[CTC] Bipartisan letter from NY MOCs against TPP

Wed Mar 23 13:24:07 PDT 2016

Letter below...

Obama loses Republican free trade supporter in Trump's backyard

By Doug Palmer, POLITICO
03/23/2016 03:07 PM EDT

A bipartisan group of 19 House lawmakers from New York today announced their "firm opposition" to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, including Tom Reed, a Republican who voted last year to give President Barack Obama trade promotion authority.

"Like many Americans, New Yorkers have grown increasingly disillusioned with our nation's international trading relationships and are rightly skeptical that the TPP will fare better than previous trade agreements," the group, led by Republican Chris Collins  <http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f36a1506cce4f441595b8eb38d2f27adeab73001f95a7c72940bf9b07a309121>and Democrat Louise Slaughter <http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f36a1506cce4f441bdb82e4ec0a23eba1b7d11b6b99c3e193a9f64bbe152f42d>, said in a letter <http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f36a1506cce4f4418a7a4828b7511bda0e7ac7fde1efc786dd921e5d1a3b07c6>to Obama that they released at a press conference. 

Both Reed and Collins have endorsed fellow New Yorker Donald Trump for president. However, Reed was the only one of the 13 Democrats and six Republicans on the letter who voted last year for trade promotion authority. The third-term congressman also voted for the South Korea, Panama and Colombia free trade agreements in 2011. 

Reed's defection from the free trade coalition underscores the difficult path the White House faces to win approval of the TPP, particularly if Republican support crumbles further. Last year, the administration won approval of trade promotion authority by a vote of 218-208, with 190 Republicans joining 28 Democrats in support of the fast-track authority.

Collins, who was elected in 2012, echoed many of Trump's attacks on free trade agreements.

"They have been stealing our jobs in China. They have been stealing our jobs in Mexico," Collins said. "We're not going to sign any more of these ridiculous free trade agreements."

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http://www.wbta1490.com/LocalNews/tabid/115/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/7224/Bipartisan-NYS-Congressional-letter-to-Obama-opposing-TPP.aspx <http://www.wbta1490.com/LocalNews/tabid/115/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/7224/Bipartisan-NYS-Congressional-letter-to-Obama-opposing-TPP.aspx>
Letter included in Press Release:

March 23, 2016

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C.  20500

Dear President Obama:

New York State is home to the best workers and some of the most innovative companies in the world. As bipartisan Congressional Representatives of the people and businesses of New York, we write to express our firm opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) as negotiated.

Like many Americans, New Yorkers have grown increasingly disillusioned with our nation’s international trading relationships and are rightly skeptical that the TPP will fare better than previous trade agreements. In the months since the TPP’s text was released to the public, we have made a careful review of its wide-ranging provisions. Our concerns with the TPP are as varied as the people and districts we represent, but there are a number of core issues with the agreement that we all share.

Since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements took effect in 1994, our state has lost more than 370,000 manufacturing jobs. This is just a portion of the five million manufacturing jobs that have been lost nationwide over that period. While we recognize the difficulty in proving a causal connection between trade agreements and job losses, the federal government itself has certified more than 115,000 New York jobs under the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program as having been lost to imports or off-shoring since NAFTA. TAA only covers a subset of jobs displaced due to trade, so this figure represents only a fraction of New York job losses directly attributable to trade agreements.  

Glaringly, this TPP agreement has no effective measures to address currency manipulation. Currency manipulation is one of the greatest issues facing American manufacturers today and is estimated to have suppressed millions of U.S. jobs. Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore each have histories of artificially controlling their currencies, yet the TPP provides no enforceable protections against their doing so. The side declaration on currency practices is insignificant, unenforceable, and does little to assuage our concerns. The TPP is the United States’ best chance to address currency manipulation in a systematic way, and the lack of meaningful currency provisions makes the TPP incomplete at best and destructive to domestic manufacturers at worst.

Given a level playing field, New York workers and businesses can compete and win in the global marketplace. While we each have our own concerns with the Trans-Pacific Partnership, we are united in our opposition to the agreement and in our belief that the TPP will harm many working and middle-class families in New York and across the country.

Sincerely,

Chris Collins, Member of Congress
Louise M. Slaughter, Member of Congress
Yvette D. Clarke, Member of Congress
Daniel M. Donovan, Jr., Member of Congress 
Eliot L. Engel, Member of Congress 
Christopher Gibson, Member of Congress 
Brian Higgins, Member of Congress 
Hakeem Jeffries, Member of Congress
John Katko, Member of Congress
Nita M. Lowey, Member of Congress
Carolyn Maloney, Member of Congress
Sean Patrick Maloney, Member of Congress
Grace Meng, Member of Congress
Jerrold Nadler, Member of Congress
Tom Reed, Member of Congress
José E. Serrano, Member of Congress
Paul Tonko, Member of Congress
Nydia Velázquez, Member of Congress
Lee Zeldin, Member of Congress

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