ms. baldwin. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from wisconsin is recognized for one minute. ms. baldwin: thank you, madam speaker. i rise today in opposition to this trade agreement with panama and to the two others that we are considering this week, with south korea and colombia. trade agreements should be in the best interests of our nation and its people. but sadly this has not been the case with the past free trade agreements. have some of our wealthiest corporations profited from them? indeed. but the rest of america, especially the middle class, has struggled with job loss, closed factories and economic and emotional anguish across the country. i hear from wisconsin families every day that are struggling mightily. struggling to pay the mortgage, put food on the table and send their kids to college. especially during these uncertain economic times, the solution is to put our people back to work and preserve american jobs. when done right, trade agreements can help bolster our manufacturing and high-skill technology industries, and create jobs as they increase exports and hel

ms. baldwin. i -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. . ms. baldwin: thank you, madam speaker. creating jobs and growing our economy. just when we should be pulling together to work on these issues, instead republicans have put forth divisive and extreme legislation that takes away women's ability to make their own important life decisions about their reproductive health. this extremist legislation is an unprecedented display of lack of respect for american women and our safety. the effect of this bill would be to cut off millions of women from the private care they already have and limit the ability of a woman to get the care she needs, even if the result is a serious permanent health condition that could shorten her life. so, we now know the republicans' real agenda, to roll back women's health and rights. they have shown their true colors by trying to weaken rape and incest exceptions for abortions. it's hard to believe but a majority of the republican house members co-sponsored legislation to give insurance companies new authority to decide

ms. baldwin, on our committee said her state finds uses for all of its coal ash. other states have to deal with disposing of half or more of their coal ash. mr. mckinley, the sponsor of this legislation, when he first joined our committee he explained to us how the administration's proposals to regulate coal combustial residuals were threatening the recycling industry. he asked us to support the bill to simply set those proposals aside. we heard from a variety of witnesses from environmental groups and power plant operators but among the most important witnesses was a lady who spoke for the officials in every one of our 50 states who run the state solid waste management programs. she had a better idea. explaining that states govern solid waste under stringent federal guidelines, she asked, why not do the same with coal ash? we state, she said, all run our solid waste programs just fine and are careful to meet the federal standards for two reasons. first, we want to protect human health and the environment and, second, we don't want the e.p.a. running our programs