mr. mcdermott: the gentleman is extended 30 second. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. kind: as i mentioned in the markup, i think the ways and means should have jurisdiction, were to hold some hearings as we move forward on ways we can improve the efficiency and the outcome of the t.a.a. program. any program is worthy of change and for improvements. i think this is right for that. my concern is this is only a three-year re-authorization. i hope we can contain -- continue bipartisan support to continue this beyond three years so it's not having to be linked to other trade agreements but i think our committee has some work to do to improve a very successful program. i encourage my colleagues to support it and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from michigan. mr. camp: i would reserve. i would just say i have no other speakers so i'm prepared to close so i'll reserve at this time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from washington. mr. mcdermot

mr. mcdermott and then we'll close. mr. dreier: i have a couple of speakers. and let me say -- how much time is remaining on each side. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california has 7 1/4 minutes remaining. the gentleman from massachusetts has 4 1/2 minutes remaining. mr. mcgovern: i will reserve. mr. dreier: mr. speaker, at this time, what i would like to do, i mentioned the bipartisan nature of this and to stress that and being the only one who will yield time to democrats, i yield 2 1/2 minutes to my very good friend and a man with whom i spent time in colombia on numerous occasions, the the gentleman from car mel, california, a peace corps volunteer, mr. farr. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. farr: i look forward to this debate. i lived in colombia and i have a different perspective. we have to put it in perspective, latin american market is important. if you take brazil, mexico and colombia, they equal the entire european trade and exceed the trade with japan and china. it's a very important market. colombia is a coun

mr. mcdermott: i yield the gentleman an additional minute. mr. blumenauer: we ought to add the protection of the environment to this criteria. i raised it in our ways and means hearing and it was distribute thought was we were going to go ahead and not adjust the status quo. but the protection of environmental -- the environment exerts tremendous influence on international trade. the trade of illegal he will logged timber caused u.s.-based legal timber industry billions of dollars a year. if we truly expect trade to be a tool of development, trade must support environmental protections in our partner nations. as our free trade agreements do. concern for the environment is a core element of development, it reflects appreciation for civil law, for the protection of the rights of individuals and of a concern for the long-term sustainability of state and society and of the planet. it should have a place in our g.s.p. program. i hope when it comes next before us that we've added environmental protections to the criteria. thank you and i yield back. th

mr. mcdermott?> well, it's very clear, chris, that the president has been stymied at every turn by the republicans, because mitch mcconnell made it very clear a long time ago that his only goal was to prevent the president from being re-elected. and to do that, he has to prevent him from getting the economy back on its feet and getting people back to work. people want jobs. there is work everywhere in this country. and they stymied him in the amount of money that they would let put in for infrastructure back at the beginning of his term, and now they're still doing it. and they'll find a million excuses why they can't do it. but it isn't happening without stimulus from the government. you are going to have to have that kind of infrastructure money. >> let me ask you, congressman, congressman schock, i'm with you, by the way, i wish more of these stimulus packages -- i wish the whole 100% of them were infrastructure. but let me ask you this question, to make your point. would you vote right now yea t

mr. mcdermott of washington. the speaker: the gentleman is recognized. mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, we are all proud members of the united states congress. we consider this the preeminent legislative body in the world that sets the standard for how the world should create laws an how we should govern or country. we believe in the rule of law, we talk about it all the time. we're for the rule of law. well that is the nub of this argument about why so many of us will vote against the colombian free trade agreement. now, we all know the horrors, we'll hear them repeated again and again, but the fact is, we forced the government of colombia, president obama did, to sit down and write a labor action plan in which they said what they would do. we didn't listen for a couple of years to the previous administration, the uribe administration, promise, promise, promise, nothing happened. so this president said, i want it in writing, write down a a labor agreement. it set out the precis -- resice steps colombia had to take to address the problems faced in that country. for example, ste

mr. mcdermott and then we'll close. mr. dreier: i have a couple of speakers. and let me say -- how much time is remaining on each side. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california has 7 1/4 minutes remaining. the gentleman from massachusetts has 4 1/2 minutes remaining. mr. mcgovern: i will reserve. mr. dreier: mr. speaker, at this time, what i would like to do, i mentioned the bipartisan nature of this and to stress that and being the only one who will yield time to democrats, i yield 2 1/2 minutes to my very good friend and a man with whom i spent time in colombia on numerous occasions, the the gentleman from car mel, california, a peace corps volunteer, mr. farr. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. farr: i look forward to this debate. i lived in colombia and i have a different perspective. we have to put it in perspective, latin american market is important. if you take brazil, mexico and colombia, they equal the entire european trade and exceed the trade with japan and china. it's a very important market. colombia is a coun

mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman from washington is recognized for one minute. mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, it's a very important day today. 519 years ago columbus discovered america. he was on a trade mission. but the problem is that today instead of dealing with trade missions and all the rest we ought to have a bill out here that the president presented on creating jobs for american workers. now, this congress has been in session for 300 and son-odd days. with the republicans talking -- and some-odd days. with the republicans talking about the president's plan has not worked, they have yet to bring to this floor a presentation of a way to create jobs for american workers. these trade agreements, they say, well, if we have the level playing field with korea and all these other places, suddenly we'll have all these jobs here. there is a much better way and

mr. mcdermott: i'll save the rest for tomorrow. we'll debate it more tomorrow. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: i ask unanimous consent to yield the balance of the time to the chairman of the committee, mr. camp, that he may control time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized and will control the time. mr. camp: thank you, madam speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. camp: madam speaker, today is a good day. many of us have been working for years for the opportunity to approve our pending trade agreements with colombia, panama and south korea. we called on the president throughout his term to submit all three agreements to congress but opposition among some democrats led many to believe we'd have to settle for just one or two of the agreements. today we have all three pending agreements before us. approving them will resuscitate the u.s. trade agenda, create good u.s. jobs and help get our economy moving again. the u.s. in

