of them, in particular trade adjustment, it is the equivalent of an execution, but you're getting to choose your last meal. the end result is you're dead. or in this case you're losing your job. i'm an electrician. that's where i started my career. day in and day out i heard their struggles. i can take to you my district and show you those empty buildings from the failed promises of a trade agreement. i joined this body on november 12 coming out of the worst economic times. the first thing we are going to do is kick the american worker, kick him when he's down. we have empty plants as i mentioned before. trade adjustment helps, helps you get a job for a lower paying, less benefits, less wages. they call it trade bill for a

reason. you're trading good jobs here in america for trade -- i ask for 30 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for an additional 30 seconds. mr. norcross: they call it a trade bill because we are trading jobs. you lose your good job that has pension, benefits, and a good wage that can take care of your children. for a job after you go through the wringer that pays less than half. yeah we might have more jobs, but they are at the bottom end. they are not the kind that would help raise up. this body, if we work as hard as we are on this bill for transportation and infrastructure bill, those are jobs that are here today and are for our future and make our country stronger. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. ryan: at this time i'd like to yield myself such time as i may consume. to engage in a colloquy. first one with the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. moreno, at this time i would like to yield to mr. moreno.

mr. moreno: thank you, chairman. mr. speaker, from the time of ben franklin reliable and affordable universal mail delivery service has been an essential commitment here in the united states, particularly to rural and lower income urban areas like my own. i am concerned when i hear my constituents that think that our ongoing trade negotiations could undermine our postal service. t.p.a. and trade negotiations must not undermine the u.s. postal service. i am also very concerned that continued dump steel imports are hurting our steel manufacturers. this is very important industry in my district. even when we have anti-dumping duties to counter dump imports, these duties are often debated through various -- evaded through various streams. we must address these problems in this litigation for my support. i yield back. mr. ryan: reclaiming my time. i appreciate the gentleman's concern about the impact of

currently negotiated trade agreements on the u.s. postal service. the united states has consistently excluded government services such as mail delivery from its obligation to impasse agreements. it's my understanding the united states is continuing to do so in the ongoing transpacific e.u. and trade in services negotiations. in addition, t.p.a. specifically directs that trade agreements take into account legitimate u.s. domestic objectives which has consistently included providing universal mail services. our trade remedy laws are vital for countering unfairly priced and subsidized imports. that's also why i worked with the steel caucus here in the house you being a member of that to add to our enforcement bill a series of provisions we call love of the playing field -- level the playing field torques strengthen those laws. evasion of these laws is also a serious problem which is why this enforcement bill contains extensive provisions to create new tools and authorities to both prevent and go after

evasion. i think -- i thank the gentleman and appreciate his leadership on these issues. at this time, mr. speaker, i'd like to yield to mr. barletta for purposes of engaging in a colloquy. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. barletta: i thank the chairman for helping me improve this bill by including steve king's immigration prohibitions and strong tools to stop currency manipulation. we need to establish a process at customs that will stop duty invasion which hurts manufacturers in my district. you and i, mr. chairman, have talked about having customs investigate and decide duty cases subject to deadlines. subjecting the decisionmaking process at customs to review at the u.s. court of international trade will allow u.s. manufacturers hurt by duty evasion to finally get the relief that they deserve. mr. chairman do you commit to work with me on achieving these goals in conference? mr. ryan: i commit to working

with the gentleman to improve the bill in conference to level the playing field for american manufacturing and american workers. i also thank the gentleman for his leadership and ensuring we fully enforce u.s. trade laws. at this time mr. speaker i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves his time. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin cloin -- mr. levin: i yield to the gentleman from california, mr. becerra, a member of the ways and means committee, and the chair of our caucus. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for two minutes. mr. becerra: i thank the gentleman for yielding. trade's pretty simple. we do it every day. whether you are trading in the old car for a newer car or whether it's the largest economy in the world trading with the rest of the world. we do it every day. and at the end of the day, what we want is a fair deal. i give you something, the benefit of the bargain is i get something back. any country that wants access to our markets needs to play by the rules. we can't allow cheating to hurt our workers, their wages, our

businesses, or our economy. and the american people get it. that's why they are so apprehensive about any trade deal this congress puts before it. because they want to know will we lead on their behalf or are we going to let the special interests dictate the rules? will we retreat from our responsibility to make sure that if some foreign companies have access to our markets they are going to play by the rules? when i take a look at this trade promotion authority legislation, i ask myself, how can you ever get a good trade deal out of this when the rules are rigged against america? one simple example. everyone agrees we have had a bipartisan consensus in this house more than 230 members have signed on to a letter in the past saying we got to stop countries that manipulate their currency to try to make their

products produced by their companies look cheaper than american products. yet this legislation would prohibit us from going after the countries that are cheating to prevent the companies in those countries from cheating. so how are we going to stop the companies that we know are pirating, they are stealing, that are cheating against us, how are we ever going to stop them if the rules require us to go through those countries to try to get those companies to abide by the rules? when the country is cheating, i guarantee you the companies are going to cheat. and that is not the way you get foreigners to access our market. we can do much better. we have to do much better because the american people want us to lead not retreat. that's why we should vote this down and get a better deal that the american people know and feel is right for america. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. ryan: i'd like to yield two minutes to the distinguished majority whip, mr. scalise, from louisiana. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman from louisiana is recognized for two minutes. mr. scalise: i want to thank the gentleman from wisconsin for his leadership in bringing this bill to the floor. mr. speaker, american trade is critical to strengthening our economy and giving america -- american workers the competitive advantage that we need so we can go out and sell more of our goods around the world. there aren't many impediments for foreign countries to bring their products into our country and sell their goods here, but there are many many impediments when we want to sell our products that we make by american workers to foreign countries. especially in asian countries and european countries. those countries right now, our allies around the world, want to get good trade agreements, good level playing fields so that we can have good negotiated trade back and forth and sell more of our products into those countries. right now china's writing the rules. while america sits on the sidelines. we are not a country that sits on the sidelines, mr. speaker. this bill gets us in the game so america can go out and our

workers can compete on a level playing field and we can sell more of our products overseas. but something else that this bill does, mr. speaker, is it actually gives congress a direct say in the process every step of the way. we lay out criteria, things that cannot be in trade deals protections against immigration and global warming type issues being included in these trade deals. but also gives transparency, strong and enforcible rules so that any agreement that's reached would have to be available online not just for us to read, as members of congress but for the entire nation to read for at least 60 days before there's even a vote in congress. and then of course congress would have the ultimate veto authority over a bad deal if it was sent. this bill is critical to getting america back in the game so our workers can be competitive. when america competes on a level playing field, we win. let's go create those american jobs by passing this bill. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: how much time, please? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan has 17 1/2 minutes remaining. the gentleman from wisconsin has 22 1/2 minutes remaining. mr. levin: why don't -- let mrs. dingell go. she's up there. it's my special pleasure to yield one minute to the gentlelady from michigan, mrs. dingell. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from michigan is recognized for one minute. mrs. dingell: thank you, mr. speaker. thank you very much, mr. levin. mr. speaker, the vote today is why i came to congress. i promised the working men and women in my district that i would fight to make sure that they had a seat at the table when we were making decisions that impact their life and their livelihood. we all know that we must grow our economy. and we must compete in a global marketplace. we all know what great products the american worker builds and

that we can outcompete anybody in the world. but we cannot compete with the bank of japan and the bank of china. nafta cost us one million jobs and michigan is still paying the price. the korea free trade agreement was a great deal for south korea. they have expanded their imports into this country by almost half a million products. and we worked to just get 20,000 into that market. enough is enough. congress cannot abdicate its responsibility to the working men of this country. it's our responsibility to protect our workers, fast track doesn't allow this. we should not pass it. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. ryan: at this time i'd like to yield one minute to the distinguished member from illinois, mr. davis. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois is recognized for one minute. mr. davis: thank you, mr. speaker. thank you, chairman ryan. i understand the importance of trade and the impact trade negotiations can have on our

local economies. even back home in illinois. currently one in three manufacturing jobs depend on exports. one in three acres on all american farms is planted for hungry families overseas. as a congressman it is my job to make sure trade agreements protect american workers, farmers, manufacturers, innovators and service providers by opening markets around the world. because when given a fair playing field, i have the utmost confidence that american companies and industries can outcompete foreign competitors. but too many times past trade agreements have left our industries, especially steel, vulnerable to unfair trading practices like dumping. i will continue to fight for stronger trade enforcement and be committed to protecting american jobs and i want to thank chairman ryan, subcommittee chairman tiberi for their leadership on this issue and i thank my colleague from illinois, representative mike bost. mike and his tireless efforts to strengthen our trade laws to

