i worked around construction believe that he does get his point across and he is not -- definitely not somebody who worked in government for a long time because he doesn't talk that way. but also adam clayton powell, who i have respected very much, when he resigned, they got an email that he had sent to somebody and they were asking why he didn't speak up about something, i don't remember it at the moment. host: i apologize, i hate to cut you off but the houses is gaveling in this morning at 9:00 a.m. eastern time. here in a few seconds so we need to bring you up to the floor, a live gavel to gavel coverage. more of your phone calls tomorrow morning starting at 7:00 a.m. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2019] , in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly

prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

will be er: the house in order. the prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father conroy. pray.in conroy: let us god of the ages, we give you hanks for giving us another day. we continue to ask you to be people's re in the house. olitical energy is high, yet, we ask that you bless the members with wisdom and as they continue toward the end of the first session. work to be completed result in blessings for our the funding of the government for the next year. send a healing

pirit upon this assembly, upon our nation. much harsh language and have been heard in the chamber. ambassadors of peace and reconciliation so that hope inicans might have a united future. may all that is done be for your honor and glory. amen. speaker: pursuant to section house resolution 758, the day's of the last proceedings is approved. the pledge of allegiance will be ed by the gentlewoman from california, mrs. torres. mrs. torres: please join after me. i pledge allegiance to the flag f the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the seekewoman from california recognition? mrs. torres: mr. speaker, i a privileged sk report from the committee on rules for filing under the rule. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title. the clerk: report to accompany 772, resolution providing for consideration of 5377, to amend the internal revenue code of 1986 to odify the limitation on deduction of state and local taxes and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: referred to the house calendar and ordered printed.

for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? mr. jeffries: mr. speaker, by the democratic caucus, i ask for a privileged resolution and ask for its immediate consideration. the peaker pro tempore: clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 773, resolved, that the following members be -- mr. jeffries: mr. speaker, i ask that the namesnt be considered as read and printed in the record. the speaker pro tempore: without the resolution is agreed to and the motion to econsider is laid upon the table. the chair lays before the house a communication. the honorable the speaker, house of representatives, madam, i write to notify you in the house of of the tatives initiation by the committee on oversight and reform of judicial to house s pursuant resolution 497 and house resolution 430, the committee initiated the following

civil action. ommittee on oversight and reform, u.s. house of representatives vs. barr filed the e u.s. court for district of columbia on november 26, 2019. sincerely, carolyn b. maloney, chairwoman. the speaker pro tempore: the a ir lays before the house message. the clerk: to the congress of 202-dited states, section of the national emergencies act provides for the automatic a national of emergency unless within 90 days before the anniversary date of president tion the publishes in the federal register and transmits to the to the -- transmits congress to notify that the mergency continues beyond the anniversary date. in accordance with this provision, i have send to the enclosed gister the notice stating that the national emergency declared in executive december 20, 2017, is to continue in effect 2019. december 20, the prevalence and severity of

human rights abuse and their ion that have source in whole or in substantial part outside the continue to hreaten the stability of international and economic systems. have rights corruption devastating impacts on democratic weaken institutions, degrade the rule perpetuate violent conflicts, undermine economic pose s, and continue to unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of states.ed therefore, i have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared executive order 13818 with respect to serious human rights and corruption. signed, donald j. trump, the white house, december 18, 2019. he speaker pro tempore: referred to the committee on foreign affairs and ordered printed.

the chair lays before the house bill.llowing enrolled 150, an act to modernize federal grant eporting and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california seek recognition? by torres: mr. speaker, the direction of the committee on rules, i call up house for its n 772 and ask immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the resolution. calendar number 64, house resolution 772, resolved, that upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider in the house the bill h.r. 5377, to amend the internal revenue code of 1986 to modify the limitation on deduction of state and local taxes, and for other purposes. all points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the

committee on ways and means now printed in the bill shall be considered as adopted. the bill, as amended, shall be considered as read. all points of order against provisions in the bill, as amended, are waived. the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill, as amended, and on any further amendment thereto, to final passage without intervening motion except, one, one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on ways and means, and two, one motion to recommit with or without instructions. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california is recognized for one hour. mrs. torres: mr. speaker, for the purposes of debate only, i minutes customary 30 to the gentleman from oklahoma, pending which i yield myself such time as i may consume. of this nsideration resolution all time yielded is only.e purposes of debate i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and .xtend their remarks

the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mrs. torres: mr. speaker, on wednesday, the rules committee met and reported a rule, house 772, providing for 5377, theion for h.r. restoring tax fairness for states and localities act, under closed rule. the rule provides one hour of and e equally divided controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the means.ee on ways and r. speaker, salt has been in law since the 16th amendment was minor in 1913 with few adjustments. that is until 2017 when passed the tax scam law. 2017, the republicans gave way almost $2 trillion in tax cuts to corporations and the wealthy. they paid for this tax scam on hardworking

american families. familiesn middle-class saw their tax increase. deducted e american $12,500 in state and local axes, or salt, from their federal taxes before 2017. however, the republican tax bill capped salt deductions at $10,000. fully covering what the average american educts in state and local taxes. this cap means that americans twice on the es same dollar earned. based on the is rinciple of federalism and acknowledges the federal government should not do everything. tate and local taxes provide funds for critical infrastructure and services, quality schools for our kids, fixing our roads, law upporting our local enforcement. local governments know how to

eet the unique needs of their communities and the implementation of a salt threatens the ability of our local governments o provide these critical services. the salt deduction is not a issue.tic or republican taxpayers across the country in both red and blue states benefit from the deduction. iowa, ern states like isconsin are known for nair local tax contributions. wisconsin ranks among the top ive states in the country higher than california for the average proportion of a that goes ncome tax toward state and local taxes. whether from california, wisconsin, or new jersey, getting rid of the salt cap will the it americans across country. mr. speaker, that is why i am h.r. 5377, the

estoring tax fairness for states and localities act. this legislation will raise the 2019 to $20,000 for married couples. bill, he republican tax the salt cap is set at $10,000 household. regardless if that household consists of an individual or two people filing jointly. mr. speaker, i don't think taxpayers should be punished for being married. this legislation will completely salt cap for 2020 and ensuring that americans are not taxed doubled on their hard-earned money. in h.r. 5377 are investments in our teachers and officers.cement i have heard from southern california teachers who are to ing two or three jobs make ends meet, but they still buy supplies for their -- notebooks, chalk,

pencils, whatever they need. across the country, teachers report buying school supplies their students with their own money, spending almost $500 average. currently, the tax credit for ut-of-pocket expenses for educators is $250. this legislation will double the tax credit to $500, matching actually spent, what teachers spend for their students. new tax reates a deduction for law enforcement fficers, firefighters, paramedics and e.m.t. related to expenses for uniforms and for for professional development training. dispatcher, er 911 i can testify to the importance of having well-trained first responders. mr. speaker, h.r. 5377 is about for ring fair tax policies the middle class that have been

suffering under the republican bill, and i am proud to stand here in support of this legislation. reserve the i balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california reserves. oklahoma, mr.from cole, is recognized. mr. cole: thank you, mr. speaker. friend, o thank my good the gentlelady from california, -- mrs. torres, and i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. cole: mr. speaker, this is debate in what has turned out to be a pretty eventful week, and is a misguided tax bill. cap on remove the deduction for state and local taxes and roperty income taxes but this bill pays or the temporary tax break for

few, increasing the top tax rate. the permanent tax rate is not limited to individuals but applies to small businesses as well. years ago, congress passed and president trump signed into and jobs act.ts this monumental legislation not corporate tax he code to make american business more competitive and simplified tax code, but it also ensured that the vast are ity of americans getting to keep more of their hard-earned money than they did ago.ears between lower tax rates, the expanded standard deduction, the changes toredit, and the alternative minimum tax, the benefits of the tax cuts and jobs act reach far and wide nation, but today, the majority is seeking to undo some of that progress and push a temporary tax break that will only benefit a few wealthy individual in a few states. and local tax

deduction, or salt deduction, as primarily benefits only a select group of wealthy ls, generally people in the top 20% of income and a few high tax states. who own expensive homes. . this would allow individuals to temporarily claim a limited salt defunks for limited years of 2020 and 2021. mr. speaker, the benefits of this bill will overwhelmingly go to those already wealthy. according to the septre on budget and policy priorities, the top 1% of households would receive 56% of the been fit of repealing the salt deduction cap. let me repeat that, the top 1% get 56% of the benefits of refeeling the salt deduction cap. the top 5% of households will receive over 80% of the benefit. let me repeat that. the top 5% of income earners in

the country are going to get 80% of the benefit of this bill. amazing. the bottom 80% of all households would receive precisely 4% of the benefit. amazing. what's worse, the tax cut and jobs act that we have already acted to offset the reduced salt deduction by doubling the standard deduction. the tax cuts and jobs act we doubled that standard deduction for $12,000 to $24,000 for married couples. which offset an increase resulting from the lower salt deduction cap for the vast majority of taxpayers. before tcja, 30% of all taxpayers itemized deductions and could potentially benefit from a salt deduction. today just under 90% of all taxpayers take the standard deduction. this mass made tax filing significantly easier and more importantly for our purposes,

has meant that the vast majority of taxpayers who could potentially have benefited from a salt deduction already benefiting from the increased standard deduction. in the tax cuts and job act, the drafters of the bill made sure that the benefits were spread across all taxpayers. between doubling the standard deduction, doubling the child tax credit, and making it partially refundable and simply filing the tax code is hardly a taxpayer in america who did not see some benefit from the bill. here, unlike the tax cuts and jobs act, the benefits of h.r. 5377 will only go to a select group of people in a few key states and it will overwhelmingly go to people that are already wealthy. already wealthy. though the majority likes to claim that republicans only want to cut taxes for the rich, it's ironic that the majority is now pushing a special tax break that literally only benefits the rich.

but the bill is worse than that, mr. speaker. to pay for this short-term tax break for a few, the bill also increases the top marginal tax rate for all taxpayers on a permanent basis. that's correct. the bill imposes a permanent tax hike op all americans to give a short-term tax break for wealthy few. that type of tax change simply doesn't make any sense, mr. speaker. the tax code does need further reforms, no doubt about t those reforms should be those that increase the competitiveness of american business, simplify the tax code further to make it more comprehensive comprehensible to taxpayers. giving a few select me in a few states a short-term and complicated tax break simply doesn't meet these goals. with that, mr. speaker, i urge opposition to the rule and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oklahoma reserves. the gentlewoman from california, mrs. torres, is recognized.

mrs. torres: mr. speaker, school districts across america are struggling to recruit and hire teachers. in the fourth district of oklahoma, for example, there are 8,680 teachers, that currently receive the education expense deduction. this legislation doubles the above the line deduction for educators out-of-pocket expenses to 500. mr. speaker, i can imagine that these teachers would greatly appreciate being able to claim up to $500 out of pocket for the school supplies that they buy for their students. i want to tell the story from bra, debra is a teacher in oklahoma. and she has been a faithful public servant for 15 years. she teaches gifted students.

and she says, i literally had to choose whether to purchase items for my classroom and students or pay my bills. honestly the bills get put on the back burner. these are the type of public servants that this bill is tasked to support to ensure that they are not having to choose between paying their bills or buying supplies for their students. mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pascrell. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for three minutes. mr. pascrell: thank you. thank you, mr. speaker. i rise in strong support of the rule reported by the committee on rules providing for the consideration of h.r. 5377. restoring tax fairness for states and localities act.

i was an original co-sponsor of this legislation. last congress the middle class was targeted by the former house majority. the tax scam law 2017 remains one of the most destructive bills we have ever seen here because it specifically went after the middle class. the principal way it did this was by tapping the state and local tax, or salt deduction, one of the oldest deductions on the books. it existed before the tax code. nd it was a reason for it. this unfair cap hit new jersey like an anville dropped -- anvil dropped from five stories up. the average value of all new ersey families' deductions was $19,162 in 2017. that figure double the $10,000 cap.

