Baucus schedules FTA markup, Republicans to attend
July 06, 2011 | 07:44 PM | Filed in: Trade
By JERRY HAGSTROM
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., announced late today that his committee will hold a “mock markup” on the implementing bills for the free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama and an extension of trade adjustment assistance on Thursday at 9 a.m. The Senate Finance session will be held only one hour before House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., has scheduled a markup to consider the free trade agreements, but not trade adjustment assistance.
Republican members of the Senate Finance Committee boycotted a markup Baucus scheduled last week due to their opposition to trade adjustment assistance and the timing of the markup, but Senate Finance Committee ranking member Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, signaled in a statement late Wednesday that they will attend this markup.
“While Republicans continue to believe that adding TAA to the trade agreements is an abuse of long-standing trade rules, tomorrow members will have the time to fully examine and consider our trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea, and if desired, offer amendments,” Hatch said.
“It is past time to get this package moving,” Baucus said in a statement. “Right now, our competitors are gaining ground in these vital markets, and jobless Americans in need of opportunities are left waiting while these trade agreements languish,” Baucus said in a statement. “We need to come together to move these three trade agreements and Trade Adjustment Assistance forward because American workers and small businesses simply cannot afford to wait any longer.”
Meanwhile, Ways and Means Democrats issued a statement that trade adjustment assistance has helped hundreds of thousands of American workers since it was overhauled in May 2009. The Democrats also noted that Camp and then Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, had praised trade adjustment assistance in the past. The Democrats also released a study of TAA by Mathematica, a consulting firm.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., announced late today that his committee will hold a “mock markup” on the implementing bills for the free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama and an extension of trade adjustment assistance on Thursday at 9 a.m. The Senate Finance session will be held only one hour before House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., has scheduled a markup to consider the free trade agreements, but not trade adjustment assistance.
Republican members of the Senate Finance Committee boycotted a markup Baucus scheduled last week due to their opposition to trade adjustment assistance and the timing of the markup, but Senate Finance Committee ranking member Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, signaled in a statement late Wednesday that they will attend this markup.
“While Republicans continue to believe that adding TAA to the trade agreements is an abuse of long-standing trade rules, tomorrow members will have the time to fully examine and consider our trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea, and if desired, offer amendments,” Hatch said.
“It is past time to get this package moving,” Baucus said in a statement. “Right now, our competitors are gaining ground in these vital markets, and jobless Americans in need of opportunities are left waiting while these trade agreements languish,” Baucus said in a statement. “We need to come together to move these three trade agreements and Trade Adjustment Assistance forward because American workers and small businesses simply cannot afford to wait any longer.”
Meanwhile, Ways and Means Democrats issued a statement that trade adjustment assistance has helped hundreds of thousands of American workers since it was overhauled in May 2009. The Democrats also noted that Camp and then Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, had praised trade adjustment assistance in the past. The Democrats also released a study of TAA by Mathematica, a consulting firm.