mr. mcdermott's recognized. >> thank you, mr. chairman. the panama agreement tends to get overshadowed by much more commercially-significant korean agreement and the problematic colombia agreement, and so now it's panama's moment in the spotlight. before getting to my question to mr. reif, i'd like to lay out five reasons why i strongly support this agreement, and i disagree with my good friend from texas. we did not sit on the sidelines waiting. we have been negotiating. now, first of all, the may 10 agreement many of us fought for years to include strong and enforceable labor and environmental commitments to our trade agreements and to strike a better balance between access to medicines and incentives for new innovations. we finally won the battle several years ago with the so-called may 10th agreement, and this agreement reflects those changes. it was not in it originally. secondly, tax transparency. panama has been a tax haven for many years. for six years the last administration tried -- and failed -- to conclude a tiea with panama. b

mr. mcdermott: madam speaker, i agree with the last gentleman. we ought to be talking about the jobs bill. the president put a bill out here and the republican leadership won't bring it up. this is a break from trade policies in the past. it reflects hard work of many of us to change u.s. trade policy. there are five reasons to support this agreement. first, it has strong enforceable labor and environmental obligations. many of us fought for years to get these commitments into our trade agreements. we lost those battles in 1995. i was here when nafta passed. and the debate six years later, which is why in that agreement, 15 democrats voted for it because it wouldn't take care of workers. that all changed in 2007 when the democrats took over the house. the last administration finally accepted our demands on labor, the environment and other issues, such as access to medicine. this agreement includes all of those. we have used the leverage of this agreement to eliminate a tax haven. no one denies that panama is a great tax haven but modified the tax

mr. mcdermott. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. mcdermott: madam speaker, this is nothing more or less than an attack on poor women. i stood beside the bed of a couple of women in the buffalo general hospital in 1963 and watched them die because of back alley abortions. i was in the state legislature in 1970 when we in the state of washington granted by referendum, a vote of all the people, the right of women to have an abortion. now the question is, how do you get it paid for? when it came to seattle, if you wanted an abortion you went down and bought a ticket to japan, flew to japan, had an abortion, had a day of shopping in tokyo while you made sure you were ok medically, and then you came home. rich women never had any problem. but the women that i stood next to, as they died, and left 12 kids without mothers, were poor. and that's what this is really all about. it is an attack by the right wing who consider that they wrap themselves in theological ray meant and then attack -- ramente and then attack poor women. christ wouldn't

mr. mcdermott, for unanimous consent. mr. mcdermott: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks in opposition to this bill because it is an attack on women and does nothing to deal with the job crisis in this country. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman will be charged. mr. hastings: i yield to the distinguished lady from wisconsin, ms. moore for unanimous consent. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. moore: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks in strident, strident opposition to this bill. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. hastings: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from north carolina. ms. foxx: thank you, madam speaker. i now yield two minutes to the distinguished gentleman from texas, mr. brady. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas will be recognized for two minutes. mr. brady: thank you, madam speaker. as a co-sponsor and proud parent of two young boys, adopted y

mr. mcdermott is recognized. >> mr. pascrell. >> thank you, mr. chairman. before i get into my line of questioning, i want to say that this legislation is very much better than the original legislation even with korean trade. there's some great things in this legislation dealing with technology products, pharmaceuticals, tremendously improved that would help my state in that area, as well as other states. but let me get down to my major contention. with this piece of legislation. and that is one of the few areas of the economy that have been improving over the last nine, 10 months is the manufacturing sector. we abandoned small manufacturers in this country. democratic presidents and republican presidents. and many of them have turned into, you have to go to the midwest, rust belt, so the entire infrastructure of manufacturing is gone. and to bring it back it's not going to be an easy task. for those folks he believed that we are simply going to move into a service oriented economy, that's not going to happen. and i will not repeat, remind you of a debate b

mr. mcdermott. >> thank you mr. chairman.i oppose the columbia fda for the same reasons as congressman levin why can't i fully support the caribbean and panel fda but what i cannot understand is why we waited so long to consider the korea and panama especially korea. they were being submitted for the consideration of last february as soon as the automobile along with extensions of the historic bipartisan program and tar sands at the apta which should have never been allowed to expire to begin with the e.u. fda which corrine is going into work. urning workers, farmers and businesses because they couldn't compete it as a result of the decisions of the fda last, trade and talked workers have suffered. as a result of this effort to expand and we will do them one day but tar sands and businesses of the united states and in developing countries that rely on these preferences have struggled to beat now with those hostage agreements are finding the her being released. i hope we can turn our attention to the address in china's currenc

mr. good guy long enough. it is time to fight. >> congressman mcdermott, is the president doing all he can do in your opinion? >> well, he's laid out a plan, ed, and he's now making it clear who is not doing what needs to be done. that is having the hearing process, having it work through committee, and brought to the floor for a vote. he is very methodical in setting them up. i hope that he does not relinquish the pressure. as long as he presses and keeps pushing them, he will continue to show to the american people he's done everything that he's the president can do is lead. he needs some followers. when john boehner has 171 bridges in his own district that he doesn't care about, he'd rather help mitch mcconnell sink the president, when that's the highest priority, the president has a tough job but i would just keep doing what he is doing. keep pressing them and telling the people that those bridges you are driving over are not safe and john boehner doesn't care. that's the real message of this whole episode. >> congresswoman, what else can democrats do at this point? >> well, i want the democratic national