protect american workers and more than 2,000 workers at our steel factory in granite city, illinois. i yield back the balance of my time. and urge a yes vote. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. pt gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. levin: i'll reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves his time. the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. ryan: at this time i'd like to yield three minutes to a senior member of the ways and means committee, dr. boustany from louisiana. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from louisiana is recognized for three minutes. mr. boustany: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank the distinguished chairman of the committee as well. i believe all of us here in congress can agree to the evasion of anti-dumping and countervailing duties is a serious problem that needs to be addressed and that's why i rise in support of this bill because i think it thoroughly and thoughtfully addresses the issue. my seafood industry in louisiana has been particularly hit by this. which prompted me to work with industry, the committee, and others in the administration to come up with a legislative fix tore a growing problem. thankfully the bill before us

today contains language from my protect act providing tools for customs to help out our legitimate importers and distributors and trade affected domestic industries to prevent and combat fraud at our border, not after the fact which makes it much more difficult to deal with. specifically, the the language is dedicated to preventing and investigating evasion. within that unit, there will be a point of contact for private sector violations, who have the authority to direct these investigations and the duty to inform interested parties. they have to inform the interested parties about the status of the investigations. we have increased the types of data that customs can use to target evading imports and this language will increase information sharing between the department of commerce and the international trade commission to effectively investigate evasion. a finally the bill sets

requirements to train its personnel. these are necessary improvements to stop fraud before it gets to our borders. i could tell you, i have gotten plenty of comments from folks in my district, the owner of blue water shrimp company says the language creates provisions we need. we need these tools. and if we do not get the bill, the whole bill does us no good whatsoever. these tools are essential to effectively combating evasion. evasion is too important a problem to remain unaddressed and we will get the best possible agreement on this when we go to conference. i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this piece of legislation. let's move the ball forward and strengthen our laws to combat evasion. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan.

the gentleman from michigan continues to reserve. the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. ryan: i yield one minute to the gentlelady from california. mrs. walters: i rise in promoting t.p.a. and i thank paul ryan for his leadership. t.p.a. is not to be confused with t.p.p. which would put congress in the driver's seat. it would ensure that the president is held accountable to congress and the american people in negotiating all trade deals. t.p.a. a public document which i have read and is available for the american people to read, in fact, it's right here, would require the president to make public a agreement before it comes to congress for a vote. trade is a vital part of our economy. one in five jobs is supported by trade and 4.7 million jobs depend on trade in california. right now, american companies cannot compete on a level

playing field. trade barriers make it difficult to sell goods to the 95% of consumers that live overseas. free trade agreements would put in place fair and strong rules for u.s. companies to compete and win. if congress fails to pass t.p.a., china will. we simply cannot see our role as a global leader in the 21st century. i urge my colleagues to rally behind t.p.a. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield two minutes to the gentlelady from california, mrs. sanchez. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. ms. sanchez: i rise to express both strong concern and guarded optimism about the customs bill before us today. i will be voting against the underlying bill before us today because of drastic and unnecessary changes the bill makes to t.p.a. providings relating to human trafficking currency manipulation and immigration policy.

however, i remain optimistic that the customs provisions in this bill can be strong during conference. senators worked on a bipartisan basis to reach an agreement after nearly a decade of negotiation on how we should be enforcing our trade laws. i'm now hoping that house republicans will be part of getting these provisions across the finish line. one of my biggest priorities has been to combat the duty evasion by foreign producers that undercut american industry here. foreign companies avoid paying duties they on goods they import into the united states. for the first time, it feels that we are getting it done. i want to thank representatives tiberi and chairman ryan for discussions on the best way to get this done in conference. i hope we will be working on a bipartisan basis to get a final

bipartisan house customs bill. giving up the opportunity real teeth to enforcement procedures would not only be harmful but sends a message that this congress doesn't care about them. by increasing our customs security measures, we can ensure that american companies that play by the rules are not undercut by foreign competitors who cheat by evading duties on their goods. i urge my colleagues to work to improve this bill by incorporating language with some key, u.s. manufacturers have waited long enough to have customs enforcement that works. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. ryan: i yield one minute to the distinguished member from iowa mr. king. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. king: i thank chairman ryan for yielding and thank him for the leadership on this issue. and i would point out three things that trade promotion

authority needs to pass t.a.a. needs to pass and customs bill has to pass. the chairman could not have been better i laid two issues out in front, one, my concern would negotiate global warming climate change and the strong things that go beyond rumors of the immigration provisions into the future trade agreements that would be negotiated under a trade promotion authority. we addressed those issues. the language in the customs bill is language that is tight. i have confidence in it. it says it shall not obligate the united states to grant access or expand access to visas issued under 8 u.s.c. 1101-a-15. this satisfies my concern. enforcement is a concern. we are committed to stand together and we are hopeful that and expect that the president who we also anticipates will

sign this bill, will abide by the provisions in it. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for an additional 30 seconds. mr. king: and we expect and confident that the president will abide by the provisions in it. we will follow through on this part of this bargain and this congress has the opportunity to veto. what a wonderful thing it is to go into a trade promotion authority circumstance and know that for the next six to nine years, the u.s. trade representative will not be negotiating global warming or immigration. we preserve that for the united states congress, as the constitution directs. so that level of confidence let's us then focus on the trade agreements that are good for the economic growth of the united states of america. that's what's in front of us here today. and i'm grateful we have gotten to this point. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i now yield two minutes to the gentleman from oregon, a member of our committee, mr. blumenauer.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. blumenauer: i'm frustrated on the floor today to not vote for h.r. 644. this should be about helping businesses, export more, cutting red tape at the border and enhancing the ability to hold foreign tax cheats accountable. this bill cuts corners on matters to exporters and those undercut by bad actors and give special attention to the paranoia of the republican caucus. the senate passed a bipartisan customs bill which had a couple of strong provisions that i have offered, in it. this legislation is not what we are considering. this bill contains ill advised language on climate change and shorts efforts to deal with human trafficking and currency and reverses long standing policy towards israel. it's not so much the fact that

there was these vote-buying tactics to load this up with inappropriate items, i'm frustrated that provisions that would strengthen the bill and get bipartisan support, have been left out. the green 301 provisions to help american businesses working abroad who are put at a competitive disadvantage by operating at or above local environmental laws while native companies get a free pass, when it comes to following what's on the books. it's not fair and there should be an avenue of redress. the green 301 would have done that. and i had a trade enforcement provision that i have offered up that we've attempted to get through here. it's in the senate bill. i will be fighting in conference to make sure that these provisions are protected in the senate. we have a customs bill that's

worthy of support and some of the goofy stuff gets stripped away. i will vote for t.p.a., but i'm really frustrated that we don't have a customs bill that we all can support. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. ryan: at this time i would like to yield myself time to engage in a colloquy with the gentleman from ohio, mr. turner. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. turner: mr. chairman despite a long standing policy against the use of offset agreements many foreign governments continue to use offset agreements and result in loss opportunities for americans workers. offset agreements and military sales contracts are add-on provisions that require u.s. companies to invest in foreign countries and chairman ryan, under t.p.a., how will the federal government curb foreign country's use of offsets?

mr. ryan: i agree that offset agreements distort fair trade. congress will negotiate to seek more market access for u.s. companies and reduction, elimination or prevention of trade barriers. these provisions will direct the president to seek to curb our negotiating partners insistence on the use of offset agreements. mr. turner: i thank the gentleman for his response and i look forward to working with him on this important issue. i yield back. mr. ryan: i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield one minute to the gentleman from rhode island. mr. cicilline: many this morning have said t.p.a. will protect american jobs. in rhode island, we know that's not true. t.p.a. will facilitate another bad trade deal that will result in more american jobs being shipped overseas. those who think it is good should come to rhode island and

meet the men and women. i have listened to former jewelry and textile owners in woonsocket pawtucket and providence who don't understand why congress is considering another trade bill. my state lost over 40,000 jobs after nafta, mostly in manufacturing. haven't we seen the devastating impact? haven't we learned our lesson and doesn't include enforceable provisions on environment and labor. it's a bad deal. we need to compete in the global economy. of course, we need to grow our economy but do it in a way that protects american jobs and workers. we need fair trade not just free trade. i urge my colleagues to vote no. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized and has 15 1/2 minutes and minority has 11 1/2. mr. ryan: i yield to a member of

the steel caucus, mr. boston, one minute from -- mr. bost. mr. bost: everyone needs to compete on the same playing field and same rules. products are important. we must have effective laws that protect the companies and workers from foreign companies who cheat. this includes -- this includes nations that illegally dump into our markets. under our current trade laws, american companies like u.s. steel in southern illinois, must suffer long-term harm before remedies take effect. you know, that's like waiting until the house burns down to the ground before you call the fire department. doesn't make sense. that's why i'm pleased that we are voting on the enforcement

