Washington, DC – Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet released the following statement after the Senate blocked a procedural motion to proceed to a partial Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) legislative package. Last month, in the Senate Finance Committee, Bennet voted for a bipartisan TPA package that passed 20-6. That package included several enforcement measures and protections for workers and the environment, as well as his amendment to provide the U.S. with tools to fight currency manipulation by countries like China. Today, he voted against moving forward on a partial package that excludes stronger environmental and enforcement rules and his currency provision.
“Trade is a vital component to Colorado’s economy and the roughly 6,000 businesses and farms, most of them small, in our state that rely on exporting Made-in-America goods. We have a chance to expand their opportunities, to raise labor and environmental standards across the world, and ensure we – not our geopolitical rivals like China – are writing the rules.
“The Finance Committee passed a bipartisan trade package that includes strong enforcement measures and protections for Colorado’s workers and the environment. And it strengthens the tools we have to ensure our trading partners uphold their commitments, particularly on currency manipulation. These are crucial components to moving this package forward. The proposal on the Senate floor did not include those measures. The Senate should have a chance to debate and vote on all of the pieces of the Finance Committee’s trade Package”
During the Senate Finance Committee’s debate of a package of four trade bills, he secured a bipartisan amendment with Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) that would create additional remedial measures to enforce rules against currency manipulation, including barring a country from participating in future trade agreements.
Bennet also secured an amendment to give the United States authority to take all appropriate action, including retaliation, to fight back against any of our trading partners’ laws, practices, or policies that violate environmental standards in an international trade agreement, or are otherwise unjustified, unreasonable, or discriminatory, or that burden or restrict U.S. commerce.
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