this is not just about new jersey. the salt deduction directly benefited more than 46.5 million households which represents over 100 million americans. almost 40% of taxpayers earning between $50,000 and $75,000 claim the salt deduction. over 70% of taxpayers making 100,000 to $200,000 used it. imagine that. that's spread over millions of households from coast to coast. these are families in new jersey, illinois, new york, minnesota, kentucky, texas, not all blue states. that's where you made your mistake. you triled to nail us and got

everybody else -- you tried to nail us and you got everybody else. paving and paying through the nose to find a tax cut which you know went to big business and executives which didn't invest in the government, it didn't invest in this government bill. didn't invest in industry, invested in the pockets of shareholders. we know, look at the data. nd when i hold this up at my meetings, your home is worth less than it should be. that's happened all over the country. that's what it's done. get rid of all the deductions. see what will happen to charity donations. like some bad faith critics claim in 2017 the average salt deduction exceeded $10,000. in 25 states and the district of columbia. mr. torres: i grant an

additional 30 seconds to the gentleman. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for an additional 30 seconds. mr. pascrell: at least 10 are so-called red states the average deduction exceeded $9,000, including south carolina, idaho, arkansas, and west virginia. salt benefits flow to all communities like my hometown in paterson. salt relief empowers communities to make investments and broadly shared services. i want to emphasize this package is fully paid for. don't give me this malarkey about you're concerned about the poor people all of a sudden. it's like the sun coming out in the morning. all of a sudden. and we are only concerned, we are concerned about the rich doesn't work out that way. it doesn't work out that way. i yield back the balance of my ime. search the gentleman from new jersey yields back the balance of the time. the gentlewoman from california reserves. the gentleman from oklahoma is

recognized. mr. cole: thank you, mr. speaker. first, mr. speaker, i would ask unanimous consent to submit a statement of administration policy on this particular bill for the record. just noting that the president's advisors would advise him to veto this bill were it to pass. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. cole: thank you very much, mr. speaker. nobody i like better than my friend from new jersey, quite frankly. we are very good friends. we have worked together on a lot of good things. i got to tell you on this one we just disagree. the middle class is going to benefit from this bill? let me go through the figures again. the top 1% of income earners in america get 56% of the benefits in this bill. the top 5% get 80%. the bottom 80% get 4%. this is not a middle class bill. this is not even an upper middle class bill. this is a bill for pretty wealthy people. 96% of the benefits flow to people that make -- households that make more than $200,000 a year.

that's just -- won't yield. i want to yield to another speaker in a moment. you're the one that raised the issue. i'm going back to the numbers. the numbers are pretty clear. this is a targeted tax cut for wealthy people in a very few states. that's just the truth. now, with that, mr. speaker, i would like to yield to my good friend and fellow rules committee member, the gentlelady from arizona, for six minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from arizona is recognized for six minutes. i'm going to have to deal with this high because i can't figure out how to get it back down. you know, this -- most people would think that the most surprising bill to me that we voted on this clear was the articles of impeachment, but really that wasn't a surprise to me because i serve on the judiciary committee and since

january we have been doing investigations of president trump. so myself and many republicans predicted all along that the majority, the democrats in this house, were going to vote to impeach the president. it really wasn't a surprise to me. but this bill, this bill really surprises me. let me tell you why. it's because for years, oh, my goodness, i served in the arizona house of representatives for six years, another three years in the arizona senate. and for years every time the republican majority would cut taxes so that it would boom the economy and help everyone, my democratic colleagues then said, oh, my gosh, those republicans, they are just helping the rich. they are just helping the rich. they don't care about the little guy. they don't care about the middle class. and the same thing is said for

years now, years and years, by my democrats. colleagues and others that oh, those republicans, they just care about the rich. oh, baloney. he tax cuts republicans did in 2017, you can see the effect of those tax cuts. the economy is booming. there are more job openings than here are it jobs to fill them. this bill is an interesting bill because in the 2017 tax cut bill that the republicans put through , it said, you know what, states that are fiscally responsible that don't like have exorbitant property taxes, those constituents in my state of

say, -- what did you sir? id you say i was whacko? hank you, sir. we are ple in arizona responsible taxpayers. we don't have exorbitant property taxes. and i know people that live in new jersey, and i know how they complain how their property axes are so incredibly high. but people in arizona are fiscally responsible and that's why people are flocking to our state and other states with low taxes. and people in arizona and other states that are face cali responsible, they don't want to subsidize -- fiscally responsible, they don't want to subsidize the irresponsible states that have high taxes by

giving you guys huge deductions, huge deductions on their federal taxes. so in the republican tax bill we capped the deduction at $10,000. seems reasonable to me. in fact, the gentleman from new jersey, i think, just said recently the average deduction is $9,000. that's below $10,000. that's below the $10,000 cap. so they can deduct it. but here in this bill today you want to raise the cap to $20,000. then totally eliminate it in the next two years. . and when the republicans put forward amendments, one of the let's nts, ok, you know, not give this tax break to the 10% income earners, democrats rejected it. then, republicans had another

amendment that said, well, let's give this big tax break to earners.% income the democrats rejected it. my lease, the next time democratic colleagues and democrats throughout the nation, you say it is the are sparing the rich people, let's look at this is here.ause the proof no, it is you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from arizona yields. the gentleman from oklahoma reserves. california man from is recognized. mrs. torres: thank you, mr. speaker. fact is that republicans are their tax scam bill on the backs of hardworking americans. the fact is that there is a race under their

ways.ng gerrymandering o now that democrats are in charge in the house, we will to uphold and k ring up our hardworking families. in arizona's eighth congressional district, there 9,330 teachers claiming this expense deduction, and they should know that democrats stand with them to ensure that they bills e to pay their because no one should have to live in poverty because they are standing up for a future generation. speaker, i yield 1 1/2 minutes to the gentleman from brown.d, mr. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland, mr. brown, is recognized for 1 1/2 minutes. mr. brown: thank you, mr. speaker. want to thank representative

torres for yielding me time and new my good friend from york, congressman suozzi, for his work on this important legislation. mr. speaker, this bill fixes several alarming defects in giveaway trump's tax to the wealthy. it also takes steps to make our code fairer for working people. in 2017, my republican tried and failed to eliminate a $250 tax deduction for teachers buying school in lies for their children their classrooms. smaller education budgets have buy d too many teachers to classroom supplies to fill the gap. ore than 90% of public school teachers are not reimbursed for these expenses. 80,000 educators in maryland claimed this deduction on their taxes. teacher spends $479 of their own money buying i'm ies for our kids, so pleased this legislation

incorporates language from my that i filed in the 115th congress and again in his congress, the educators expense deduction modernization ct, which increases the deduction from $250 to $500. it's a small benefit for a financial make sacrifice. while it's critical for local chool districts and states to better fund educators and fund them, we can do more to make they are stocked with the supplies that our children need. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland yields back the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from california, -- mrs. torres, reserves. the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized. mr. cole: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. i cole: i advise my friend, have no objection of raising the tax credit for teachers or first responders or police.

those things i think are perfectly laudable parts of the bill. is simply thetion paid benefits are going to the incomes, and of that's just indisputable. mr. speaker, if we defeat the revious question, i will offer an amendment to the rule to immediately bring up h.r. 750, a resolution that expresses the sense of the house that it's the of the federal government to protect and promote individual choice and health insurance for all american and prevent any medicare for all proposal that would utlaw private health plans, such as the job-based coverage and medicare advantage plans. the houseis congress, rules committee held the first-ever legislative hearing medicare for tic all proposal. during that hearing, we heard about democratic proposed one-size-fits-all government-run health care but we also heard about the realities of that plan, how t would require a doubling of income and corporate tax rates

to implement how it would lead and how aits for care it would lead to 158 million current losing their coverage. that's all because medicare for all, if implemented, would health care e coverage. this includes coverage offered hrough the popular medicare advantage program, which gives 22 million americans health care. given that reality, it's wholly the house to r take this stand now. protecting individual choice and private health care plans should be a priority for this house. if we defeat the previous we will give every member of the house an say together with one voice. ask unanimous consent to submit the text of my amendment along with extraneous material immediately prior to the vote on the previous question. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. that, i urge a no vote on the previous question and reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the entleman reserves the balance

of his time. the gentlewoman from california is recognized. mrs. torres: mr. speaker, i minute to the gentleman from california, mr. levin. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is minute, mr. r one levin. mr. levin: i rise in support of the bipartisan restoring tax states and localities act, which i was proud to co-sponsor. many families in the north county san diego and south orange county communities i taken an have unexpected, unfair tax hit. the financial plans they had like whether to buy a new home, were upturned when washington republicans passed a that capped the state and local deduction. in my district, more than 58,000 people who make less than salt 00 per year claim deductions in 2017, saving $6,328 on average. of the families in california's 49th district have made serious long-term financial decisions in recent years based on the expectation that they this take advantage of

significant deduction. now, because of the republican that ll and the salt cap placed new limits on those deductions, their financial lans are being turned upside down. that's why i'm glad that we're legislation to restore the salt dougs. the house -- salt deduction. part.use is doing its now senate majority leader mitch mcconnell needs to do what's and bring this up for a hearing and a vote. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the yield an from california it's back t-- yields back the b his time. the gentlewoman from california reserves. the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized. mr. cole: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. would remind my friend, republicans offered an amendment in committee that would have frankly given the salt deduction the bottom 90% of all americans in exchange for continuing to charge it on the top 10%. i suspect that would cover the vast majority of his benefit.ents who might

i also remind everybody, the standard deduction was doubled. average people, the person came out ahead. it's only very wealthy people under this ound particular measure. with that, mr. speaker, i'd like minutes to my good friend, the distinguished former general from tennessee, mr. green. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. green: thank you. today i live say in the state of tennessee, and tennessee, we are a fiscally responsible state. capita the lowest per debt in the nation. our taxes are -- we have no tax at all. we have no investment income tax. a state has super high allow individuals to write that tax off, it's well-managed e states like tennessee who don't much.r people as so when you raise caps or you

those states ns, that are poorly managed, those tates that are high tax states to those individuals, are subsidized by the people in tennessee. up paying morend tax so that those states that less.orly managed can pay and you want to say that it's, oh, we got to do this for the ow-income individuals out there. well, how about those states just manage themselves better, less, and then e there won't be an issue? why should the people of ennessee have to subsidize states that can't manage themselves? mr. speaker, i yield. tempore: the o gentleman yields back. the gentleman from oklahoma reserves. california,man from mrs. torres, is recognized. mrs. torres: mr. speaker, i the record ect for bout the 2017 republican tax scam. we've heard today during this tax cuts t these

boosted our economy and that simply isn't the case. ask for unanimous consent to an rt into the record article from "forbes" entitled didn't work, cuts the data proved it" and i ask insert imous consent to into the record another article, tiled e is from cnbc "trump tax cuts did little to in 2018."omic growth the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mrs. torres: now, i'd like to one minute to the gentleman from new york, mr. suozzi. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. suozzi: thank you, mr. speaker. going to speak today on the rule, but i'm just so utraged when i hear people attacking states like mine and other states. my state, the state of new york, largest single net donor to the federal government of any tate in the united states of america. we send $48 billion a year, more to the federal government than we get back, and to hear this about irresponsible states

that are really subsidizing other states from the other speakers spoken on the other side today are so divisive in and our nation. we talk about this bill, about fairness.tax that's exactly what it is, tax fairness. are not fair that people taxed on the taxes they already paid. t's not fair that state and local governments that pick up the garbage and plow our road our children will be forced to have to worry of using subsidize other states. in place fair it's been place since 1913. it's completely unfair. point out one last point. 100% of this bill is paid for by highest earners in the united states of america. 00% is paid for by the highest earners. if my colleagues are concerned about wealthy not getting too them increase

the progressive tax even higher if that's what they really mean. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york yields back. the gentlewoman from california reserves. the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized. mr. cole: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. my friend y admires from new york more than i do. we worked on a number of issues, but let's be real. you're going to make the rich, i guess, in every state pay for the rich in your own state. the fact.t most of the benefit of this, 56% to the top its goes 1% of income earners. that's the fact. of it go to the top 5%. to people, households that make over $200,000 a year. numbers. just the now, some are used for worthy causes, i would agree with that. a permanent tax increase for a temporary tax cut, frankly, make a lot of sense and that's what we're dealing with here. that my d also suggest friends remember that the tax

cut that they were vialed so doubled the personal exemption for most people. that more -- so that was more deduction.lt $10,000 is a pretty good deduction to be able to take. make that much income that you can take a deduction that large, then you probably well so, again, i don't have any problem with people defending the interest of their states. perfectly appropriate thing to do. i don't have any problem with money for ing to use good purposes. to do.ly good thing benefits are for the very high income earners. ith that i am going to oppose it. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oklahoma, mr. cole, reserves. the gentlewoman from california, mrs. torres, is recognized. mrs. torres: i'm going to yield minute to the

gentleman from new york, mr. suozzi. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized for one minute. mr. uozzi: thank you, speaker. i won't take a full minute. i want to say how much i respect cole and i ith mr. have worked closely with him on many issues. on any of my colleagues he the other -- colleagues on the other side of the aisle have been boasting that people are like mine to move to their states and that's what one of the effects of this tax has been, by eliminating caps and and local tax what happens when people leave my state and move to the southwest or southeast? behind lower and middle income tax people to pick up the bill. about e trying to boast the fact that our states, which statesure and industrial that have old roads and old ridges and old sewers and schools, we have to fix up those legacy issues. we have to deal with pockets of poverty because we've been a longer time. those states, which are growing, us, oh,ey get money from we are subsidizing the rest of

the country, when they get money from the federal government, they using it for? new sewers and bridges and new hospitals and new schools and growing and bringing in new sales tax and property taxes and they are trying to take it when really it was because of the progressive income tax and money that's come helped states that's their states succeed. it is hypocrisy to suggest that states are somehow irresponsible. that ypocrisy to suggest they are concerned about the well-being of americans. i yield back. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized. mr. cole: i just advise my friend i'm prepared to close whenever she is. in the interim i'll reserve if she has more speaker. mrs. torres: i'm prepared to close. mr. cole: with that, mr. speaker, i yield myself the balance of the time and move to close. mr. speaker, in closing i oppose both the rule and the underlying measure, h.r. 5377. it's a deeply misguided and

partisan tax bill that sets up a temporary tax break for privileged few and seeks to trade it for permanent tax hike for the entire country. the bill temporarily removes the cap on state and local tax deduction. a benefit that will primarily go to wealthy taxpayers living in expensive homes and a few key states and localities. but to pay for this temporary boondoggle, the majority is adding a permanent hike at the top marginal tax rate. the benefits will go only to a few key privileged areas, but the cost is spread across the entire country. it makes very little sense to me to trade a temporary tax break for a permanent tax increase. and it makes even less sense to ask the entire country to pay for it in perpetuity for short-term tax break for a few areas with high state and local taxes. now, my friends have talked about the relative tax burden and who gives what and what state gives what.