bill today which includes language that my friend congresswoman rodney davis and i introduced to combat these illegal trade practices. this legislation speeds up the process and helps companies like u.s. steel respond to illegal dumping before it causes serious harm to the company and its workers. i encourage my colleagues to support today's bill and protect our businesses and workers from unfair trade and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. ryan: i yield 1 1/2 minutes to the gentleman from indiana. mr. messer: i rise in support of trade promotion authority because i'm a conservative who believes trade creates jobs and opportunity. in my district, farmers grow corn and soybeans and sell them all over the world. factory workers like my mom,

build faucets, cars and caskets and sell them all over the world. trade allows that to happen. when the american worker gets a chance to compete on a level playing field, we win. that's why we need trade agreements. the truth is under the policies of this administration, paychecks are shrinking. for many workers there is more month than money as they struggle to pay their bills. killing this legislation does nothing to help those workers t would only make their situation worse. trade related jobs pay better. when 95% of the world's population lives outside the united states, we can't afford to pull up the draw bridges and shut out the rest of the world. that's not smart policy and it won't help the american worker. let's grow our economy. let's secure good-paying jobs. and let's make sure the american worker leaves this century just

like we -- leads this century just like we did the last. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: continues to reserve. the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. ryan: at this time i'd like to yield one minute to the distinguished house majority leader, the gentleman from california, mr. mccarthy. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california, the majority leader, is recognized for one minute. mr. mccarthy: before i move forward i want to thank the gentleman. he has shown true leadership in working, working with everybody in this house. any time you take a large piece of legislation, there are concerns. i have never seen another member of this house sit with more meetings, more concerns, and try to find a solution. i thank the chairman for that work. mr. speaker, earlier this year when i was headed home to california from d.c. one weekend, i saw something very troubling.

something actually today we can solve for the future. you see, it was february and there was a labor dispute. it was a shut down on our ports on the west coast. so as the plane descended instead of seeing the beaches stretched throughout california or the santa monica mountains, my attention was drawn to the number of ships sittle idle into the ocean and the number of ships sitting in the port. you see, the docks were shut down and our economy was halted. when americans cannot have their products moved to willing buyers, the men and women who were part of the creation do not receive the rewards of their efforts. in california we could not afford to waste any of our resource especially what we have short supply of of water. so when the trade was shut down, the food that was produced throughout the century valley would rot on the docks. what was most interesting to me

mr. speaker, i remember a phone call i got just another weekend after, it was the president of the republican freshman class here. he had just done a town hall and he's from colorado. said, mr. leader, i got a big issue in colorado. the ports of the west coast are shut down. you see, my small businesses are hurt by that. they are hurt when we are not able to have trade. i remember a big bipartisan press conference we had, republicans and democrats alike the largest one i have ever been a part of in the pressroom. talking about the ports being shut down because every single run of their districts were effective. especially the small businesses. when we cannot trade, our economy suffers. our way of life suffers. in fact, during that same period of this crippling shut down, our economy actually shrunk.

today what we are talking about on the floor is trade promotion authority. it allows us to get to an agreement. you know we have not had it for a few years. so what's happened around the world while the rest of america sat idle? there have been 100 trade agreements. 100 trade agreements around the world that we would want more of our small businesses to be a part of. you know how many we were a part of during that time? zero? because we did not have t.p.a. trade is different between rotting produce on the harbor docks and sending california goods around the world. trade is the difference between the lines of prosperity and the times of stagnation. we have a unique opportunity today.

it's not a trade agreement, it's an opportunity. an opportunity that will empower each and every member of this floor. to have input, to have transparency but what's more important, to empower every single american to make sure they are now at the table. that when the next trade agreement between countries want to engage, america won't be left out, america can lead once more. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield one minute to the gentleman from new york, mr. nadler. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized for one minute. mr. nadler: thank you mr. speaker. i rise in opposition to this bill. all the trade agreements since nafta have been sold on the same propaganda. they will increase our exports and jobs. and the results have always been the same. they have multiplied our imports, ballooned our trade deficits hemorrhaged our jobs, and depressed our wages. now we are asked to vote for fast track agreement that will

say we cannot amend any trade agreements, only vote them up or down. even as they like their predecessors lack any means of protecting our workers from competition with workers who are paid 30 cents an hour and assassinated if they try to form a union. we know there will be a provision for private corporate tribunals that can invalidate our regular laces. it is our constitutional duty to regulate foreign commerce not -- and trade agreements, not take them on a take it or leave it basis from the executive branch. it is our constitutional duty to protect the american sovereignty against foreign companies in validating our laws through private corporate tribunals. we must vote no on fast track to allow congress to do its job to see the next trade agreement doesn't hemorrhage our jobs, doesn't ignore currency manipulation doesn't validate our consumer labor, and environmental laws. we must say no. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from wisconsin.

mr. ryan: at this time mr. speaker, i'd like to yield one minute to the gentleman from florida, mr. car bellow. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida is recognized for one minute. mr. car bellow: i thank the chairman for yielding and his leadership on this very important matter. mr. speaker, we are biths of an impassioned debate on trade promotion authority, trade adjustment assistance, and trade enforcementment we are hearing arguments from our colleagues on both sides of this issue, from both sides of the aisle, and mr. speaker, i am honored to serve as the voice of my constituents from south florida who directly see the impact of these free trade agreements every single day. mr. curbelo: the united states currently has 20 free trade agreements, 11 of which are with countries in south and central america. miami is often called the gateway to the americas. and i'm proud to represent a diverse and proud community that has seen the positive impact of free-throw. -- free trade.

workers in florida create goods and services used throughout the world something only possible with free trade agreements. congress must pass t.p.a. so the united states can open up new markets. since 2007, there have been over 100 agreements signed on a global scale while our country has sat idly by. mr. speaker -- additional 30 seconds. mr. ryan: additional 30 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for additional 30 seconds. mr. curbelo: i want the american people's representatives to have a strong hand in negotiating future free trade agreements and this t.p.a. bill ensures this will happen. it provides unprecedented amount of time for the agreements to be read and ensures proper safeguards are in place for congress not the president to drive the agenda on the negotiations. mr. speaker, i encourage a yes vote on t.a.a., t.p.a., and trade enforcement. if anyone has any doubts as to whether t.p.a. is good for our

country, i encourage you to visit south florida. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the chair notes that both sides have 10 1/2 minutes remaining. the chair recognizes the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. boil. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania. is recognized for 30 seconds. mr. boil: thank you. mr. speaker, i am not going -- mr. boyle: thank you. i am not going to speak long as i have lost my voice. if we pass fast track the american workers will lose their voice. this is wrong. the president has said the social mobility and imcoin equality is the issue of our time. if i really believe that anything we are voting on here would do anything to address that, i would sincerely be voting yes. but it doesn't. after 20 years of nafta and cafta and every sort of trade agreement, we have not seen our middle class benefit. let's finally use this time to

rebuild the american middle class and stand up for -- i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. ryan: i'd like to yield 1 1/2 minutes to the gentleman from the other side of the aisle, from virginia, mr. connolly. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia is recognized for 1 1/2 minutes. mr. connolly: i thank the distinguished chairman. today's vote is about america's future. who will shape it? it is not shaped by a recitation of grievance. it is not shaped by making trade a symbol of all that we find bad in economic progress. it is by seizing that future and shaping it and that is what t.p.a. does. it pries open foreign markets. it sets american rules setting. it allows us to frame the issues. in 40% of the world's trade and economic activity. we have never had an opportunity as important as this one to

shape the global economy to our advantage and to those of our trading partners. we must not lose this opportunity. the grievances are legitimate. the concerns and fears are legitimate. but we must look beyond them. we must address the future for future generations of american workers. i support the bill in front of us and urge my colleagues to do the same. again i thank mr. ryan for his courtesy. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: how much time do we have left? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan has 10 minutes remaining. the gentleman from wisconsin has 9 1/2 minutes remaining. mr. levin: i yield for a unanimous consent to mr. sherman. mr. sherman: i ask unanimous consent to add to the record the chart showing we have a $100 billion trade deficit with our f.t.a. countries. those are the official statistics of the u.s. international trade commission. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: it's now my distinct pleasure to yield one minute to

the gentleman from minnesota, mr. ellison. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from minnesota is recognized for one minute. mr. ellison: members, trade adjustment assistance should not be a sweetener a trade in coin, trade adjustment assistance should be what we do no matter what. it shouldn't pave the way for trade breaux motion authority. it is important -- for trade promotion authority. it is important and good to stand with dislocated workers who are basically pushed off their jobs because of bad trade deals which we have been pursuing for 40 years. but yet here we are today told we got to vote for this trade adjustment authority which does not include public sector workers, which is smaller than it should be, we have to support it because the only reason we are here to support it, the only reason we have been lobbied by no less than the president and three top cabinet officials is because they know it paves the way to trade promotion authority

