<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-align: center;" class=""><b class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">U.S. Congressman Bill Pascrell, Jr.</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><br class="">For Immediate Release<br class="">May 18, 2018</span><o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></div><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-align: center; background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><b class=""><span style="font-size: 22pt; line-height: 33.733333587646484px; font-family: Cambria, serif; letter-spacing: -0.6pt;" class="">Neal and Pascrell Demand Accountability from Paul Ryan for Congress’ Next Steps on NAFTA</span></b><o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; font-family: Cambria, serif;" class="">WASHINGTON, DC<b class=""> –</b> Today, House Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA-01) and Trade Subcommittee Ranking Member Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09) demanded U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) clarify what steps he intends for North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) renegotiation during the remainder of this Congress. </span><o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; font-family: Cambria, serif;" class="">Neal and Pascrell asked Speaker Ryan to explain what Congress’s next steps are on the NAFTA renegotiation, noting that “NAFTA is almost 25 years old. It fails to reflect the economy of today. And it has failed too many American workers, families, and communities. We cannot afford to sit back and be satisfied with the status quo. We, and the American people, await your answers eagerly.”</span><o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; font-family: Cambria, serif;" class="">On May 9, Speaker Ryan set a May 17 deadline for the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to submit notice of his intent to sign a new NAFTA agreement. In response, Neal and Pascrell note, “TPA does not provide for a hard deadline and many of the TPA timelines set out maximum time frames that provide for a certain amount of flexibility.” Despite Speaker Ryan’s artificial deadline, USTR has not submitted any notifications to Congress and reports indicate that the NAFTA negotiations appear to have lost momentum. Neal and Pascrell write: “Noting that in the last 24 hours, you moved the goal posts on your own deadline by a seemingly arbitrary two weeks, at this juncture, we write to ask you, as the author of TPA, what happens now?” </span><o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; font-family: Cambria, serif;" class="">After sending the letter to Speaker Ryan, Pascrell added: “I welcome continued negotiations on NAFTA and reject Speaker Ryan’s attempts to impose an arbitrary deadline. We need a good deal, not a quick deal. NAFTA has failed too many American families for the past 25 years to not get this right. I appreciate Ambassador Lighthizer’s attempts to make comprehensive changes to create a new template for U.S. trade that focuses less on multinational corporations and more on boosting jobs and wage opportunities for families and workers. I remain optimistic that we can get there – but we need to continue the work. I plan to continue consultations with USTR until we reach an amenable deal that will stop outsourcing and improve the outlook for workers both here and abroad.”</span><o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; font-family: Cambria, serif;" class="">Full text of the letter is available </span><a href="https://democrats-waysandmeans.house.gov/sites/democrats.waysandmeans.house.gov/files/documents/Neal%20and%20Pascrell%20Letter%20to%20Speaker%20Ryan%20re%20NAFTA%20Next%20Steps%20May%2018%202018.pdf" style="color: purple;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; font-family: Cambria, serif;" class="">HERE</span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; font-family: Cambria, serif;" class="">.</span><o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">###</span></p></body></html>