let me -- as a former member of the budget committee, those numbers are, by the way, usually based on discretionary -- the discretionary portion of the budget. the reality is, i hate to say this because we have a big problem in front of us i don't think either party has confronted well, certainly not mine, i don't think my friend have, either, and i don't think this administration has and i don't think the last one. every state in america is a debtor state if you start adding in medicare, medicaid, those type of nonmandatory -- excuse me nonscreagsier expenditures. we have a big problem. it's related to an aging population more than anything else. the idea that some states are so-called donor states, i got to tell you, nobody's a donor state in america. we are running nearly a trillion dollar deficit. that deficit comes almost primarily because we simply not readjusted medicare and medicaid and social security to pay for the benefits that are being drawn out. i hope someday we'll work on that. actually have a bipartisan bill.

i used to carry it with mr. delaney, very good friend. presidential candidate for my good friends on the other side that would go back and set whaup we did in 1983 when rommed reagan and tip o'neill worked together. had a social security commission. we actually increased the revenue going into social security. i think that would have to be one of the long-term fixes. not simply cuts and reductions and reforms. that's a debate for another day. in closing, mr. speaker, american taxpayers in my view deserve better than what's in front of us here today. rather than making the tax code more regressive and more complicated, which this bill would do, we should further reform and simplify the tax code to make it easier for all taxpayers to understand. it should be making american businesses more competitive, and we should be taking steps that american workers can keep more of their hard-earned income. something i know we all want to do. in closing, again, just remember this. 56% of the benefits of this bill

go to the top 1% of income earners. the top 5% get 80%. the bottom 80% in terms of income get 4%. that should explain it all. it's why we should reject this bill. mr. speaker, i urge my colleagues to vote no on the previous question, no on the rule. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oklahoma, mr. cole, yield back the balance of my time. the gentlewoman from california, mrs. torres, is recognized. mrs. torres: mr. speaker, i want to start my clarifying a misconception that all of these taxes are forced upon taxpayers. this last election cycle local tax voted for -- to themselves to pay for affordable housing, for our homeless --

growing homeless population. to pay for improved roads. to pay for better water quality. so they should not be punished for filling the gap where the federal government has failed to do so. this bill is paid for by raising taxes for households making over $400,000. back to the levels before republicans passed their tax scam bill. california pays $13 billion more in federal taxes than it received from the federal government, according to a 2016 i.r.s. report. tennessee is the third most dependent state on federal resources.

so to argue here that we should punish the people for wanting to help provide for your constituents because you failed o do that is outrageous. oklahoma received $7.5 billion in federal funding in 2016. this bill is not about subsidizing those who already have too much. this bill is about stopping the double taxation on the same dollar. mr. speaker, we are here to try to give the middle class families a break. and undo the damage caused by the republican tax scam. and as we look forward to the new year, i want to take a minute to reflect on the work democrats in congress have done during the 116th congress.

whereas the republicans tax law provided seven drug companies $34 billion in tax cuts, in one year alone, last week democrats passed h.r. 3 to help seniors and american families afford their prescription drugs. whereas last january the president caused the longest government shutdown in history by pushing to irresponsibly use taxpayer dollars for an unnecessary border wall. democrats have fought for comprehensive funding bills that invest in our infrastructure, health care, national security, and to increase the federal minimum wage. whereas, the republican tax scam led to america's it 400

wealthiest people paying a much lower tax rate than the working class. democrats are here today because we believe in the middle class. repealing the cap on the state and local tax deductions will benefit taxpayers across our nation. i have heard my colleagues claim that this bill is for the wealthy. mr. speaker, do my colleagues remember voting on the largest x giveaway to the rich and corporations in america history? obviously they don't. but i am here to remind them that the biggest beneficiaries of the tax law that they passed were billionaires. the joint committee on taxation smimented that wealthy taxpayers making $1 million or higher received a tax cut of $37 billion in 2019.

mr. speaker, while the republican tax scam was a bill is he megarich, h.r. 5377 legislation for constituents like mine. working class americans. the cap on salt deductions is bad for our constituents. as the average californian pays over $18,000 in state and local taxes, which is almost double over the salt cap. again, to help improve the quality of life of the fifth largest economy in the world. no other state can claim that. as a result one million californians will pay $12 billion more in taxes due to the salt cap. in 2016 my constituents deducted almost $700 million in state and local taxes from their federal taxes. it is time to give them back -- to give them a break and give

them back the deductions that they once had. no one should have to pay taxes twice on the same dollar. i urge all my colleagues to vote for the rule and passage of h.r. 5377, restoring tax fairness for states and lalities act. -- localities act. mr. speaker, i urge a yes vote on the rule and the previous question. i yield back the balance of my time. i move the previous question on the resolution. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. the question is on ordering the previous question on the resolution. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. mr. cole: on that i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oklahoma requests the yeas and nays. those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. members will record their votes y electronic device. pursuant to clause 9 of rule 20, the chair will reduce to five

minutes the minimum time for any electronic vote on the question of adoption of the resolution. this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 227. the nays are 195. the previous question is ordered. the question is on adoption of the resolution. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the resolution is adopted. the gentleman from oklahoma. mr. cole: on that i would request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oklahoma requests the yeas and nays. those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. members will record their votes y electronic device. this is a five-minute vote, members. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly

prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 227. the nays are 196. adopted, and is without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the house will be in order. for what purpose does the gentleman from maryland seek recognition? will be in order. please move your conversations off the floor. for what purpose does the gentleman from maryland seek recognition? speaker, madam torres small, i rise pursuant to house of of the

december 16, 2019. i call up the bill h.r. 5430 and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. 5430, a billr. the united states of america, the united mexican states, and canada attached as an annex to the protocol replacing the north american free trade agreement. the speaker pro tempore: ursuant to the order of the house of december 16, 2019, the bill is considered as read and hoursbe debatable for two equally divided and controlled by the majority leader and the inority leader or their respective designees. the gentleman from maryland, mr. hoyer, and the gentleman from mccarthy, each will control one hour. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from maryland, mr. hoyer. mr. hoyer: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all

members may have five legislative days to revise and and insert remarks extraneous material on h.r. 5430. withoutker pro tempore: objection, so ordered. hoyer: madam speaker -- madam speaker, i yield myself one minute. the peaker pro tempore: gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. hoyer: this vote today, madam speaker, is a reminder was even while the house working on a serious matter regarding the president's abuses of ity for office, we are still working hard to deliver on our promises the american people to focus on economic opportunity. nd in this instance, we are working together. the usmca agreement before us is vast improvement over the first version shown to us by team.ent trump and his we worked together. that now includes critically mportant changes offered by democratic members in order to ensure that its enforcement stronger, that a

protects american workers, and -- that it protects american workers and lowers health costs prescription costs. this will remove the uncertainty created by the tariff policies pursued by the president. i am glad that our house democratic working group was new provisions to ensure that america's trading uphold the rights of orkers to unionize and bargain collectively. i am glad this agreement includes strong, rapid response that willt mechanisms allow us to block imports filths where these -- facilities where these commitments are violated. and this congress will be closely monitoring the enforcement of this new certain that ake the administration is doing its ob and workers' rights are protected. i want to thank speaker pelosi, hairman neal of the ways and

means committee, ambassador ighthizer who represented the administrati administration in his way.ghtforward, honest their hard work in negotiations with the white house to improve administration's initial draft were successful. i want to thank, as well, the members of the democratic who spent months working alongside the speaker nd chairman to fight for the provisions necessary to secure house support. agreement, madam speaker, is truly the product of ipartisanship with many victories for democrats which ll americans can be proud, and obviously victories for republicans as well. i hope we can approve it today bipartisan vote of support. and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. california isfrom recognized. r. mccarthy: madam speaker, i

yield myself one minute. the peaker pro tempore: gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. mccarthy: in sharp contrast to yesterday, today is the first rally is chamber can behind an overwhelming, sinceisan legislative win the beginning of this congress. more than a year ago, president trump came together with the canada to mexico and sign a transformative trade deal trade ll revamp how we deals with our top two leading traders. espite delay after delay from our democratic colleagues, republicans never relented. that erstood months ago the united states-mexcio-canada agreement would deliver a much-deserved win for the worker. today is for them. farmers our hardworking who have early mornings and long maintaining their harvest and livestock. consumers who will be paying less money at the checkout for their goods. it will be for a generation of

to icans that will be able enjoy a more prosperous and financially secure future for come.s to and because of that, republicans fought. we spoke to our constituents. deliver o the floor to speeches. i just did a report to see a yearr of times in the last usmca was mentioned on this floor. of all the times this was mentioned for this side of the aisle and 9% on the other. so i want to congratulate our members for never giving up. the oke about the wins usmca would deliver any chance e got, and we stayed in close contact with the administration to ensure it would be the right deal worthy of the american legacy. republicans also understood that the ratification of usmca would the united states to nger and we continued negotiate trade with china. i am glad today is here, but late. year mexico is our number one trader. canada is our number two, and

is number three. for the last year, we've been trying to negotiate an agreement with china. our hand would only have been if today happened months ago. i am glad today is here but the delay has hurt us. we move forward, another goal that president trump continues o make progress on is our negotiations with china. today will make him stronger and help his hand from the last year. our economy is booming, expectations on a regular basis. thanks to this president and pushing ns in congress pro-growth policies, we're living through the best economy in a generation. regardless if you are a republican or democrat, the strength of this economy is is the fact d that worth celebrating. the ratification of the usmca the trajectory continues to move in the same positive direction.

25 years, a revised trade agreement was well past due. i know other presidents promised they would be able to do it. easy by any and task, but it's another promise kept by this president and we him for his work. when president trump ran for was a passing the usmca campaign promise. critics said it couldn't be done, but he made it happen. promise made. another promise kept. i also want to commend the from ible support he had congressional republicans, especially our ranking member, entire team and the he has on ways and means committee. . you never let the democrat push back hold you back from delivering a major win for the american worker. today is a today worth celebrating. it is a day this house after nearly a year finally checked their partisanship at the door to better the lishese of the

american people. with that i ask that the gentleman from, mr. brady, be designated to control the remainder of our time. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman from texas reserve? mr. brady: i do. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: thank you, madam speaker. i am delighted to stand in support of h.r. 5430, the united states-mexico-canada agreement implementing legislation. the legislation we are considering today is a result of almost 14 months of negotiations between house democrats and ambassador lighthizer. and i'm very proud of the outcome that we have reached. as a result of these months of work, the usmca is a transformative agreement that creates a new high water mark for u.s. trade deals going forward. when we assumed the majority this year, we were asked to consider a renegotiated nafta that had structural flaws in a

key number of areas. enforcement, labor rights, environment, and access to medicines. let me start with enformente. which was the crux -- enforcement. which was the crux of the agreement. as i noted many times over the past year i did not vote for the original nafta. the chief reason was the lack of enforcibility mechanisms. during these past 25 years we have seen the shortcomings of the original agreement, much of which comes down to a lack of enforcement, in my view. house democrats working with ambassador lighthizer, we fixed many of those issues. the improvements to the usmca that we negotiated finally make the agreement enforceable by preventing a country from being able to block the formation of a dispute settlement panel. on labor, our trade agreements many cases have failed american workers. nafta has been symbolic of our

broken promises to these workers. over 25 years of nafta there have been 39 petitions filed documenting the exploitation of workers and zero enforcement actions taken to remedy those violations. in close partnership with labor unions and with the robust support of ways and means democrats, support from republicans we negotiated improvements to the rules and to our monitoring regime and we established a new enforcement mechanism. on the rules we strengthened certain provisions and addressed obstacles to enforcement in many others. on monitoring for the first time we have created a proactive monitoring regime for labor obligations in a trade agreement. the implementing bill establishes an interagency labor committee that will actively

monitor mexico's compliance and report back to congress. on enforcement, we negotiated a historic mechanism never included in a trade agreement before. as a result of democratic efforts, we will now have a facility specific, rapid response mechanism to address violations of key labor obligations. we have made great improvements to environmental provisions. the usmca will now include the highest environmental standards of any trade agreement in history, and will include a new customs verification agreement to enhance enforcement. the implementing bill, and i hope our colleagues in this chamber will hear this, the implementing bill also secures more than $600 million in funding for environmental problems in the nafta region, and re-authorizes the north american development bank.