which is what they really want so that we can literally members, give up our constitutional duty. where are my constitutional conservatives when you need them? i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from wisconsin blfment ryan: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin reserves his time. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield now to my colleague from michigan, one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized for one minute. mr. kildee: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank my friend and colleague mr. levin, for yielding. i come from flint, michigan. flint, michigan, which was the birth place of general motors a place that put the world on wheels, and in the last couple of decades has seen 90% of our manufacturing jobs go away. now, true, not all of them lost because of bad trade deals, but many of them were. and bad trade deals have

exacerbated that job loss and has ruined many parts of that community. i support as virtually all of us do expanded trade. as a way of growing the u.s. economy. i'm a member of the president's export council. this is something we have to do. but this t.p.a. is not a yes or no question on whether we should expand trade. this t.p.a. is flawed. it fails to address the most significant trade barriers hurting american manufacturers. it fails to address currency manipulation by our trading partners. if we don't address the most significant barrier, how can we expect any trade deal to have the effect? all we have to do is look to the performance of past deals that have similar flaws and we can see why we have failed. if we are going to engage in expanded trade, we have to do it right and a way that deals with currency -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. kildee: deals with environmental obligations.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. ryan: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield one minute to the gentleman from mr. meeks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. meeks: today's vote to grant the president trade promotion authority is about america's future in a globalized world. let's be clear what's at stake. america's standing as a global leader has not come without strong leadership from this body and will not be sustained if we act out of fear rather than on fact. the most basic fact is that nations around the world are fighting through trade agreements for every advantage they can get for their economies and their workers. it then raises the question if we don't pass this agreement, who will set the standards of trade? will it be us or will it be china. if this bill fails, it will be china.

the bill before us today is a bipartisan effort to ensure that trade deals negotiated by the executive will be guided by congressional directives to reach the highest, most transparent and progressive standards ever required by law. this bill should have the support of any member who cares about the enforceable labor and environmental standards promoting the rule of law, greater congressional oversight and greater transparency for the american people. we are also considering trade adjustment assistance, a program that democrats have promoted to provide income and job training. t.a.a. should pass. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. ryan: i reserve. mr. levin: both of us want to be sure of the time. so tell us, if you would. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin has 9 1/2 minutes and the gentleman from michigan has seven minutes. mr. levin: i reserve.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the speaker pro tempore: who claims time? mr. ryan: i yield three minutes to the chairman of the trade subcommittee, mr. tiberi from ohio. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. tiberi: thank you for your leadership on this debate, about american leadership. we are here to dwight three bills today trade assistance for displaced workers, trade promotion and accountability authority that inserts congress and the president's ability under the constitution to negotiate a trade agreement with anybody he or she wants and timely customs and enforcement. enforcement is critical, ladies and gentlemen. this bill i'm so thrilled and honored to introduce here in the house. this is a key bill as part of trade. and far too long we haven't had as good enforcement as we need to have. and i'm committed to that.

let me just mention one thing. trade deficits, trade surpluses we have 20 countries that we have agreements with, trade agreements with, 20 of them. two of them happen to be on our borders, mexico and canada. you take out energy we import from them and rather import it from them than anywhere else in the world. we have a trade surplus with those 20 countries a surplus, in manufacturing. my dad was in manufacturing. mr. levin heard this 1,000 times, my dad lost his job of 25 years. i lost my health care as a kid along with my sisters long before nafta. globalization began occurring after world war ii. we can either engage or dis engage. when we disengage, we lose.

when america engages we win. we can outwork anybody. what trade agreements do actually is break down barriers so we can compete. and then we have to have the enforcement piece. but ladies and gentlemen, that's what this is about. it's about breaking down barriers. my state of ohio has been devastated by globalization. my dad's job before nafta was devastated by globalization. 48 countries in asia have had trade agreements with each other. for the last 10 years we are party two. we are being left behind. we can compete if we break down barriers. that's what we need to do today. trade assistance, insert congress and the president's ability to negotiate, because he already has that ability. this doesn't change that. this inserts us. this inserts slow track,

whatever that agreement is, in asia, in europe. 60 days in public before the president can sign it. 60 days. i wish i had six hours, six hours to review the affordable care act before i had to vote on it. this is 60 days members will have an ability to look at what was negotiated. if we don't like it, we'll vote it down. we have the constitutional authority to do that. this is about jobs. vote all three bills, yes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i now yield one minute to the gentleman from illinois, mr. lipinski. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois is recognized for one minute. mr. lipinski: i rise today in strong support of american workers, american manufacturing and the environment and strong opposition to t.p.a. t.p.a.'s woefully inadequate when it comes to stopping currency manipulation, enforcing

labor standards and environmental protection. this is exactly the wrong time for congress to be giving up its authority, which is our quints' ability to have a voice on trade deals. this is not labor versus business. countless manufacturers across my district oppose this. ford motor opposes this because they saw past trade agreements have been a bust and they are grateful concerned about the massive t.p.p. enabled by the t.p.a. will kill more american jobs. we need fair trade and american workers will win but that is not what they are being given. it is time for congress to stand up for the middle class and american manufacturing and stop passing bad trade deals. vote no on t.p.a. i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: 6 1/2 minutes on the majority side, six minutes on the minority side. chair recognizes the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. ryan: let's reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield one minute to the gentleman from ohio, mr. ryan. mr. ryan: this reminds me of the song "are you going to believe me or your lying eyes"? and when you come from the part of the country that i represent you see what happens to these trade deals. adelphi, we'll be lucky if there are 2,000 workers. an auto plant, germ motors, down to three or four. we have countries shipping products to the united states

their final product lands on our shores and it's the same cost as the raw materials for the american company. that is not free trade. that is not fair trade. that is a raw deal for the companies in the united states and the american workers. and let's even say these trade agreements are good for the economy, as many people may believe. you still need immigration reform. you still need a transportation bill. you still need investments in research and biosciences and renewable energy. and i can't believe that some of us are voting for this and not getting any of those other things implemented. vote no. no. no. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from wisconsin continue to reserve? mr. ryan: i yield two minutes to the member of the house ways and means committee, mr. reed. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. reed: i rise today, mr. speaker, in strong support of

trade. it is time for us to lead. when you open up markets to our manufacturers, to our workers, you are creating jobs here on american soil. i'm a firearm believer in u.s. manufacturing, mr. speaker. i co-chair with my colleague from ohio, the manufacturing caucus. we are seeing a renaissance in u.s. manufacturing. we are driving utility costs down. we are creating an opportunity where u.s. manufacturers are coming back onshore. and what do we need to do? we need to create markets. 95% of the world's population lives outside of america's borders. 40% of the world market is represented in the negotiations that's going on with the trns pacific partnership. why in the world would we not

lead and negotiate an openness and fair level playing field for our american workers and our american manufacturers? it doesn't make any sense. i ask my colleagues to join us, join with us to open up these markets so that we can create the jobs of today and tomorrow where we make it here to sell it there. that's what this is doing. that is what trade is all about. and when we have rules-based trade, our workers our manufacturers win. so i encourage us not to get into these petty political fights and have some type of litmus test as to who's on whose side. stand with the american workers and american manufacturers, open up the world markets to our rules-based system and i would

gee at the end of the day we all win and america will win. with that, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i now yield -- as i understand it, mr. clausen hasn't gotten time. so i yield to you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. clawson: fairness for everybody, including american workers. since leaving my career in the auto industry, i often run into folks and now they work at c.v.s. or the t.s.a. and they say, mr. clawson, any chance the plant's going to open back up? i'm having a hard time making ends meet and paying for my kid's college education and unfortunately, i can't give them much hope. if those plants close because of

lack of american competitiveness, i can swallow hard and i can accept. but when those plants close because of currency manipulation which is an after thought today, then i don't accept it. and my sadness for this unemployment turns to hardness, which is where i am today. this is not about american competitiveness. this is about getting a chance for world class manufacturing facilities who eliminate jobs. i say currency manipulation no way. i say t.p.a., no way. i say vote no. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. ryan: may i inquire as to how many speakers are left on the other side? mr. levin: we have one and i'll close. mr. ryan: same as us. i yield one minute to the distinguished chairman of the house rules committee the

co-author of the t.p.a. bill mr. sessions. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. sessions: i thank the young chairman from wisconsin for his hard work. mr. speaker, before we pass t.p.a. today, the law is that the president of the united states can negotiate whatever he wants without negotiation, with the congress and just go do it and come and plop it on our doorstep. i disagree with that. and that's why we are doing t.p.a., trade promotion authority where the house of representatives maintains its constitutional prerogatives and is empowering through t.p.a. any president, whoever the president is for the next seven years, to go negotiate in some 150 parameters as they negotiate. and we maintain our sovereignty

