U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) and Trade Subcommittee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) issued a joint statement Monday indicating that all three pending trade agreements would pass the House with bipartisan support if the White House agreed to act on all three.
The announcement follows a press conference by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and former U.S. Trade Representative and current Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) calling for quick consideration of the pending free trade agreements with Columbia, Panama and South Korea.
“By the president’s own measure, the agreements will create up to 250,000 jobs for American workers and don’t require a dime of new federal spending,” the House statement said. “The White House’s refusal to act on all three makes no sense, and our colleagues in the Senate are absolutely right – the time for action on the pending free trade agreements is now. The longer we wait, the more market share U.S. companies lose to foreign competitors and the fewer jobs we create here at home. Other countries are moving forward, and if we don’t act by July 1, 2011, we risk losing critical market share in each of these countries. If the president sent us all three agreements, they would pass with bipartisan majorities.”