through the dedication of the working group members, the trade subcommittee members, we also secured important changes to usmca that preserve congress' ability to change u.s. law to address the crisis we face with respect to high prescription drug prices. these changes seattle new standard for u.s. trade agreements and demonstrate trade agreements can achieve broad bipartisan support if they empower workers, protect patients, provide access to affordable health care, and improve our shared environment. i'm proud of what we did here. 14 months of negotiating on every conceivable front we have improved the old nafta. i want to remind our colleagues today, if they decide that they are not going to vote for this piece of legislation in front of us, that's up to them. but one thing they cannot say is this is not much better than what we have had in the past. the options here are clear. you can vote for what we have

negotiated, or you can embrace the status question. -- status quo. if this fails today that's precisely what you are doing, embracing the status quo. this agreement based upon the painstaking efforts of members of the committee and ambassador ghthizer, was done with full transparency, no surprises are in this legislation. i hope that today we can say at the end of the time limits that this was a successful negotiation of the largest trade agreement in american history. a hemispheric agreement that i think we can stand in support of with great pride today. and i reserve the balance of my ime. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from texas. mr. brady: madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman is recognized. mr. brady: yesterday with impeachment was a low mark in partisanship. today we have the opportunity to set a high mark in consensus and bipartisanship. today is a momentous day. we will timely consider the implementing bill that brings the trade relationship between the u.s., canada and mexico into the 21st century. this trade agreement is sorely needed. it's been over 25 years since we first established this trade relationship through nafta. so much has changed since then. for one thing, when we passed nafta, the phone booths by the ways and means hearing room actually had pay phones in them. a new 21st century trade agreement will be force multiplier for america's already strong economy. and today marks the day two years ago that the house approved the tax cuts and jobs act for the first time.

it's transformed america's commifment today president trump and ambassador lighthizer have fought hard and delivered on their promise for a pro-growth and modern trade pact. because of their outstanding leadership and working closely with our congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle we now have a trade agreement that will deliver historic wins for the economy. that's because this trade agreement is all about growth. usmca will set the stage for billions more in economic activity. if creates for the first time rules for competing in the digital economy through the advantage of america's manufacturers and farmers across so many sectors. it pries open canada's market for u.s. farmers and ranchers to sell american dairy, wheat, chicken, eggs, and turkey. it improves the competitive position of our manufacturers, service companies, and our small businesses. and it ends the race to the bottom created by what had been mexico's poor labor laws. and the agreement best of all is

enforceable. allowing us to challenge violations and stop countries from blocking these challenges. holding mexico and canada accountable for these new rules. more jobs, more american customers. america's innovators will get the tools they need to succeed here as we compete with countries like china. independent experts predict this new agreement will spur over $68 billion in new economic activity. and we are always looking to create more u.s. jobs, and this will create more than 176,000 jobs here in america, including 76,000 in our auto sector. that's good news for everyone. best of all for the american people, usmca is a truly bipartisan agreement. to chairman neal's credit, to his remarkable hard work, house democrats, including chairman blumenauer and my texas colleague, henry cuellar, and

many others, work in good faith with ranking member buchanan, ambassador lighthizer to get to a path to yes. we are so glad to see so many republican priorities were retained. in the agreement before us today we have labor, environmental rules that are realistic, they are measurable, enforceable. what is not in this agreement are provisions for which there is no consensus like the paris climate accord. it's not a perfect agreement, no trade agreements are. and we'll continue to work to improve the areas that we think can be in future agreements, but in any event american workers have a major victory in usmca and i'm proud to support it. it is a shame that speaker held it up for so long, it's been over a year since president trump and our north american neighbors signed the new u.s.-mexico-canada agreement. been over half a year since mexico ratified the initial agreement and they have undertaken transformational

labor reform. and due to democrats' misguided obsession with impeachment, they neglected moving forward on this pro-worker and pro-growth trade agreement for far too long. nonetheless, today i am so encouraged that we are here finally moving forward on this new strengthened north american trade agreement because in the end usmca will not be a republican win or a democratic win but a win for the american people. and a stronger, more prosperous alliance with our north american trading partners. thank you, madam speaker. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves his time. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: thank you, madam speaker. let me yield two minutes to the gentleman from oregon, the chairman of the trade subcommittee, mr. blumenauer, who also did an invaluable effort in terms of the working group that assembled the document that we will vote on this afternoon. the speaker pro tempore: the -- mr. blumenauer: thank you for your extraordinary ferts. 25 years ago nafta passed over strong opposition with serious flaws. at the beginning of this

congress we were given a bill by the administration that didn't address those problems. it didn't have the votes to pass. and it didn't deserve to pass. i am proud of the work with our chairman, with our working group, the speaker who periodically invested huge amounts of time to keep it on track, we have today, of course ambassador lighthizer, who was a great partner working with us. we are voting today on an agreement that has fundamentally been rewritten and strengthened. a personal priority for me was stripping unnecessary and harmful special provisions for big phrma. we strengthened labor protections and enforcement, these are game changers and the help of afl-cio president and again the speaker were invaluable. we have had environmental improvements. my colleague from oregon, suzanne bonamici, deserves great praise for being tenacious on

that. we will attack the raw sewage many of us saw flowing into the pacific in tijuana. we finally have come to an agreement that can and should be passed. i appreciate the hard work on all our colleagues and hope that this is a foundation that we can move forward to deal with challenges we have with a global economy with the same spirit of cooperation, innovation, and cooperation. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: i'm proud to yield two minutes to the leading republican on the trade subcommittee who was -- deserves great credit for this trade agreement, the gentleman from florida, mr. buchanan. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. buchanan: thank you. madam speaker, i rise today in support of the united states-mexico-canada agreement, but i want to say up front i'm so excited about the bipartisan effort that's going to make a big difference for american workers.

i want to thank our leaders on our committee. leader brady, chairman neal, chairman blumenauer. i want to thank all of you because this has been a team effort. it's exciting to see that. the house passes today with -- what the house passes today will bring us one step closetory finally modernizing and balancing the 25-year-old north american free trade agreement which supports nearly $1.3 trillion in economic activity and more than 12 million american jobs. passing usmca will update the united states' critical trading relationships with north american neighbors into the 21st century, high standard deal that benefits american workers, businesses, and the economy. in fact, according to the independent international trade commission, usmca will boost our economy by 68 billion and create another additional 175,000 new jobs. international trade is critical

to my home state of florida where we export more than $12 billion worth of goods and services to can in a dean and mexico, supporting 700,000 jobs. leveling the playing field for florida and the country increases access to our foreign markets, is critical to growing the u.s. economy, and creating good-paying jobs. florida has 15 deep water seaports including port manatee in my district. florida exports $10 billion in goods and services annually and adds more than $100 billion billion in economic value to our state. i want to also congratulate president trump because this is something for the last three or four years he's been very passionate about. ambassador lighthizer because without him i'm not sure we would be here today in his effort. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back the balance of my time. and urge support for this landmark trade agreement. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized.

mr. neal: thank you, madam speaker. i yield 1 1/2 minutes to the gentleman from georgia, whose legendary work on behalf of america is well-known to all. jeongman john lewis. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia is recognized. louis riddick madam speaker, i want to thank my friend -- mr. lewis: madam speaker, i want to thank my friend, chairman neal, for all of his hard and great work. he never gave up. he never gave in. he kept the faith. and he kept his eyes on the prize. i want to thank all of my colleagues, both democrats and republicans, from the ways and for finding a way to get us a way, to find a way to get us to the point where we are today. 26 years ago i opposed nafta with every bone in my body.

i never thought that today would come, when we would have the opportunity to right some of the wrongs in that agreement. nafta failed our workers. it failed our mexican brothers and sisters. t failed mother earth. nafta destroyed the hopes and reams of a generation. it started a race to the bottom. with this vote, we have a chance to reset the clock, to chart a new path, and to create a new trade model. we can always do more, but today we build a new foundation for trade policy. a law that reflects our values as a people and as a nation. i want to thank the working

group and all of our trade staffers for working day in and day out. thank you so much. they were determined to do right . and with that, i yield back the balance of my time. thank you, mr. chairman. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: madam speaker, i'm proud to yield three minutes to a free market conservative who is an outstanding chairman of the republican conference, the gentlelady from wyoming, ms. cheney. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from wyoming is recognized. ms. cheney: thank you very much, madam speaker. and thank you to the republican leader of the ways and means committee, my friend, mr. brady, for all his hard work and to chairman neal as well for the work on this. sadly, madam speaker, last night on the floor of this house the democrats impeached the president of the united states. without any direct evidence. after that we learned that despite the fact that they claimed for months that impeachment was an urgent

matter, speaker pelosi is refusing to send the articles of impeachment to the senate. i suppose we shouldn't be surprised, as leader mcconnell moments ago said these articles are a reflection of very shoddy work and a rigged and rushed process. the american voters will not forget the travesty that the house democrats have overseen. had they not been obsessed with impeaching president trump, we could have approved this very deal a year ago. and the bipartisan nature of this deal that we are here discussing today cannot cover up what happened on this floor last night. trade with mexico and canada is vital to our economy and my home state of wyoming. exports from wyoming to our north american partners totaled $207 million in 2018. this usmca will open countless new opportunities for wyoming

businesses, especially our ag producers, selling our goods like wheat and beef, increasing export opportunities and the thousands of jobs supported by trade in wyoming. usmca will also benefit our small and medium sized businesses who already comprise 67% of our state's exports of machinery to canada and mexico. for too long nafta allowed countries to take advantage of u.s. workers. usmca negotiated by the president -- usmca, negotiated by the president, is vital to strengthening our relationship with our north american trade partner, while still holding canada and mexico accountable. i support this crucial trade deal because it will be -- it will bring tremendous benefits to my home state of wyoming and all across the nation. and i urge its approval today. thank you, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the chair will receive a message. the messenger: madam speaker, messages from the senate. the secretary: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: madam

secretary. the secretary: i have been directed by the senate to inform the house that the senate has passed s. 2774, an act to direct the attorney general to establish and carry out a veteran treatment court program in which the concurrence of the house is requested. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: madam speaker, i now yield 1 1/2 minutes to the gentleman from texas, congressman doggett. mr. doggett: thank you. this agreement is good for moving commerce across our three countries. it means more jobs, it means lower prices for consumers. that's especially important in texas where the original nafta was signed only a few blocks from my san antonio office. mexico, our top trading partner, canada, our second. some were so eager for the commerce that could be produced by continuing nafta that they were willing to accept most any agreement. but we insisted that we get a much improved agreement to address the legitimate concerns of those who raised objection to previous agreements.

what we have today is an initial step, an important step, toward achieving a truly 21st century trade agreement that not only encourages trade, but protects the environment and recognizes the legitimate concerns of workers. this victory results from major changes in what president trump proposed 14 months ago. first, we secured additional funding for the north american development bank based in san antonio, which is important in addressing especially environmental concerns. second, and very significantly, we deleted the horrible big pharma power grab to extend its monopoly power for prescription price gouging. third, each country was forced to take all necessary measures to comply with multilateral environmental agreements which take precedence over trade. this includes an additional recent agreement to dramatically

reduce heat-trapping chemicals. in 2021, when we have a new president who actually believes in science, the agreement will facilitate, not impede, our response to climate crisis. and finally, instead of platitudes, we have an enforceable agreement to address worker concerns. let's celebrate a major step forward in building broad public support for trade. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: madam speaker, i'm pleased to yield two minutes to an outstanding technology leader on the ways and means committee, the gentleman from arizona, mr. schweikert. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from arizona is recognized. mr. schweikert: thank you, madam speaker. and, mr. brady, i appreciate our brothers on the other side. this is interesting. can i actually just -- i know we all have the points we want to walk through. can i actually sort of take a step sideways and sort of do more -- a unified theory reason why i think getting this done is

so incredibly important? we talk about our issues with trade with china. we're living in a time right now where supply chains are choosing where to move around the world. the fact of the matter is that we're going to move north america into a stable, much morrow bust -- we know what the rules are -- trading block. gives us a chance to try to draw much more of the world's supply chains, manufacturing, trade, commerce, as we get to be one of the key hubs in the world. look, the fragility, the disagreements, hopefully that's beyond us now. being from the state of arizona, we also accomplished a number of things in this trade agreement that are really important. the rules where small businesses , internet-based businesses, now have a fighting chance to engage in commerce, back and forth across the border. some of the other rules of protections of i.t. and data.

we truly have modernized much of this agreement. will this help the united states? i sure hope so. because you actually see a number of the predictions that this draws almost a half a percent of g.d.p. in growth. that's wonderful. i wish we could have done this a year ago but we're finally getting it done. we're living almost in a miracle of economic growth and economic stability. this just actually adds one more leg that we can keep this going, because we got the tax policy right. we demonstrated we've also got the international part of the tax policy right. now hopefully we're getting part of the trade right. can we continue to lift this economic expansion miracle longer? and i will make the argument, getting this usmca done is incredibly important to this success. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: thank you, madam speaker.