in this bill, including additions that we said that the president can't go negotiate a new global warming trade bill, chimet change. we -- climate change. he cannot negotiate anything new on immigration. steel and other things. we are giving the president our authority and expecting him to negotiate therein. this is a good deal for the american worker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: it's my real pleasure to yield one minute to our leader, nancy pelosi of california. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california is recognized for one minute. ms. pelosi: thank you very much mr. speaker. good afternoon my colleagues. today, we have a very important decision to make in this congress. i join with the speaker in acknowledging the hard work that

so many have put in on this important subject. i want to thank the president of the united states and his administration for being available with their cabinet officers and the rest to explain to us how they see what is in the trade -- the t.p.a., the fast track what the prospects are for the transpacific partnership. i want to thank our friends in labor, environmental groups, faith-based groups, who have expressed their opposition to so much of what has been presented all of which will be constructive as we try to move forward with a better trade promotion act fast track. . . we all understand we live in a global economy. some of us as i do represent cities built on trade, the city

of san francisco. i grew up in a city where the famous clipper ships brought product to and from our shores in baltimore, maryland. it's a great exciting prospect for expanding markets for our products and having u.s. global leadership. i was hopeful from the start of all of this discussion that we could find a path to yes for the fast track legislation that was being put forth. some bumps in the road along the way. some potholes along the way. unfortunately i think cold as well. that doesn't mean that that road cannot be repaired. i just believe that it must be lengthened. each week each of us goes home to our districts. and in the case of many of us, we put our hand on a very hot stove. we hear the concerns of so many

families who have financial instability and uncertainty. some of it still springing from 2008. 2008 where they were threatened with the loss of their homes, jobs pensions, savings, inability to send their kids to college. all of it undermining the american dream. as the economy has improved and the leadership of president obama still middle class economics have not fully turned around the country because of consumer confidence that people must have in order to invest, to spend, to inject demand into the economy is simply not there. so my concern about all of this it's about time. it's about time. why are we fast tracking trade and slow walking the highway

bill? it's about time. people have not recovered from, again, 2008 sufficiently to again have consumer confidence to turn around our consumer economy. and so i think that today we have an opportunity to slow down, we all know we have to want to engage in trade promotion and the rest of that. but we have to slow down this road. it is not -- whatever the deal is with other countries, we want a better deal for america's workers. another element that i'm concerned about is the time that is running out for us to do -- rein in the consequences of climate change. i want to just talk about myself for a moment and i'm bragging. i told myself second to none in this body on the subject of

protecting the environment and recognizing the challenges of climate crisis. when i first came to the congress, when president george herbert walker bush was president, he signed my legislation which is now called the pelosi amendment to the international development and finance act of 1989. and that said, that said that any of our directors on any of our multilateral development banks had to have an environmental assessment made and made known to the indigenous people who are affected by whatever development was there and made known to the world. the connection between the environment and commerce is inseparable. and for over 25 years the pelosi amendment has been in effect. when i became speaker my flagship issue was energy independence and climate. i speak from some authority on

this subject. the son of george herbert walker busch, president george w. bush, signed the energy build of 2007. we worked together to find alternatives to fossil fuels. he wanted nuclear. i wanted renewables. we have one of the -- very successful energy bill of 2007. done under the auspicious of the select committee on climate and energy independence that i established as speaker which has been abolished since then. pope francis in another week will be announcing his initiative on climate. while this is all going on while school children know that this is a challenge that we must face to protect our planet. people will join us and say this is god's creation and we have a moral responsibility to be good stewards of it. in this bill today, the customs bill that's on the floor right now, it prohibits the ustr from

negotiating on climate change. how could it be? 25 years ago the pelosi amendment was passed because we saw melting snow in regions where the snow is melting. areas as big as united kingdom burning in the amazon. 25 years later and we are putting in a bill that the ustr cannot negotiate on climate change. can you not separate commerce and environment. while i salute the president, he has been magnificent and courageous, going out there and making the fight for america's leadership on climate change, he has been great. he has an agreement with china which is almost -- could not have been foreseen except for his leadership and the cooperation between our two countries. so it's not that he isn't doing his part. it's that congress, again it's

about time. slowing down our response when is we should be proactive. and yet fast tracking, fast tracking legislation to do that. what's interesting is we in the house, are we labeling ourselves the lower body and giving new meaning to that term? or the senate to have opportunity for amendment after amendment if their colleagues gave them the vote? but in this house, fast track the fast track. no chance to amend any of it. just vote it up or down. i find that unnecessary. unacceptable. and one place we could go to have a discussion on how to improve the fast track legislation. but at the same time the republican majority is allowing in the customs bill amendments to the fast track bill.

this amendment on climate, other amendments on immigration. and they were spelled out by mr. sessions earlier with great pride. amendments to fast track in the customs bill. but no amendments for democrats. again i don't see how this congress can ignore that. i don't see how this trade agreement can ignore it. much has been said about security issues. they are involved in this agreement. that we have to make a geopolitical case for this trade agreement. of course we always have safety of the american people as our first responsibility. their security is what we come here to protect. but how could it be that we are allowing, again -- let me say it another way. i have been very prayerful about this. pope paul vi, another pope,

mentioned francis earlier pope paul vi said if you want peace work for justice. economic justice, and i don't see that happening in this fast track bill. lifting people up in the rest of the world. or having trade agreements that do not increase the paycheck of american workers. that should be our first order of business. environmental justice looking at these prohibitions on dealing with climate and 11 other countries in the world, and then our own. now, again, i commend the president because in the fast track bill there are some good provisions on the environment. issues. i'm talking ethic, a responsibility, a competitive view of the future.

-- comprehensive view of the future. the pelosi amendment addressed the indigenous people all these people who will be not of the first, shall we say, priority for many of these countries as they make their economic decisions. and on the subject of security, last year 16 former three and four star generals and admirals who serve on the c.n.a. corporation's military advisory board released a report, 16 former three and four star generals said that climate change is a catalyst for conflict. climate change, they said, will have an impact on military readiness, resilience both at home and abroad, and they limit our ability to respond to future demands.

we have rejected fast track before. after nafta president clinton sent a fast track bill to the congress, and it didn't even have enough votes to be taken up. the second time, it was rejected. when we had majority in the house, we did not have fast track for president bush. when people say this is the first time a president -- isn't so. we instead under leadership of mr. levin and mr. rangel, instead we had the may 10 agreement. with the basic principles of how we should engage other countries. that is part of, and thank you mr. president, that is part of what the t.p.a. has as its goals, but we are dealing bilaterally one country at a time. this is a multilateral agreement with 11 other countries. 12 countries and growing. and we need, we need to slow

this fast track down. i think it is possible. now, one of the questions that arises is the question of the trade adjustment act. most of us have not only voted for this, been champions of it over time. i was one of the first issues i dealt with when i came to the congress. speaking about myself again. it's really important but as some of my colleagues have said, our people would rather have a job than trade assistance. trade adjustment assistance. i talked about that red hot stove that people put their hand on when they go home. mr. cicilline talked about his district. mr. norcross about his. mr. boyle about his. and the list goes on and on. how do we say to these people we are here for you you are our top priority when the impression that they have is that this is not a good deal for them.

but it can be. i'm hopeful it can be. so while i'm a big supporter of t.a.a., if t.a.a. slows down the fast track i am to vote -- i am prepared to vote against t.a.a. because its defeat sad to say, is the only way that we will be able to slow down the fast track. now i understand there will be some manipulations here one way or another what bill comes first, what can come up, what can't, but the fact is this. the facts are these actually, that the -- if t.a.a. fails, the fast track bill is stopped. they will take up the vote, as they said they would not, they may take up the vote, but it doesn't go any place. it's stuck in the station. and for that reason sadly

because the senate has sent us the bill that way connected, sadly because the fast track passes will need t.a.a. trade adjustment assistance, sadly i would vote against the t.a.a. and i just wanted you to know where i was coming from on that. for these and other reasons i will be voting today to slow down the fast track to get a better deal for the american people. bigger paychecks. better infrastructure. help the american people fulfill the american dream. i thank mr. levin, again, for his leadership, and i thank all of our colleagues who have worked so hard on this really on both sides of the issue. i yield back the balance of my time. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back her time. the chair would note that there

are 3 1/2 minutes remaining on the majority side. three minutes of debate remaining on the minority side. the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. ryan: i reserve, but i didn't catch the last part. how much time remains? the speaker pro tempore: 3 1/2 minutes for the gentleman from wisconsin, three minutes for mr. levin. mr. ryan: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i'm ready to close. today the votes on t.a.a. and t.p.a. are combined and we did not do that. the republicans did so to win votes for t.p.a.. so they used t.a.a. as a bargaining chip. i don't support their doing so. as someone who has been a lead sponsor of t.a.a.. voting no on t.a.a. gives us a better chance to get all of these issues right.

