The congressional delegation trip caps off an active week on Capitol Hill regarding consideration of the new NAFTA.
House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., is leading a congressional delegation to Mexico to inform his committee’s consideration of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), Ways and Means said in a press release Thursday.
The delegation departed Thursday and will return Sunday and will meet with Mexican government representatives and other key stakeholders, Ways and Means said.
“While in Mexico, the delegation also aims to deepen their understanding of environmental and worker conditions,” the committee said.
The delegation comprises nine Democrats and one Republican — Rep. George Holding, R-N.C.
This week Republicans continued their push on Capitol Hill for approval of the USMCA.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, took the Senate floor on Tuesday and Thursday to speak in support of the agreement.
On Tuesday Grassley said he would like to hear concrete suggestions from House Democrats for ways to improve the pact and that he’s glad House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., formed a group of Democratic lawmakers to work with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to address Democrats’ USMCA concerns.
Grassley said he hopes the ongoing discussion between House Democrats and Lighthizer “is an exercise in getting to the ‘yes’ that I feel that Speaker Pelosi wants to get to.”
Working group members and Lighthizer had a meeting Thursday, during which they discussed “environmental issues, Democratic standards and priorities on environment and trade, and securing improvements to the agreement that can bring strong Democratic support,” Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., said in a statement after the meeting.
Working group members have outlined “comprehensive concerns and constructive proposals” in the issues of access to medicines, labor, and the environment, and plan to address the issue of enforcement during a meeting with Lighthizer next week, Neal said.
“At that meeting, we also intend to work with USTR to map out a continuing and robust process — including through our respective, able staffs — for building on the working group and USTR’s progress into the next phase in August,” Neal said.
In addition to Grassley, other GOP lawmakers pushed for USMCA approval this week.
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, during a podcast by the American Enterprise Institute said a vote against USMCA is a vote for continuing NAFTA.
“If you are a Democrat, you are essentially voting for NAFTA if you vote ‘no’ on USMCA,” Portman said. “Why? Because you go back to the status quo, which is NAFTA. NAFTA will be the status quo. And it has no enforcement on labor standards, it has no enforcement on environmental standards. This new agreement in every respect is better if you are a Democrat.”
Portman also spoke in support of the deal on the Senate floor on Tuesday, touting many aspects of the agreement, including provisions to help small businesses compete in the digital marketplace and to establish enforceable labor and environmental provisions.
House Agriculture Committee ranking member Mike Conaway, R-Texas, and House Agriculture Livestock and Foreign Agriculture Subcommittee ranking member David Rouzer, R-N.C., in statements on Tuesday voiced their continuing support for USMCA, saying it will help the U.S. farm economy.
Rouzer said the “greatest opportunities for moving forward” in the livestock and poultry sectors are tied to approving USMCA.
“Producers are clamoring for the additional certainty, benefits of increased access and added protections that USMCA promises with two of our most important trading partners,” Conaway said. “I again urge my colleagues across the aisle to join me in committing to working together to approve USMCA.”
The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) on Wednesday hosted a “Trade Makes America” Capitol Hill fly-in, during which more than 130 manufacturing representatives and USMCA stakeholders engaged in more than 130 meetings with House and Senate lawmakers’ offices to make the case for swift passage of the agreement, NAM noted in a press release Thursday.
Starting during the July 10 USMCA “day of action,” thousands of manufacturers have contacted Congress by phone and mail to advocate for USMCA passage, the press release says.
On Monday, a group of manufacturing leaders met with Vice President Mike Pence to emphasize the importance of USMCA to the U.S. manufacturing industry, according to the release.
“There is increasing recognition from both sides of the aisle about the need to modernize North American trade rules,” NAM Vice President of International Economic Affairs Policy Linda Dempsey said in a statement. “As Congress considers the USMCA, it is vital that they hear from the men and women who make things in America since they will be directly affected by their decision.”