we consider it a bit of a miracle that the gentleman from did not show up with his charts -- that the gentleman did not show up with his charts. i now yield 1 1/2 minutes to the gentleman from california, whose invaluable work on the committee and a steady hand all of the time is very much appreciated, congressman thompson. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. thompson: thank you, mr. chairman. madam speaker, i rise in strong support of the -- of the usmca implementing legislation. as a member of the working group, i can tell you how far we've come. the original agreement that was sent to congress was a total failure at protecting workers' rights, providing access to affordable medicine, and protecting our environment. further, it wasn't enforceable. the bill we have before us today is the result of tireless work from speaker pelosi, chairman neal, the working group members who represented the diverse views of congress. with gains achieved through our negotiations, this trade deal will set the standard for all future trade agreements.

it is enforceable, it protects workers, it helps address serious environmental issues, and it protects access to affordable medicine. finally, i really want to say thank you to the staff who worked tirelessly to get us to this day. there were a lot of late nights and a lot of weekends sacrificed to reach this deal. specifically i'd like to thank the catherines. catherine t. and catherine m., the trade subcommittee staff, alexandria, john, julia, kate, katie and keegan. and from my staff, my trade person, jennifer, on my staff. i commend the speaker, the chairman and all the members who worked so hard to get us here because all of those good things that both sides have been talking about today were not in the first draft that we got from the white house. this is a good bill because we made it a good bill. ask everybody to support this bill. i yield back the balance of my

time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: madam speaker, i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the outstanding republican whip, the gentleman from louisiana, mr. scalise. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from louisiana is recognized. mr. scalise: thank you, madam speaker. i thank chairman brady for yielding and i want to thank all the people that we've worked with to get to this point. because passing the united states-mexico-canada trade agreement is going to be a major victory for american workers. yet another sign that we can improve on our current trade relationships, i think a lot of people were concerned that maybe the president would pull out of nafta, because he was clearly critical of the flaws of the previous agreement. but what he did was actually go and negotiate with mexico and get a better deal for american workers. then he went to canada, who might have been a little more reluctant, but got a better deal with canada as well. and so what you see is not only a trade agreement that is a major win for the american

economy, conservative estimates show over 160,000 new jobs get created, agriculture gets a big win because many of our products that we can't sell to canada, will be able to now be sent to those markets. so this shows how congress can work with this administration to do something that's really good for american workers. but what it also does, madam speaker, is it sends a message to the rest of the world that we can work with our friends to get better trade deals. our other friends around the world who would like to work to get better trade deals but knew if you can't get a deal with your neighbors from the north and south, you can't get a deal with anyone else, now this tells them that we can close deals and that there are other countries lining up that want to be a part of this economy. we have the hottest economy in the world and it's only going to get better for workers here. but it then sends a message to china that not just america wants to send, but a message that all of our allies around the world want to send, that

when you do business with america, you have to follow the rules. you can't play by your own set of rules. so now for enforcement of deals it really shows that china's going to have to become part of the world economy and play by the rules that everyone else in the world plays by. and that's an important win for all of those forgotten men and women across this country who appreciate the work president trump's done, bob lighthizer who has been his quarterback on this all the way through, and everyone else. so it's going to be a big win for our country, for our economy. with that, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. . mr. neal: i want to yield 1 1/2 minutes to the gentleman from connecticut, again, a member of the working task force. whose keen mind and good sense is always very helpful for these debates, congressman john larson. the speaker pro tempore: i -- mr. larson: i thank the chairman, madam speaker.

it's always a pleasure to know that what this body can do when we work together. i also want to associate myself with the remarks of the chairman for his incredible leadership. in his opening remarks he underscored the key word that is central to this agreement, that is far different from the previous nafta agreement, it's enforcement. and it was his tenacity and the tenacity of the working group anti-subcommittee that made this happen. -- and the subcommittee that made this happen. i commend speaker pelosi for her work and clearly for all the working members of the task force for the effort they put forward. mike thompson has already credited the staff for their outstanding work, and i specifically want to thank rosa delauro who also was there for the first nafta vote as well. and is a strong and tenacious

defender of labor and the work rosa delauro, the work of president trumpka. the work of ambassador lighthizer. these were salient reasons that underscored mr. neal's premise that enforcement at all levels, but specifically as it related to labor and environment needed to be put in place. with that i thank you. and yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: madam speaker, proud to yield two minutes to the leader, republican leader of the tax policy subcommittee, the gentleman from nebraska, mr. smith. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from nebraska is recognized. mr. smith: thank you. i almost heard my colleague, mr. larson, appreciate -- i thought heard him say president trumpka.

thought he was going to say president trump. i appreciate the few nudges we have seen over the last few weeks that have brought us to this point and i certainly appreciate the work of ambassador lighthizer. many on president trump's team who have worked so hard to get us to this point. representing an agriculture powerhouse district, third district of nebraska, where our farmers and ranchers work very diligently and efficiently to help feed america anti-world. we need good markets for them. trade relationships in north america are so important and that we have this opportunity to modernize nafta heading us in the direction to even more markets and really reflecting the needs of our economy and the economy across north america. we have got this opportunity to bring people together, especially in light of events this week. i certainly appreciate this opportunity and our leader on the ways and means committee,

both mr. brady and the chairman as well. this is a great time to work together. i look forward to its passage and urge everyone's vote yes. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: let me recognize the gentleman from wisconsin, mr. kind, for 1 1/2 minutes. his advocacy on behalf of agriculture is well-known to all in this body. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin virginia tech. mr. kind: i rise in proud support of this trade agreement much it is important we have a strong trading relationship with our two border neighbors, mexico and canada. i just caution my colleagues who choose to vote no on this. that a no vote is a return to the failed policy of the old nafta. the status quo. rather than this more modernized version. i'm happy that dairy farmers will have greater access to the canadian market. we made progress on poultry and eggs. we tightened up the sanitary standards so those decision vs. to be made on sound science rather than arbitrary decision

that is block our exports. we have perhaps the strongest worker protection chapter ever in a trade agreement, enhanced environmental standards, all to level the playing field for our workers, farmers, business, so they can fairly compete rather than trying to compete in a race to the bottom. perhaps most importantly we have the strongest enforcement chapter ever, we look forward to working with mexico and canada to implement it the right way to make sure we are playing by the same rules. this is solid and i want to commend the chair, the ranking member, the working group but also the staff of the countless hours you put in to get to us this place, but especially ambassador bob lighthizer through his perseverance and patience throughout the months. these were difficult negotiations. this is what bipartisanship looks like on the house floor. we are able to get this across the floor. i encourage my colleagues to support this agreement. support the northern hemisphere economy. show the rest of the world that we are back in business. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: madam speaker, i yield two minutes to a main street businessman and republican leader of the oversight subcommittee, the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. kelly. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. mr. kelly: i thank the gentleman. madam speaker, it's great to stand here today. and what a difference a day makes. it's really good to see members on both sides of the aisle stand up and say, you know, we are getting things done for america. and i would like to say, this is a christmas gift that's wrapped up in paper that's read, white, and blue -- red, white, and blue. it's a jobs bill. 176,000 jobs, $68 billion in new revenue. this is arrived at because in 2016 a candidate for the presidency made the same commitment that everybody that every runs for the president says, if i get elected, i'm going to make sure we replace nafta with something that makes sense for american workers. promise made, promise kept. 45th president of the united states has been on a tear of improving this economy. now, having said all that, i do

have friends on both sides of the aisle, i just think that sometimes we are on the floor here it's impossible to show that. and there is a saying that at christmastime, peace on earth, good will to men. that's not the saying. it's peace on earth to men of good will. that's a saying we need to take here. one story i will share with you as a child i used to write a letter to santa claus every christmas. i would tell him everything i wanted. and i would come down christmas morning, i never got everything i wanted. but i was sure as heck thankful for everything i got. this is a tremendous jobs bill for america. this is a tremendous accomplishment. i can't imagine anybody not voting for this. i do want to take this opportunity to wish all of us a very merry christmas and all the people back home and staffs on both sides, thank you for everything you did. this is the way america is supposed to work and should continue to work as we end 2020 and go -- end 2019 and go into 2020. it's a wonderful opportunity to show america that on the people's floor, the house of

representatives, we can actually get things done. i want to thank you. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: thank you, madam speaker. always an honor to endorse the speaker of the house and welcome her to the floor but point something out. weekends, from brussels, from madrid, from paris she called me. on the final weekend time and again with the u.s. trait rep on the line, the three of us went back and forth with rich trumpka who was in pennsylvania on vacation who couldn't have access until 5:00 in the evening, the speaker was totally involved in this endeavor. most importantly she called me in the middle of the patriots game and i was smart enough to take the call. the speaker of the house. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california is recognized. the speaker: yes, i was watching what was happening with san francisco 49ers and the

baltimore ravens. sports, sports, certainties ever our lives. that's a unifying factor. we are all for our teams, aren't we, and hopefully we are all team u.s.a. now we can prove that on this u.s.-mexico-canada agreement. while i was calling the distinguished chairman, i was in brussels for 5th anniversary of the bat. bulk. we had a bipartisan delegation there to thank our veterans, all of them in their 90's, many of whom who were there so we could thank them personally and be there to see them acknowledged by heads of state and the rest. and in terms of staying it was about we are still in it when it comes to the paris accord. work, work, work. but this was a priority and time was important. we were trying to get it done as soon as it met the standards that we shared. i proudly rise to join my colleagues on this exciting day

as the house passes an historic trade agreement that is truly worthy of the american people. new and dramatically improved u.s.-canada-mexico trade agreement. we salute, i salute chairman richie neal, a lifelong champion for working people, the maestro in the house on our side of this process, who helped deliver a trade agreement that will serve as a model for future trade agreements. i thank each member of the trade working group who worked so hard to improve the product that was sent originally by the administration nearly two years ago to where we are now. i thank chairman earl blumenauer, chairman of the trade subcommittee. congresswoman rosa delauro, congressman john larson, congresswoman january schakowsky, congressman mike thompson, congresswoman terri sewell, congresswoman suzanne bonamici, and congressman jimmy

gomez, each working on the different categories i mentioned. enforcement, labor rights, environmental protections, and pharmaceuticals. i thank every member for their wisdom, leadership, and commitment to delivering for the people during this process. i was just asked in a press conference, aren't you giving, mr. brady, i was asked this question, aren't you giving the president a victory to boast about? i said that would be collateral benefit if we can do -- come together to support america's working families and the president wants to take credit, so be it. that would not stand in the way of our passing this. however, i do want to point out some of the distance we have come from the president's original product. house democratic caucus is united in our values and our priority to make progress for america's working families in everything we do, including this trade agreement. we all thank trade representative lighthizer, mr.

ambassador, for being an honest broker and straight shooter with us as we worked toward an agreement. not every day without it's, shall we say, exuberances, but this day is possible because the hard work of many members representing every corner of our country. we thank richard trumpka, president of the afl-cio, true warrior for workers who helped secure an agreement that is light years better than what the administration proposed two years ago. democrats knew that hardworking americans need it more from the usmca than just broken nafta with better language but no real enforcement. that was my concern. we just can't come up with a bill that's a little sugar on top and say this is better because the impact on workers would be felt for a long time. we knew we could do better. the original usmca draft put forward by the administration

fell far short than where it is now. still left many american workers exposed to losing their jobs to mexico, included unacceptable provision, locking in high drug prices, came up short on key environmental standards, critically lacked the toughest effective enforcement that -- enforcement that is are essential to protecting american jobs and holding our trading partners accountable to their promises. after months of democrats working with the trade representative, we have key changes to the usmca that make this a truly transformative agreement for america's workers. now with democratic changes the usmca has the strongest enforcement mechanism of any u.s. trade agreement. again in contrast the original usmca draft which would have allowed nations who do not live up to their obligations to stop enforcement complaints from even being heard. democrats' changes prevented nations from panel blocking.

for workers, while the administration drafted stacked the deck against labor violation claims, our changes enact new rules and monitoring tools to protect american workers, prosecute labor violations, and ensure that mexico is complying with labor reforms. included another point is for our workers including by establishing a labor attache based in mexico that would provide on-the-ground information with mexico's labor practices and creating facilities specific rapid law enforcement mechanism to stop trading goods that violate this agreement. this is -- these are not technical changes. these make a big difference. for the environment whereas the administration's draft had weak environmental rules and tilted the playing field against violation claims, democrats have strengthened the rules and enforcement tools and lowering pollution and increasing resilient infrastructure. sadly while the administration

refuses to acknowledge the existence let alone the urgency of the climate crisis, our changes in the usmca set a firm footing for progress when we have a president who brings us back to the paris accord. by the way, when we were in spain on the subject, our large bicameral delegation's team was, we are still in when it came to the paris accord. for lowering prescription drug costs the white house draft contained unacceptable giveaways for big phrma that would have locked in high prescription drug prices. . democrats have eliminated these handouts to big corporations and improved access to life-saving medicines. the changes house democrats have secured in the usmca make this a truly transformational trade agreement, as the afl-cio wrote in their letter of support last week. we are secured an agreement that working people can proudly

support. working people, this is still a quote, are responsible for a deal that is a vast improvement over the original nafta and the flawed proposal brought forward in 2017. for the first time there truly will be enforceable labor standards. the usmca also eliminates special carve-outs for corporations like the big giveaway to big pharma and the administration's initially proposal and loopholes designed to make it harder to prosecute labor violations. the usmca is far from perfect, but there's no denying that the trade rules in america are now fairer because of the hard work of so many people and our perseverance. working people have created a new standard for future trade egotiations. i think this is in conclusion. i may have another thought. the strength of the usmca is recognized from groups representing tens of millions of americans across industries and

geographies. labor groups and trade organizations, i'll submit for the record. farm growers, farmers, growers and ranchers, groups representing businesses around the country, social justice and faith-based organizations such as net worth. the list goes on and on it. will be part of the statement that i submit for the record. this is a strong agreement that honors our promises for the people, to give us bigger paychecks and makes a difference for millions. with all the respect in the world for our neighbors. i respect the greatness of mexico as our neighbor and the friendship that we have and want to engender and our neighbor to the north, canada, with respect to them. our responsibility was to have a trade agreement that lifted all workers in our hemisphere, our first responsibility was to american workers. i urge a bipartisan vote for the usmca and urge senator mcconnell to take the bill up quickly. we can send it right over, he

can take it up any time. if the senate republicans care about workers, they will no doubt join us to send this bill to the president's desk. in the house and in the senate. with that, i again commend our chairman, -- commend our chairman for his outstanding work much i know you have a good -- work. i know you have a good rapport with the ranking member braidy. i thank all the members who are -- brady. i thank all the members who are responsible for bringing this to the floor. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the letters will be entered into the record. the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: yes, madam speaker. pleased to yield two minutes to a key member of the ways and means committee who hails from a huge trade state, ohio, dr. wenstrup. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio is recognized. mr. owens: thank you. madam speaker, -- mr. wenstrup: thank you. madam speaker, for other over a year the administration and republican members of congress have emphasized the urgency of passing this agreement. the usmca.