you know throughout my career, i voted on lots of trade agreements and i voted for most of them. i negotiated a few of them when ustr would not do so. it's mentioned we democrats are responsible for the labor environmental standards and, very importantly, access to medicines that we worked out with difficulty also on may 10. so we democrats built the foundation and i don't -- and we don't want to see it eroded. language in bills isn't enough. it's what will happen in term it's of the implementation -- terms of the implementation of

that language. i want to say just a few words about jobs. because it's often said, we've lost those jobs they've gone away, so therefore don't worry ? there are millions of jobs in this country that are in danger of being lost if we don't do trade right. that's why we need to do it right. and i think t.p.a. essentially puts t.p.p. on a fast track when it's on the wrong track. it's on the wrong track. there are negotiating objectives, they're so vegas they don't really -- vague they don't really mean anything. we put forth a very, very

important alternative, a substitute bill that laid out instructions on each of these 10 or 11 issues, whether it was worker rights, i can go down the list currency, environment, investment, access to medicines automotive market access rules of origin, tock to tobacco controls, state-owned enterprises, agricultural market access, food safety. there's been a response to none of these. so as someone who believes in expanded trade we have to do better and to fast track t.p.a. is on the wrong track. i urge a no vote on all of these bills. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from wisconsin, with 3 1/2 minutes to close. mr. ryan: mr. speaker let me make two points. this is about bringing transparency and accountability

to government. we're not considering a trade agreement today, we're considering a process by which we consider trade agreements. that's what trade promotion authority is. and this process we're saying, you've got to let members of congress see the negotiating text, you've got to let the country see a trade agreement once an agreement is reached. and you've got to follow congress' rules congress' direction. that's what this does to make sure that the executive branch follows the track laid out by the legislative branch. mr. speaker, the house is not in order. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. members are advised to remove their conversations from the floor. mr. ryan: the bigger point is this. this is about jobs it's about income take-home pay, american leadership. mr. speaker, the world is watching us right now. they're watching this vote.

since t.p.a. lapsed in 2007, the rest of the world kept going. while america stood still on trade, the rest of the world created 100 trade agreements. negotiated and passed 100 trade agreements to which the united states was a party to zero of them. what this means is other countries are going around the world getting better agreements between other countries lower tariffs, lower nontariff barriers, so their trade grows. and as a result the barriers against american products goes higher. 95% of the world's consumers, they don't live here. they live in other countries. if we want good jobsed a got wages, we -- at good -- jobs at good wages, we need to make more things in america and sell them overseas. what's happening is every single day we do nothing to open these markets up, we lose and the rest of the world gets

those jobs. the last point is a point that i think people don't appreciate as well. we're in the dawn of the 21st century. enormous issues cyberthreat, intellectual property, you name it. the rulebook on how the global economy works is being written right now. the only way for us to be in the game to write that rulebook is through trade agreements. get other countries to agree to our rules. get other countries to agree to our standards. open their markets to our products. that's how we write the rules for the global economy. that's how america leads. a no vote is to say america can't even try. a yes vote is to say more transparency more accountability, congress decides, and we are giving america the chance to stay in the leading position in the

world and that is why i argue for a yes, yes yes vote. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. all time for debate has expired. pursuant to clause 1-c of rule 19, further consideration of the motion to concur with an amendment is postponed. pursuant to clause 1-c of rule 19, further consideration of the motion to concur in the senate amendment to h.r. 1314 will now resume. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 1314, an act to amend the internal revenue code of 1986 to provide for a right to an administrative appeal relating to adverse determinations of tax-exempt status of certain organizations. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 305, the previous question is ordered. the question of adoption of the motion is divided. the first portion of the divided question is on

concurring in section 212 of the senate agreement. pursuant to house resolution 305, the first portion of the divided question is adopted. pursuant to house resolution 305, the second portion of the divided question is, will the house concur on the matter comprising the remainder of title 2 of the senate amendment. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: a recorded vote is requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. pursuant to clause 9 of rule 20, this 15-minute vote on the second portion of the divided question will be followed by a five-minute vote on the remaining portion of the divided question if ordered. this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 126, the nays are 302.

the motion is not adopted. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to speak out of order for the purpose of an announcement. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman is recognized. mr. mccarthy: members are advised that we are proceeding to votes on the remaining two motions. i would advise the members that the world is watching and i encourage every member of the house to vote yes. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, five-minute voting will continue. pursuant to house resolution 305, the third portion of the divided question is, will the house concur in the matter preceding title 2 of the senate amendment. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: recorded vote.

the speaker pro tempore: a recorded vote is requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five minute d vote. -- this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 219, the nays are 211.

the motion is adopted. without objection, the motion to reconsider this portion of the divided question is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio, speaker of the house, rise? the speaker: i have a motion at the desk. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: mr. boehner of ohio moves that the house reconsider the vote on the question of concurring in the matter comprising the remainder of title 2 of the senate amendment. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on the motion to reconsider. for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan seek recognition? mr. levin: mr. speaker. ok. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan seek recognition?

mr. levin: could you just, so we can all hear, read what the motion is? the speaker pro tempore: the question is on the question to reconsider of the motion just made by the gentleman from ohio. the clerk will re-report the motion. the clerk: mr. boehner of ohio moves that the house reconsider the vote on the question of concurring in the matter comprising the remainder of title 2 of the senate amendment. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on the motion. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. mr. levin: recorded vote. i ask for a recorded vote. recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman requests a recorded vote. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings -- pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on in the preceding question will be post -- on the preceding question will be postponed. pursuant to clause 1-c of rule

19, further consideration of the motion to concur in the senate amendment to h.r. 644 will now resume. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 644, an act to amend the internal revenue code of 1986 to permanently extend and expand charitable deductions for contributions of food inventory. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 305, the previous question is ordered. the question is on the motion by the gentleman from ohio, mr. tiberi. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. mr. levin: ask for a vorded -- a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman requests a recorded vote. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, this 15-minute vote on adoption of the motion may be followed by a five-minute vote agreeing to the speaker's approval of the journal if

ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 240rks the nays are 190, the motion is adopted. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the the unfinished business is the request for a recorded vote on on agreeing to the speakers' approval of the journal which the chair will put de novo. the question is on growing -- on agreeing to the speaker's approval of the journal. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the journal stand as i proved. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent that when the house adjourns today

it adjourn to meet on monday, june 15, 2015, when it shall convene at noon for morning hour debate and 2:00 p.m. for legislative business. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. ryan: mr. speaker i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. ryan: mr. speaker, i simply want to thank the incredible hard work of our staff. in particular, i would like to signal out angela he will ard, our chief trade council and staff director of the ways and means trade staff, steven clay, joffrey antel, nina and hassim, kasey, our trade counsel, and paul our legislative assistant. if it weren't for the just late nights, hard work of our hardworking dedicated staff that go all too often unrecognized around here, this effort would not have been possible and i just want to say

from the bottom of my heart how appreciative i am for their dedication and hard work. with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the chair will now entertain requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentlelady from arizona seek recognition? without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. mcsally: thank you mr. speaker. i rise to pay tribute to the life of bernie starks. a man who is beloved by many in southern arizona and who recently suddenly passed away. bernie dedicated his life to service, as an army veteran, a school counselor, and dropout prevention specialist for the tucson unified school district. he played football for the university of arizona and graduated from the u of a with honors. southern arizona will remember his incredible sick singing voice, his love for motown and

karaoke and his active involvement in the community. he was a lead organizer for the juneteenth festival and was involved in many local organizations including the tucson boy's chorus, the warrior alumni foundation. he had a passion for helping others succeed and a knew heek -- and a unique gift for bringing out their best. i had the distinct pleasure of seeing bernie a few weeks ago on memorial day before he died. he was as light hearted and dynamic as ever. his smile and laughter will be missed by many. but no doubt his spirit will live on through the countless lives he touched during his life. thank you, mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields. are there further one-minute requests? for what purpose does the gentlewoman from texas seek recognition? without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. jackson lee: thank you very much, mr. speaker. over the last couple of hours, we had the opportunity to discuss some important issues that, as they were framed, many

americans might not understand. they're called trade issues or trade legislation, to discuss the interactions between the united states and its future world trading partners. no vote here should be maligned. i stand here to emphasize that whatever the ultimate results are, if these bills do not generate into actual jobs for our local districts, then we have all failed. that is the question for this congress and that is the question for those who are working so intently and for those of us who raised the question, whether jobs are created. we will only move forward if we can determine a pathway of a structure that actually addresses the question of documented jobs nonlost jobs or substituting jobs for the american people. trade, yes, it is business. but it is also the business of

the american people and the constituents of the 18th congressional district in areas like fifth ward and southeast and south park and acres home and independence heights. it is the question of whether or not jobs are created. mr. speaker, i look forward to that answer being answered as yes. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. are there further one-minute speeches?