with this bipartisan vote, and with the hard work from both sides of the aisle, we finally have the opportunity to rebalance north american trade. in spite of delays, this opportunity that exists for all americans is finally here today. it's been 25 years since our north american trade agreement was established and it has not been updated to reflected modern economy. under this new trade agreement, our farmers, manufacturers and workers will finally have a deal that modernizes north american trade, boosts our economy and strengthens our nation's role in the global trading market. american farmers will now have increased access to the canadian market, to sell products like dairy, poultry, eggs and wheat. a vast improvement over the status quo. it improves intellectual property provisions, protects innovation, safeguards american trade secrets in canada and mexico through certain protections that are strong.

usmca also modernizes trade with canada and mexico by establishing a new gold standard digital trade chapter to continue the growth of our digital economy. and it includes a new chapter dedicated to helping small and medium-sized businesses which make up 98% of our nation's exporters. our economy relies on trade with our north american neighbors and these additions will support american companies, farmers and workers. in fact, usmca's predicted to create over $68 billion in new economic activity and 176,000 new jobs here in america. usmca is a win for the united states and a win for north america. at long last americans will have an updated trade agreement that works for them and the stage is set for further agreements that help hardworking americans. i want to thank the president, ambassador lighthizer, and all of my colleagueser to working so hard on this over the -- colleagues, for working so hard on this over the last couple of years. i encourage members to support

this and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: thank you, madam speaker. i want to yield 1 1/2 minutes to my friend from new jersey, congressman pascrell. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pascrell: i want to thank the chairman and i want to thank mr. brady. want to thank mr. blumenauer and mr. buchanan for a great job that they did. and also mr. lighthizer, a different kind of guy and i really believe that he was essential to getting to this vote today. you know, in my entire political anyone say er had to me that, as was said today, that if you vote against this, you're voting for the status quo. i even got a jerry garcia tie on

today. me and the status quo don't agree most of the time. so, there's some questions that do remain. the ship of human rights has not been righted. the president never once mentioned in any speech from 2016 to now about human rights, about workers' rights, in discussing nafta. mexican workers are still being treated like chattel. american jobs will still flow to other countries. protection unions will still own the day. , but this bill has made the improvements, many improvements. but it's not enough. and some can say, well, is there ever enough? there are too many questions. will mexico be held accountable

to fully enforce their labor laws? we don't know. can i have 20 seconds? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: madam speaker, i'm proud to yield two minutes to an outstanding new member of the ways and means committee, the gentleman from kansas, mr.estess. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kansas is recognized. ms. esty: thank you, madam speaker -- streststrest thank you, madam speaker -- mr. estes: thank you, madam speaker. i'm proud today to recognize this agreement. since president trump announced the usmca over a year ago, i've urged my colleagues across the aisle to support us, to join us in supporting this important trade agreement and getting it across the finish line. today i'm thrilled to speak on the floor and ask my colleagues to support it one for one last time -- support it for one last time. the journey to today has been longer and harder than it should have been. thises had taken a back see the -- this has taken a back seat to

partisan politics, causing people to miss out on economic growth and jobs in the meantime. today we're taking a giant step forward in finally making this free and fair trade a reality. the u.s.-mexico-canada agreement will create 176,000 new jobs in our country, and will boost the national g.d.p. by $68 billion. it's important for farmers and ranchers in my state, the usmca opens up new markets for american dairy, wheat, chicken, eggs and turkey for the first time. this deal also helps u.s. manufacturing jobs and increases wages. nafta was created 25 years ago and the usmca will now be the first trade agreement with a chapter dedicated to digital trade and sets new standards for labor and the environment. i want to thank president trump and ambassador lighthizer for their incredible leadership over the last couple of years, to follow through on another campaign pledge, and negotiate this update to nafta. i also want to thank chairman neal and ranking member brady for their leadership to ensure

that our ways and means committee and congress were involved in this process all along the way. this is an important victory for president trump and for millions of farmers, ranchers and workers across our country who will benefit from the usmca. as a strong advocate for free and fair trade, i proudly support the usmca and look forward to working with the senate to send this to the president's desk as soon as possible. with that, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: madam speaker, i want to yield 1 1/2 minutes to the gentleman from illinois, a well-known champion of all things chicago and a great advocate of working men and women, congressman davis. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois is recognized. mr. davis: thank you, mr. chairman. i've always been told that if there is righteousness in the heart, there's beauty in the character. and i think what we have seen this week and what we are seeing

today is the righteousness of the members of this house who take the position that while neither side will get everything that it wants, i certainly won't get everything that i want in the state of illinois, but, you know, i've got dairy farmers, not as many as ron kind may have in wisconsin, i've got corn growers in illinois, soybean growers, maybe not as many as there are in iowa, but the comprehension -- comprehensiveness of the communities that we represent demand that we come together. so i want to commend chairman the our ranking member, working group, the speaker of the house, because it took all of them to make this work.

so, mr. chairman, i'm going to vote for it. i admit that i feel a great deal like bill pascrell, but i'm going to vote for it because we need to come together and do what we can for the american people. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: madam speaker, proud to yield two minutes to a happy hoosier, who is a champion for low tariffs and fair trade, the gentlelady from indiana, mrs. walorski. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from indiana is recognized. mrs. walorski: thank you, madam speaker. i'm indeed happy. i am thrilled today to actually be here and cast my vote for the u.s.-mexico-canada agreement or the usmca. i can't tell you enough of what it will do for our district in northern indiana. the hardworking hoosiers in indiana's second district are builders and grorse. we manufacture most of the

r.v.'s you see on the road and a large portion of boats and trailers that you see on many lakes. we manufacture auto parts and musical instruments. our farmers put food on the table, including corn, soybean, pork, duck, eggs and dairy products. mexico and canada are key export markets for all of them and the workers they employ. spend 25 -- it's been 25 years since nafta has been enforced. technology, transportation and consumer habits have all evolved. nafta, however, stayed the same. politicians promised the sky when it came to trade agreements but president trump promised to modernize nafta and unlike anyone else, he kept that promise with usmca. usmca dismantles trade barriers, this stood in the way of american exports for so long. for farmers in my district, this means more dairy, more poultry and more eggs are heading to canada. for manufacturers this means fewer paperwork headaches that slow down shipments and prevent

them altogether. for businesses of all sizes and types and shapes, this means ecommerce standards that promote fair competition and will be used in a standard in future agreements. for workers this means more jobs staying in the united states. robust enforcement ensures that the potential of usmca doesn't evaporate overnight. the promises made by all sides will be promises kept by all sides. madam speaker, this day is long overdue, but i'm so happy it's finally here. our economy is booming, thanks to tax cuts and regulatory reforms. and now usmca will keep that momentum going. it will put more money in workers' pockets and it will help small businesses thriving. big win for president trump and ambassador lighthizer. big win for america. i urge my colleagues to support this agreement and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from texas -- the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: it's a pleasure for me to introduce a real champion of working men and women

everywhere, the gentleman from buffalo, new york, congressman higgins. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. higgins: thank you, mr. chairman. and madam speaker. the economic future of buffalo and western new york is strategically tied to southern ontario, which is 1/3 of the entire population of the country of canada. i'm pleased that this agreement strengthens the u.s.-canadian economic and light quality relations. i am concerned, however, that the u.s.-mexican economic relationship is more challenging. the united states has lost six million manufacturing jobs in the past 20 years. 53,000 manufacturing businesses have closed. nafta's promise of wage convergence, bringing mexican wages to canadian and u.s. standards, has failed. the mexican minimum wage is $5.10 a day, less than 64 cents an hour. we have good reason to be skeptical of mexico's commitment to do better. the usmca, however, because of

chairman richard neal's leadership and emphasis on rigorous enforcement, does have the potential for improved mexican compliance and wages, the environment and labor standards. and i yield back. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: i'm proud to yield two minutes to a fellow texan and leader interest the dallas-fort worth area and free-throw, the gentleman from texas, mr. marchant. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas virginia tech. mr. marchant: thank you, mr. chairman. the united states-mexico-canada agreement is a revolutionary trade deal that will usher in a new era of economic prosperity and growth for americans across the country. texas in particular stands ready to thrive under this agreement. our state exports more to mexico than any other. and is second in the exports to canada. each year over $135 billion

worth of texan goods are sent to our two closest trading partners. supporting over 114,000 jobs in texas. the reforms in the usmca will ensure we continue to have free and fair access to international marketplaces, keeping prices low for americans, and business booming for business and workers. mr. chairman, i would like to thank today both you for shepherding this through, and my good friend and ranking member, and the members on the other side of the aisle that i believe worked -- i have been in legislatures for a long time and i always believed that on this bill that you were trying to get to yes on it. i appreciate the hours that you met. and texas will appreciate every

vote that's cast for this bill. yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas yield back. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: madam speaker, i'm glad to yield 1 demaff 1/2 minutes to the gentlelady from alabama, congresswoman sewell, who again was an invaluable member of the trade working group and her advocacy for people in her constituency is well-known to all. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from alabama is recognized. ms. sewell: madam speaker, i rise today in strong support of this trade deal. i was honored that speaker pelosi asked me to join the democratic trade working group. we, the gang of eight, along with you, mr. chairman, worked tirelessly for six months negotiating with bob lighthizer, the ambassador. the u.s. ambassador on trade. we took what was a very weak and unenforceable trade deal and made it into a renegotiated trade agreement that will protect american workers and businesses. this bill we vote on today is a

renegotiated usmca. i am particularly proud of the working group won two major concessions on enforcement. first we closed the panel blocking loophole and created a strong state-to-state mechanism for enforcement. second, we created a first of its kind rapid response mechanism to improve labor enforcement in mexico. this deal is a win for the steel workers and steamsters in my alabama district. it is a win for the automobile manufacturers and steel industry in the state of alabama. and it is a win for alabama farmers and agriculture producers. this renegotiated trade agreement is a much improved north american free trade agreement and it's because of that i ask my fellow colleagues to support it. i want to again thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank the speaker, speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, my fellow gang of eight working group members, as well as bob lighthizer, and especially our hardworking staff. i want to thank especially

katherine and my own staffer, rob for all their hard work on getting us there. i do believe this is a win for everyone and i urge my colleagues to support this new renegotiated usmca. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: madam speaker, proud to yield two minutes to champion of manufacturing and leader, republican leader social security subcommittee, the gentleman from new york. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized >> thank you, madam speaker. i thank the member from my -- my colleague from texas for yielding. madam speaker, i rise today because this is a good day. i don't want to discuss yesterday. i don't want to discuss issues that divide us in this chamber. i want to discuss today, the mexico-canada trade agreement because that's brought us together . when we come together, who wins in that situation? not us as members of the house of representatives.

not us here in washington, d.c. mr. reed: but the american people. and you know over the last few years, remind me recently this morning about two years ago we delivered on tax cuts and i stood exactly right here and i knew that was going to unleash the american economy. we have an economy now at an all time high. 50-year lows of unemployment. 1.4 million new jobs in america. and today we have come together for the american worker, the american farmer, and we have united as democrats and republicans to do something good for our fellow citizens and that's this updated mexico-canada trade agreement. as i stood here two years ago and i had a discussion with my good friend from new york no longer here, mr. crowley, i declared in one voice saying hell, yes, i'm going to vote for those tax cuts and hell, yes, i'm going to vote for this mexico-canada trade agreement because what we are doing here is again unleashing the power of america. standing together it is amazing

what we can accomplish. and i applaud chairman neal. i applaud the democratic working group. i applaud the other side of the aisle for standing with us today for the american workers and american farmers. i also applaud president trump and having the vision and the leadership to take on this issue when everyone told him it cannot be done. i applaud kevin brady and devin nunes and members of the ways and means committee that stood forward and said you know what we are going to do? we are going to make sure we stand for a principle we believe in. that is the american opportunity of a job and an economy that is growing and playing on a field across the world where we have a fair and level playing field of trade. because when we have fair, free trade, the american worker wins each and every day. thank you. i ask my colleagues to support this legislation. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized.

mr. neal: i want to yield 1 1/2 minutes to the gentlelady from washington, congresswoman dell ben, whose well acknowledged -- delbene, whose well acknowledged efforts is a knowledge forecaster of international economic the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from washington is recognized. ms. delbene: thank you, mr. chairman. madam speaker, i rise today in support of u.s.-mexico-canada agreement and implementing legislation. congressional democrats worked hard to secure labor specific enforcement tools and robust environmental provision that is make that agreement a substantial improvement over the original nafta. most importantly, this new agreement helps many of my constituents. now our dairy farmers will have greater market access to canada. and our wineries will have an easier time selling their wine in british columbia. when this new agreement is in place, it will be the first u.s. trade agreement with a digital

trade chapter. it includes provisions on data localization, cross border data flows, and other requirements that preserve a free and open internet. that is important to all segments of our economy. my district is home to a vibrant technology industry that's responsible for thousands of good-paying jobs and helps power america's large trade surplus in digital services. i hope my colleagues will join me in supporting this agreement and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: madam speaker, i yield two minutes to the republican leader of the health subcommittee and the outstanding leader of the permanent select commee on intelligence, the gentleman from california, mr. nunes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. nunes: i thank the gentleman for those kind words. i'm pleased, madam speaker, that we have overcome numerous delays and are finally passing a north

american trade deal for the 21st century. usmca will create jobs, boost the economy, and strengthen our relationship with our neighbors in canada and mexico. i want to express my gratitude to ambassador robert lighthizer and his team and greg and his staff for the hard work they have done on this agreement. i also want to commend the president for delivering yet again for american farmers and workers under usmca. under this agreement ag products that had zero tariffs under nafta will continue to be tariff free. our farmers and ranchers will gain additional access to the remaining protected sectors. enforcement will be enhanced to ensure the agreement is implemented correctly. updated dispute settlement mechanisms will ensure the united states has prompt access to dispute -- to a dispute settlement panel when needed to allow u.s. business to compete on a level playing field. this is a great bipartisan agreement that will bring huge

benefits to millions of americans. i urge my colleagues to support usmca. and finally, in closing, i want to thank chairman neal and ranking member brady for all their great work on this. i know it was not easy but you guys did great work. i think the american people owe you a debt of gratitude. with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: madam speaker, another invaluable member of the ways and means committee whose knowledge about southern california is very important to all of us, the gentlelady from california, congresswoman chu. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california is recognized. ms. chu: i rise today in support of the improved usmca. with the changes demanded by democrats from the original proposal, this agreement marks an historic step that will stop the bleeding of american jobs to other countries. free trade agreements have often meant lost jobs or lower wages for american workers. and the trump administration's

initial usmca was no different. but democrats fought back to win new labor protections that make this deal actually work for americans. and i have seen firsthand why these protections are so important. earlier this year i traveled on the ways and means trip to mexico to investigate the labor challenges we are facing. at a goodyear plant i spoke directly to workers whose starting pay was only $2 an hour and even less after deductions. then when these workers went on strike to demand better wages, nearly 50 labor leaders were harassed, threatened with violence, and fired. this means that a company that pays american workers $23 an hour and made $15.5 billion in sales last year would rather fire mexican workers than pay them a fair wage. it's one of the many examples that explain why companies outsource jobs and exploit labor

in other countries. and it's why democrats fought so hard for a usmca deal with strong labor protections to ensure a level playing field. this trade deal isn't perfect but it's an important step in the right direction. and protects american jobs. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: i'm proud to yield two minutes to the gentleman who hails from the food, fuel, and fiber capital of the world, my fellow texas yan, mr. arrington. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. arrington: i couldn't have said that better myself i want to thank the ranking member, my dear friend from the great state of texas, for his leadership on this very important trade deal. our largest and most important relationship of all of our trading retionships. i want to thank our chairman, chairman neal, for keeping this thing on track and keeping people in the game so we could have a bipartisan. and that's the only way this was going to work was if we had a bipartisan consensus. so you are to be commended, mr.

chairman, for your efforts. let's give credit where credit is due for the one who led the charge who did the heavy lifting, our president, donald j. trump. i'm saying this because in 2016 he was already calling out some of these trade deals as a rip-off on american workers. and manufacturers. while nafta was a great deal for farmers and ranchers, we saw 400% increase in trade for ag products since the inception of nafta, it hasn't been good all the way around. it hasn't been fair all the way around. and it hasn't been productive in terms of keeping jobs here in the united states. kudos to our president for his doinged commitment to american -- dogged commitment to american first trade policies that. doesn't mean america only. that means we negotiate from strength. and we negotiate what's in the best interest of american workers, manufacturers, and

farmers. that's what this does. $70 billion in economic growth. 170,000 jobs. and billions of investment that will go into the auto manufacturing sector. our producers, dairy producers, and other farmers are going to have open and access to new customers in canada. so this is a huge win for america. and so i want to join all my colleagues, republican and democrat, and champion this all the way through so i urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle vote yes for usmca and vote for an even greater america and even greater prospect for american prosperity. god bless america. goo, west texas. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. . mr. neal: i yield 1 1/2 minutes to the gentleman from pennsylvania whose district i recently visited, a real champion of the airport, real champion of the seaport, real champion of international

economics, my friend, congressman evans. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. mr. evans: madam speaker, i'd like to first thank the chairman and the working group for working together. trade can be a poverty buster. it is a powerful tool in the tool box, by increasing the earning power of our communities and creating well-paying jobs. coming from the city of philadelphia that nearly has 25% poverty, well-paying jobs are the difference between thriving and surviving. let me say that again. thriving and surviving. that's why this agreement is important. trade is specificy beneficial to minority-owned businesses, pay a y-owned businesses wage premium of nearly $16,000 more. that's why i think the chairman and the staff -- i thank the chairman and the staff and the working group because of their

leadership. this really sends a message to the entire world that we want free trade, but also fair trade. it's especially important to understand that everybody doesn't get everything they want. that is called negotiations. again, i stand here today proudly to say, mr. chairman, i'm supporting this 100%. thank you, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: madam speaker, i'm proud to yield to an outstanding member of the ways and means committee, the gentleman from illinois, mr. lahood. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois is recognized. hoodhood thank you, -- mr. lahood: thank you, ranking member brady, for yielding the time. i rise today in support of the usmca. let's call this what it is. it's a win for it's a win for our farmers, it's a win for our manufacturers, it's toa win for our workers. so many people have worked tirelessly to ensure this high standard and modernized trade agreement got completed. i'd especially like to thank chairman neal and ranking member brady and our ways and means

committee are -- ways and means staff for all their work to get this done. and bob lighthizer. there's not a more capable trade ambassador than we've had than bob lighthizer. he's been relentless in his pursuit of getting this done. and lastly, president trump. it wouldn't have happened without him and what he did, working with the canadians and the mexicans to get this trade agreement done. this free and fair trade agreement benefits all of us, all sectors of our economy. moreover, it will further support the record breaking economic growth that this country has seen. we arguably have the best economy we've had in 40 years and this will help that. it is true that this agreement is not perfect. there are a few things i would have liked to have seen differently, on sunset provision and rules of origin. but at the end of the day, when you look at these 24 chapters and what it does for market access for agriculture, to digital trade provisions, usmca puts america on top. and it shows the world that with our two largest trading partners, mexico and canada, we

can negotiate an agreement that is solid. and remember, we represent 4.5% of the world's population. we have to have markets around the world. this agreement sets the standard for doing that. in congress i'm proud to represent the 18th district of illinois, the eighth largest district in terms of corn and soybean production. and when i think about what this does for market access, breaking down barriers, this helps our farmers. in illinois, ag is the number one industry in our state. i think about our manufacturers and what this means for jobs and opportunities for them. for products in canada and mexico. the ability to sell our goods, products and services around the world is absolutely vital to the economic success in illinois and across the country. 40% of the products we grow, produce or manufacture in illinois go to canada or mexico. this helps with that. in closing, i would just say, this is a good agreement. i look forward to supporting it and what -- and would ask my colleagues to do the same. thank you. and i yield back much the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized.

mr. neal: madam speaker, a very knowledgeable member of the ways and means committee and another district that i visited not that long ago, mr. brad schneider. i want to recognize him for 1 1/2 minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois is recognized. mr. schneider: thank you, madam speaker. i want to associate myself with the remarks of my colleague from illinois. this is a win for american workers. for their families for their chuents, for our nation as a -- for their community, for our nation as a whole. i want to thank chairman neal, mr. brady, and our staff to bring this deal forward. the usmca legislation before us today is the result of many months of hard-fought negotiations between congress and the administration and it is a true victory for the working people in our country. compared to the initial version of the agreement shared by the white house last year, the improved trade agreement before us today includes marketedly stronger protections for american workers and crucially serious enforcement mechanisms that ensure all parties will follow the agreement. while i believe the agreement

includes higher standards to preserve our environment, i do regret the administration was unwilling to make any commitments to address the very real and pressing issues of climate change. nevertheless, the usmca is a major step forward for american workers and businesses fighting to compete in an increasingly interconnected world. it also puts to rest the president's threat to pull out of nafta without this certainty of a replacement. a testament to the hard-fought negotiations is the backing of this agreement from stakeholders as diverse as the afl-cio and the united states chamber of commerce. i support the passage of the usmca implementing language and i urge my colleagues to do the same. with that, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: madam speaker, i'm proud to yield two minutes to an outstanding member of the ways and means committee, the gentleman from south carolina, mr. rice. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from south carolina is recognized. mr. rice: thank you, mr. ranking member. this is a great day for american workers.

the name plate on my desk says jobs, jobs, jobs, and that's exactly what this new trade agreement will bring. you see, for too long america was willing to accept trade agreements that were tilted against american workers. because we were so far ahead of the rest of the world. but we are not so far ahead anymore. ross perot was right all those years ago when he said the old nafta would bring a giant sucking sound of american jobs going to mexico. and that is precisely what happened in my district. unfair trade agreements are one of the primary reasons that the american middle class has stagnated for decades, until the election of donald trump. the new usmca corrects much of this imbalance. it will prevent the departure of many more american jobs. it will bring hundreds of thousands of new jobs to america. it will raise the wages of workers throughout north

america. it will accelerate the growth of our american economy. i am thankful for the talent and effort of ambassador lighthizer in successfully reaching this incredibly complicated trilateral agreement. i am also thankful that we finally have a president with the backbone and determination to do what is necessary to bring our trading partners to the table, many of whom have taken advantage of us for far too long and despite the criticism of many here in our own country. our president is doing what is right for -- and fair for america and american workers. and finally, madam speaker, i am thankful that speaker pelosi has finally found a moment of sufficient political expedience that she would allow this vote to lift american workers. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves.

the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: madam speaker, a very invaluable member of the ways and means committee, advocate of the salad bowl of the world, and a good friend, is wongman jim panetta, -- congressman jim panetta, for 1 1/2 minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. panetta: thank you, madam speaker. i rise in support of the usmca. that's right. the chairman is absolutely correct. i call my area the salad bowl of the world. with agriculture being our number one industry, trade with canada and mexico and thus the usmca is very, very important. this deal will provide our farmers and ranchers with a continued yet improved access to those important markets. it will also strengthen those sanitary standards and make sure that sound science is used when it comes to our food safety. and it helps california wine get into those canadian markets. when this administration first presented usmca to congress, i have to say, it was unacceptable. however, thanks to speaker

pelosi, chairman neal, the trade working group, and, you bet, ambassador lighthizer, we were able to come up with one of the strongest, most progressive trade deals in the united states history. the usmca now has some of the most stringent labor standards, some of the most robust funding for enforceability, and some of the strongest requirements for the environment ever. the usmca frames a new floor for future trade agreements. it creates new confidence it our most important trading partners. and it provides protection for the future of our fresh produce on our farms, for the dignity of our workers, for the sanctity of our environment, and, yes, for the success of our economy and our hemisphere. thank you, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: madam speaker, i have here a series of statements in support of usmca, including from the u.s. chamber of commerce, the information technology industry council, the business round table, the national association of manufacturers,

the american farm bureau, who join a host of business, agriculture, technology, manufacturing and small business organizations across america who have been instrumental in getting usmca across the finish line. this time i ask -- at this time i ask unanimous consent that this document be submitted for the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the letters will be submitted. mr. brady: thank you, madam speaker. i'm proud to yield one minute to the gentleman from kentucky, mr. col measure -- mr. comer. mr. comer: madam speaker, ever since president trump struck a new pro-american trade agreement over a year ago, he has worked tirelessly with members of both parties to get to the point of passing the usmca through congress. make no mistake about it, the president's leadership on this issue has put us on the brink of this tremendous accomplishment. today we will pass a new trade deal that will create jobs, grow our economy and help our farmers. having strongly advocated for the passage of this deal, i'm proud to express my strong support for usmca and all the

opportunities it will provide. kentucky will strongly benefit from usmca. estimates show that our state alone will see over 260 million more in agriculture exports to -- $260 million more in agriculture exports to canada and mexico. more stability for our farmers and mfs and more accountability -- manufacturers and more accountability from our trading partners will help our people and grow our entire economy. as a farmer and kentucky's former commissioner of agriculture, i know firsthand the need for our country to establish new markets for our farmers. i'm proud to be a strong voice for the agriculture community and represent their interests in washington. this is a great day for our farmers, for kentucky and all of america. thank you, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: madam speaker, this is a happy moment for me, to acknowledge the work that jim gomez did on behalf of labor rights. he stood up in the working group on behalf of working people and i think that he considerably shifted this argument in their direction.