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from louisiana seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to speak for one minute, revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman from louisiana is recognized for one minute. >> thank you mr. speaker. mr. speaker, every once in a while this place works. recently we had a national guardsman, sergeant flores, who perished along with a number of u.s. marines in the gulf of mexico, as their blackhawk went

down. the secretary of the army has granted the authority to grant exemptions to allow these heroes to be buried in arlington national cemetery. unfortunately the initial decision by the army was to reject sergeant flores his burial request, that of his family. a fourth generation armed forces militaryman, serving our country. just today a secretary reversed that decision. mr. graves: along with the support of 120 members of this body, both republican and democrats, both came together and asked the secretary to review the decision. i want to thank the members of had house, republican and democrat members, and i want to ask that you all continue to keep the flores family in their prayers, as his wife is about to deliver their new child. thanks again to the members, mr. speaker. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from washington seek recognition? for what purpose does the gentleman from washington seek recognition?

the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you mr. speaker. i rise today to mark the end of capitol hill ocean week. in my region, the pacific ocean was and is central to native american communities. it also gave rise to a proud maritime tradition along our coast. entire industries sprang up and for generations of folks have made a good living as finishermen and boat builders, dock workers and service members. pacific is a place teaming with a diverse life that we ought to protect for future generations. if we want to protect our natural resources for our children, it's time to cherish our past and protect our future. with that in mind i'll soon introduce the maritime national heritage act. this legislation would designate the first and only heritage area in the country focused on maritime heritage. it gives washington state greater access to resources to protect lighthouses and vessels and other landmarks that contribute to the history and who we are in washington state.

mr. kilmer: this bill is a good way to remind folks what our oceans mean to us and why they are so vital. thank you, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from colorado seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to take from the speaker's table the bill s. 156 and ask for its immediate consideration in the house. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: senate 1568, an act to extends the authorization to carry out the replacement of the existing medical center of the department of veterans affairs in denver, colorado, to authorize transfers of amounts to carry out the replacement of such medical center and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: is there objection to the consideration of the bill? the gentleman from colorado is recognized. >> i reserve the right to object although i do not object. i just want to thank my friend from colorado, the authorizing committee. mr. perlmutter: and the appropriators. for providing some time through the end of the year, or pardon me, the end of the fiscal year,

gives the army corps of engineers the v.a. the contractor opportunity to continue construction of our big v.a. medical center in colorado. we still have a long-term solution that has to be resolved, but this gives everybody some breathing room to get that done with that i withdraw my reservation and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. without objection, the bill is read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from michigan seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. i stand before -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from michigan is recognized. for one minute. mrs. lawrence: i stand before you today on behalf of the michigan 14th district, which

includes the great city of detroit. to make clear my strong opposition to t.p.p. and t.a.a. as a native of detroit and a longtime public servant, i have seen firsthand the devastating impact of global trade agreements like nafta. i will always fight for our businesses and manufacturing so that they can remain competitive. globally but never at the expense of hardworking americans. the t.a.a. is underfunded by $125 million, the t.a.a. also excluded public sector workers, which is unacceptable. passage of t.p.p. and t.a.a. will only increase the risks of loss of american jobs. i greatly appreciate the help the t.a.a. provides to workers who lost their jobs in trade in michigan and their livelihoods of nearly 500,000. this is why i want to be on the record, why my vote was a no.

i will never accept cuts to these training programs. i will never agree to leaving hardworking americans uncovered. i yield back my time. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? the gentlewoman is recognize -- the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. lamalfa: this has passed the -- trade has passed the house on a bipartisan basis. this sends the message that we will be clear about trade. and it sends the message about what we believe is important to hold the t.s.r. and the white house accountable with owl our principles together. we had huge tariffs on some of the products we try to export around the world that makes it noncompetitive this sends a

strong signal this -- that the u.s. is ready to compete and t.p.a. will be an important tool to to that. however it is not t.p.p. which we haven't had much input on lately and is very difficult to get at. people need to understand there's a strong difference between t.p.a.'s authorization and t.p.p. which is still not finished, still not negotiated and something that's a complete separate question from t.p.a. which i think was a responsible measure we got done here today. we need to clear up the misconceptions on what was happening and the measures -- the good measures we did here in the house today to have america and more jobs to be able to come home and stay in the u.s. because of better trade policy. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2015 the gentlewoman from north carolina ms. foxx is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.

ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, on monday, june 15, we will celebrate the 800th anniversary of magna carta. a document that revolutionized the world and is the foundation for the freedoms that so many take for granted today. it's impossible to overstate the significance of that day at runymede in 1215 when king john of england declared that everyone including the king, was subject to the rule of law

and as a result constitutional government was born. magna carta is latin for great charter. and it was so named because of the documents -- document's protracted length. only later did the world realize how visionary the name truly is. most of the 63 clauses granted by king john dealt with specific grievances of a group of barons relating to his rule. but that framework for the relationship between the king and his subjects initiated the concept of freedom under law. clause 1 states first that we

have granted to god and by this present charter have confirmed for us and our heirs in perpetuity that the english church that will be free and shall have its rights undiminished and its liberties unimpaired. that we wish this so to be observed appears from the fact that of our own free will before the outbreak of the present dispute between us and our barons, we granted and confirmed bycharter the freedom of the church's elections. a right reckoned to be of the greatest necessity and importance to it and cause this to be confirmed by pope innocent iii. this freedom we shall observe ourselves and desire to be observed in good faith by our

heirs in perpetuity. to all free men of our kingdom we have also granted for us and our heirs forever all the liberties written out below to have and to keep for them and their heirs of us and our heirs. clause 12 reads, no aid may be leveed in our kingdom without our general consent. clause 13 says, the city of london shall enjoy all its ancient liberties and free customs, both by land and by water. we also will and grant that all other cities, boroughs, towns, and ports shall enjoy all their liberties and free custom.

clause 38 reads, in future, no official shall place a man on trial upon his own unsupported statement without producing credible witnesses to the truth of it. finally, clause 39 states, no free man shall be seized or imprisoned or stripped of his right to -- rights or possessions or outlaud or exiled or deprived of his standings -- standing in any way, nor will we proceed with force against him or send others to do so except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land. let me repeat those last few words, mr. speaker. the law of the land. in those words, we see the idea

that the law does not come from any individual person or government. to quote daniel hanna who wrote a wonderful essay on the 800th anniversary of magna carta for "the wall street journal" last month, quote, it is imminent in the land itself, the common inheritance of the people living there. mr. speaker, the language may sound a little stilted and folks may think, goodness, that doesn't sound like something we would say today, but it is so important for taos understand the direct link between magna carta and the revolution that occurred in this country in 1776. and although magna carta failed

to resolve the conflict between king john and his barons, it was reissued several times after his death. again, magna carta's legacy is particularly evident in the documents that form the basis of our government, the u.s. constitution and the bill of rights. at the national ar dives, visitors to washington have the opportunity to view one of four surviving originals of the 1297 magna carta, alongside the remarkable documents it inspired. and when visitors come here to the house, i often point out to them on the walls, the profiles of the ancient law givers. pope innocent iii is one of those ancient law givers, shown

here in the house. again, we can see directly in many cases how our constitution, our bill of rights, our -- are derived from magna carta and also from the bible. we can see those direct connections. today, i'd like to acknowledge the debt of gratitude we owe to those rebel barons with grievances against their king and i'm reminded that we must always be attentive to the freedom we have inherited. ronald reagan said famously freedom is not in our genes it is only a generation away from

being lost. it's something we have to cherish. also mr. speaker with freedom comes opportunity and comes responsibility. and i want to say how grateful i am for the opportunity i have had to serve in the house of representatives along with my colleagues. i often tell particularly schoolchildren, when i talk to them about this country and the radical idea that it represents that i'm a person who grew up in a house with no electricity and no running water, extraordinarily poor, and with parents with no privilege, no exalted status in our country. but as i said with the freedom that we have comes opportunity

and we on our side of the aisle, and i know many of my colleagues on most -- or most of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle want to see that opportunity that's been made available to those of us who currently serve, many of whom come from no privilege to be able to hold on to that opportunity but to do that mr. speaker, we have to hold on to freedom. we are the freest country in the world and that is -- the rule of law and our capitalistic system are those things that make us such a great country and i want to express again my appreciation to those rebel barons and to all the people who came after them who kept the idea of magna tar -- magna carta alive to the time

when we could develop our constitution and bill of rights and to the present time when we fight so hard to maintain those principles. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2015 the gentleman from california, mr. ruiz, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. the gentleman from california controls the time. mr. ruiz: thank you mr. speaker. today it is my honor to recognize and congratulate roberta fortoni assistant dean at the harvard chan school of public health as she retires

after years of service. she's been an inspirational leader and advisor for more than 4,000 graduates including myself. her guidance and mentorship during my time at harvard opened my eyes to new issues and innovative solutions, inspiring me to think outside the box to address our public health challenges. the students she mentored have gone on to become doctors professors, national and international leaders and advocates all working to improve public health conditions right here at home and across the globe. her contribution to our nation's public health will last for generations. i cherish my time and the lessons -- lessons i learned from the assistant dean and after 26 years of service, i congratulate her on her retirement. i yield back my time to the minority leader.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman for his comments, we have no further comments at this time. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 6 2015, the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. gohmert for 30 minutes. mr. gohmert: thank you mr. speaker. it seems so often in this body we tend not to learn from mistakes.

we passed a bill, i guess part of a bill, that the senate sent referred to as the t.p.a., but it's all about a trade agreement that will provide a structure and which the president can negotiate and dock other agreements into it -- doc other agreements into it, since the t.a.a. did not pass. then it can't apparently go go -- go directly to conference unless we pass an amendment to allow it to go to conference or some other way aeffectuate a conference on agreement. mr. speaker, i can only surmise

that since the speaker himself moved to reconsider, then there is something afoot in order to keep it from dying as it should have since both the t.p.a. and the t.a.a. did not pass. but the t.p.a., you know, i reads that got some good aspects to it -- i read that it's got some gooze as expects to it but it's not in and of itself free trade. and, you know, as a judge in the district court, our highest level trial court in texas so many times i would be the fact-finder without a jury. and so often you would sit and listen to the evidence and you

would wonder, why would someone take the action they did? there's got to be some motivating factor. and you consider all the possibilities. we had a very rare visit from president obama to the capitol trying to push people to vote for the t.p.a. this trade agreement, and the t.a.a.. it was great to see him come out to the congressional baseball game last night. it's not something he does regularly. so mr. speaker i'm left to wonder, i mean, we haven't seen this president push this hard on very many bills over the

last 6 1/2 years. and i'm left wondering why would president obama push so hard to pass this trade agreement structure that allows him to negotiate so many deals with so many different countries? and one possibility is he did it because he knew that speaker boehner was pushing to pass it and it's possible that he really wanted to make speaker boehner and mitch mcconnell, the leader down in the senate make them look good. that's a possibility. perhaps president obama really was trying to make our speaker and majority leader boehner -- i mean, majority leader mcconnell look good. it's a possibility. i don't think it's terribly probable. in weighing all the evidence,

it would seem to me that it is far more probable that the t.p.a. will give this president far more power to fundamentally transform america in his remaining year and a half or so as president. that's what it appears to me. now, one of our republicans speaking that i have tremendous respect and admiration for had commented that we're not a nation that sits on the sidelines. i agree, that used to be true. but we have basically sat on the sidelines as christians and jews are being persecuted and killed around the world in greater numbers than ever

before. we've sat on the sidelines in nigeria as precious little african girls are kidnapped and brutally sexually assaulted day after day month after month. and then we see an article that , actually this administration communicated according to the article to nigeria, that if they will change their laws to provide for same-sex marriage, possibly abortions be paid for, then the united states would not continue to sit on the sidelines, that we would actually help them stop radical islamists. of course they don't use the term radical islamists. but that's what they are. but would stop them, the radical islamists, from continuing to kill and persecute christians the way they are in nigeria. i talked to some folks that

have been on a recent trip to eastern africa and met and even prayed with leaders in east africa. and people that i was going to be on the trip, but apparently the speaker feels if you oppose him, then you're not allowed to travel, those rewards are saved for people that vote as he tells them to. they would if that's the price of speaking truth to power, still a great country. but the people that went on that trip indicated that leaders in eastern africa had indicated that the united states administration, the obama administration was telling them in essence what the article said happened in nigeria, that if you'll change your laws to allow for same-sex marriage though it totally was against their spiritual beliefs

as christians or muslims, then we would help them with things like radical islam. but otherwise we're not going to help them. so i appreciate hearing a republican say the united states is not a nation that sits on the sidelines. but this administration does. it sits on the sidelines and uses power to fundamentally transform this country and other countries. we've seen that. i see my very dear friend from kentucky here on the floor and i'd like to yield to him for his comments and thoughts. >> i appreciate that the gentleman from texas would yield me some time to speak today. mr. massie: we had a vote on the t.p.a. here and i just wanted to spend some time to explain, and i think my colleague from texas probably feels the same way that i am for trade. i think trade is good.

i'm not against trade. but today i voted against the trade promotion authority, which would fast track the t.p.p., and i just wanted to take a second to explain why i was compelled to vote against this legislation today. first of all like my colleague, i've read the t.p.p., i've been down to the confidential room and it's a very thick document. there are two bound vols and there's a binder that goes with its, as sort of a guide. but what struck me the most about this t.p.p. document is the enormity of it. my staff aren't even allowed to read the document, we're not allowed to have access to the internet while we're in there. when we're looking at the document. not allowed to take notes from the room. and this document references other bound documents. so how could i possibly, one person, by myself in a confidential room, how could i possibly understand what some

of the unintended consequences of this trade agreement would be if i can't understand the document? if i'm not allowed the resources to fully analyze this document? and i would -- i want there to be more daylight on this document before we put it on a path to approval. the other reason that i voted no today was that the implications of ceding our authority to the world trade organization struck me this week, when we voted to overturn our country of origin labeling on beef and pork. whether you think we should require companies to label beef and pork when they bring it into this country from another country, whether that's a good thing or whether that's a bad thing, that doesn't matter. what disturbs me is that the reason for writing this law this week was the world trade organization told us we had to. they said, you've got to do

that. and we swore an oath to the constitution not to -- the constitution, not the world trade organization. my concern is that this trade agreement could bind us to things that we don't even understand yet. because surely some trade agreement years ago has caused us this week to change our food labeling laws. and then, you know, the third and final reason that i voted against the t.p.a. today this may be the best reason, in fact, is my constituents don't like it. i got 30 phone calls a day for the past week against this. i might have received one or two all week saying vote for it. but we didn't get a chip implanted in our brains when we came to congress that makes us smarter than all of our constituents. i think it's important to be humble, to know that we don't always have the right answer. we don't really have a whole lot more information than our constituents have in this case. and i think that their concerns

that they expressed to me, like the president getting too much authority, that this president doesn't need more authority, that's a valid concern, and that there's not enough transparency, that's another valid concern. and i know my friend from texas has expressed both of those concerns himself and i'm sure he's hearing those from his constituents as well. i appreciate the time that you yielded to me. mr. gohmert: i'd like to follow up with the observation there about our constituents. because i wish i didn't but i remember all too well how things went in this room on tarp, the wall street bailout. the vast number of americans, the huge percentage of americans, did not want us to pass the wall street bailout. and there was an fdic former director named isaacs and he came and he had a lot of

economists' support. he had a great free market solution. and people were excited when that happened. i know we had people clapping today. just like they did when obamacare passed, a lot of people clapped when obamacare passed. and then they got defeated in the next election. so they're not here to clap for this one. but -- and there were people that clapped for the wall street bailout passing. some of them didn't come back because the people could see this was not a good way to go. now, one of the things i love about being a republican is basically as conservatives we're optimists. you know we think things can get better. that's why we're here. i know we've worked so many times together and we both, that's why we're here, we want to make things better.

we think we can. we've got a slot at making things better. -- shot at making things better. but at some point you at least have to take notice of the old washington saying that no matter how cynical you get here in washington, it's never enough to catch up. i loved that people could be aware that the president promised in obamacare that if you liked your insurance you could keep it, if you like your doctor you could keep it. he promised that nobody on medicare would be affected, that it only affected reimbursements. well, people have found out that those things were not true. they did lose the insurance they liked, lost the doctor they liked many people, well medicare recipients found out, wait a minute, you said it wouldn't affect me what i found out, when you cut $700 billion from how much you

reimburse the health care providers in my -- and my doctors, they're not able to see me. it does affect me. then of course i remember and i did consider bart stupak a friend not long ago, i still think of him as a friend, and i know he was pro-life and wanted to do what was right and he was promised by the president that nothing in or about obamacare would cause any -- anybody who disagreed with abortion or had spiritual beliefs against abortion, nothing that they would ever have to buy would pay for abortion, no federal money would go for abortion, and as i understood it, he was even getting the president to put that in writing for him. well as joe wilson observed during a speech being given in here, i think he said it

differently, but it ourned out those things weren't true -- it turned out those things weren't true. abortion is paid for with federal dollars. the federal government even -- the federal government even has fought people in court like these precious catholic nuns, little sisters of mercy, they've dedicated their lives to helping our nation's poor and people that are downready toen. gosh, those -- downtrodden. gosh, those are the kind of people who used to, government officials revered admired respected. not now. because those broken promises even resulted in this administration fighting them in court to try to force them to have insurance that paid for abortion, that these precious nuns believed was murdering a child in the womb. . so