the gentleman from california, jim gomez, for 1 1/2 minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. gomez: madam speaker, before i begin, i ask unanimous consent to enter my written statement and a letter into the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the letter shall be submitted. mr. gomez: madam speaker, the original nafta was a failure for working families. and the nafta 2.0 deal that president trump signed in 2018 was not much better. house democrats recognized that and we rejected it. and we worked until we got an enforceable deal. as a result, the final revised usmca is much better than nafta 1.0 and it is even better than nafta 2.0. i would say, you can't even call it nafta-like anymore. despite our work, even with the improvements that we have made, i know that this won't bring back all the jobs that we've lost here in the united states. but over time, i hope the new labor standards and the enhanced

enforcement mechanisms we negotiated will help raise wages in mexico, reducing u.s. corporation incentive to outsource jobs. no trade agreement or legislation is perfect. and i do not endorse every single provision of usmca. but i know that it's always easier to talk about a problem than to fix a problem. and when we proceed on this issue, future trade agreements must recognize that trade and globalization have pushed wages down and weaken the negotiation power of workers. this is where our focus must be. one provision i'm proud of is in labor. and that is specifically a new rapid response mechanism to enforce labor standards. this has never been writ noon an american trade agreement -- written into an american trade agreement. by ensuring mexican workers' rights are protected, we prevent a race to the bottom. for the first time ever, we have an fornseable labor standard in a trade agreement -- an

enforceable labor standard in a trade agreement. i want to thank everyone who worked on this and make sure we're working in the right direction. with that, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: yes, madam speaker. i'm proud to yield one minute to the gentlelady from the show-me state, mrs. wagner. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. mrs. wagner: i thank my friend from texas. madam speaker, i rise today to urge my colleagues to vote yes on usmca trade agreement. for months partisan politics and the democrats' impeachment charade have prevented from us finalizing this agreement. but it is clear to members on both sides of the aisle that the president has negotiated a deal that will strengthen our economy and benefit all missourians and americans. one of every three rose of crops is grown for exports in the great state of missouri, and this deal expands market access in canada and mexico for our farmers. it's the first time that a u.s. trade agreement is specifically addressing biotech, and the st. louis region is the silicon valley for ag tech. usmca also includes a wagner

language on human trafficking. i worked with ambassador lighthizer to guarantee that the -- my olds my fight on fight online sex trafficking act to fight sex trafficking here in america. this is a yes for victims, a yes for jobs, a yes for farmers and a yes for the prosperity of all americans. i thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from texas reserves. the gentleman from -- the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: madam speaker, there was no more important advocate for environmental issues than with suzanne bonamici from oregon. i'm proud to yield to her 1 1/2 minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from oregon is recognized. ms. bonamici: i rise in support of the updated u.s.-mexico-canada trade agreement. jobs were outsourced to mexico and the wages and conditions weren't improved for mexican workers. this agreement, while not perfect is an important

opportunity to fix the damage from nafta and create a baseline for future trade agreements. it strengthens labor rules so it'll be easier to prove violations. it includes robust monitoring systems and strong enforcement tools including people on the ground in mexico to monitor compliance. importantly, the updated usmca no longer includes provisions that would have locked in high drug prices and made it more difficult for patients to access affordable generic drugs. it also makes important advancements to protect our environment. it improves environmental rule, puts them in the text of the agreement, provides a path to reducing hydroflour carbon emission, makes it easier to prove environmental violations d plovidse $600 million to address environmental conditions -- concerns including pollution and marine debris. i fought hardener inclusion of strong climate provisions. i'm disapointed that the trump

administration rejected our effort. we did, however, include a clause that create ats path for adding additional environmental and conservation agreements in the future. i'll continue to do all i can to pass and implement both policies to combat climate change. the usmca is a significantly better than the agreement the trump administration brought to us. it is a major immaterial prove over the nafta rules currently in place. it'll bring more certainty to workers, to oregonians and for the environment. i thank especially speaker me and theappointing hardworking staff. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: our next speaker has been a longtime leader in agriculture, the farm bill and frankly we couldn't have gotten this done without him. proud to yield one minute to a fellow texan, mr. conaway. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. conaway: i'm glad this day

has arrived. over the last year, democrats obsessed over partisan impeachment process while president trump focused on securing the wins american farmers were counting on. for our farm family, passing sumbings mca means an annual increase of $2.2 billion in agriculture exports and we gain about 176,000 job, call job, for americans. usmca resets our trading relationship with mexico and canada, provides -- improves or market access and strips away nontariff barriers that prevent free trade and fair trade. i'd like to commend president trump, ambassador lighthizer, ambassador dowd for this agreement in all its stages. or farmers and ranchers were counting on them and they delivered. the new usmca speaks volumes about the importance of this deal. i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting america's farmers and ranchers and voting to pass the usmca.

i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is ecognized. mr. neal: i want to yield two minutes to the gentlelady from illinois, ms. schakowsky. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. schakowsky: i rise in support of the u.s.-mexico-canada trade agreement, the first trade agreement i have voted for in my more than 20 years in congress. i'm proud to be on the working group that helped negotiate this agreement and thank the chairman of that group, richard neal. it's far, far better than the original nafta and it's far better than the deeply flu flaued trade agreement that president trump handed to us, for example, he tried to tuck into it a huge gift to big pharma that would have raised the cost of medicine throughout our hemisphere. from day one, i insisted that that provision be removed and today it's gone.

ithout the work of the working group, without the help of the --aker of the house, without without the president of the afl-cio, we would not be voting on this today. is it a perfect thing? it is not. for example, there is a big gift to big tech provided in this called section 230 which gives a liability shield for all the companies and the platforms for all the content that they have on those platforms. and i want to add to the record, madam chair, i want to add to the record a letter that is sent by chairman of the energy and commerce committee, frank ,allone, and the ranking member

mr. walton -- mr. walden, to put n the record that says no more 230 in future trade agreements. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the letter shall be submitted. the gentlelady's time has expired. the gentleman from massachusetts reserves, the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: madam speaker, i yield one minute to the gentleman from ohio, mr. bearledson. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. balderson: thank you, ranking member brady, thank you, madam speaker. i rise this afternoon with enthusiasm for a bipartisan agreement. the united states-mexico-canadian agreement or usmca. this trade deal between our country and our top two trading partners will be a major winner in buckeye state. ohio farmers and manufacturers already export nearly $28 billion worth of goods to canada and mexico every year.

the usmca opens up america's markets of poultry and dairy so ohio farmers can trade these across international lines. in this digital era, many people's shopping is done online. people can shop small businesses and large alike, especially in the holiday season. this brings an outdate aid greement to the 21st century with a previously nonexistent section on digital trade. usmca is what our country needs now. thank you, chairman neal, thank you, ranking member brady. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: i want to yield one and a half minutes to the formidable negotiator from the state of connecticut, a great friend and valuable member of the working group that helped asemithble document, rosa delauro. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from connecticut is recognized. ms. delauro: i was honored to be

appointed to the speaker's working group charged with renegotiating the deeply flawed nafta agreement that the president signed in 2018. it enshrined the failed status quo that had hurt american workers while extending monopoly protection for a pharmaceutical company that would lock in high medicine prices. i was focus on crafting effective and meaningful standards to protect labor rights, constructing an enforce. mechanism for the u.s. and mexico, strengthening and protecting environmental standards and protecting access to affordable medicine. i was pleased the principles we presented to and in many instances forced on the ustr are reflected in the final agreement. our gains include a labor-specific enforcement mechanism for new labor standards, a review bod toy to ensure mexico is meeting its obligations, penalties for those not in compliance and robust resources for monitoring and enforcement. despite the president's rhetoric

this agreement will not bring back u.s. manufacturersing jobs or undo the taj of outsourcing provisions in the republican tax law. despite our best efforts, it lacks more robust climate standards, labor and environmental terms and protections for food and product safety. so it is not the model for the future. wage stagnation in america is not the inevitable result of globalization and tech nothing. special interests have shaped government policy that have held down wages and increased inequality. nobel winning economist joseph stieglitz said inequality is not inevitable, it's a choice we make. we made progress on this adwrem. it's a framework to build on. i support the agreement and pledge to continue our work addressing globalization and trade policy. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: yes, madam speaker, i'm pleased to yield one minute to the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. thompson. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized.

mr. thompson: madam speaker, after nearly 400 days since president trump signed the agreement we're finally voting on usmca to deliver real results for the people who make up the backbone of the american economy. this includes our frm farmers, ranchers, manufacturers, and each and every american family who depends on these industries. u.s. -- usmca will bring $68 billion in new economic activity, 176,000 new jobs here at home and an increase of $2 billion a year annually in agriculture exportings. these numbers don't lie and that's only the beginning ching passing usmca is a big win for the american economy. lastly, i can't talk about usmca without mentioning how big a win it is for american agriculture, particularly our dairy farmers. under this agreement, dairy producers will no longer be subject to class 6 and class 7 milk pricing programs, policies that limited our export potential for years. usmca is a good agreement, fair agreement, a bipartisan

agreement and i'm pleased we're finally volting on this crucial piece of policy and we can deliver on this promise. i urge my colleagues to vote yes. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: i yield one minute to the gentleman from texas a real champion of this agreement, congressman wayier. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. cuellar: i support the usmca nafta 2.1 because we're doing this in a bipartisan way. i want to thank speaker pelosi and the working group, chairman neal and his staff for working so hard, my texas colleague, kevin brady and his staff for working so hard, ambassador lighthizer and our friends to the south, the mexicans, for working together. my district is the epicenter of trade between the u.s. and mexico my city of laredo handles 14,000 to 16,000 trailers every single day. the laredo customs district handles 60% of all trade between the u.s. and mexico that means more than $1.7 billion of goods from the between the u.s. and mexico every day.

that's over $1 million every single minute. trade is good. it means jobs, jobs, jobs. i also want to thank the committee for adding the signature, the signature environmental safeguards north american development bank. that with the e.p.a. over $500 million for drinking water and for waste treatment plans. i want to say thank you. so members passed usmca means one thing. job, jobs, jobs. with that, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: i'm proud to yield one minute to the gentleman from the state that helped win texas independence, the gentleman from tennessee, -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> i do want to thank the ranking member brady and the chairman for their hard work on this agreement. we know that the u.s.-mexico-canada agreement is vie tool our nation's economy and my home state of tennessee.

over 200,000 jobs in tennessee depend on the passage of usmca and that includes about 35,000 manufacturing jobs and 10,000 west tennessee farm operations. mr. kustoff: the volunteer state produces almost $14 billion in exports to canada and mexico but more important, the usmca updates the 25-year-old trade agreement that we know as nafta and modernizes the economic partnership of north america. frankly, the usmca will allow tennessee and our nation as a whole to achieve greater prosperity. i want to thank president trump for delivering on his promises, creating a better trade agreement for the american people. i look forward to voting yes on the usmca and i urge all my colleagues to do so as well. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized.

mr. neal: thank you, madam speaker. i'm glad to yield one minute to the gentlelady oklahoma, a champion of agriculture and small business, congresswoman horn. the speaker pro tempore: the yom is recognized. ms. horn: thank you, mr. chairman. madam speaker, i rise today in strong support of the passage of the united states-mexico-canada trade agreement. i'm proud to support this bipartisan agreement that strengthens trade and is good for both economic growth opportunities and for our workers. a stronger trading relationship with mexico and canada is good for a stronger economy for oklahoma. it is these two countries are already the largest trading partners, accounting for $2.4 billion in oklahoma exports in the last year alone. this newly agreed to usmca is a monumental step in strengthening that trading relationship. this agreement not only ensures fair trade for oklahoma businesses and workers, who continue to create world class

products by guaranteing that exports that enter canada and mexico are all tariff free but it also gives congress the necessary tools of enforcement to combat the high cost of prescription drugs and is good for our workers. . this strongly improves labor standards, as well as allow workers to compete on a level playing field. i urge my colleagues to support this usmca and other bipartisan solutions. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: thank you, madam speaker. i'm proud to yield one minute to a gentleman who was pro-trade and pro-usmca the moment he hit congress, the gentleman from michigan, mr. mitchell. spoich the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mitch -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. mitchell: thank you, mr. speaker. and thank you to mr. brady. i saw the impact of nafta on my state of michigan, on my community and my family. jobs disappeared at an

astounding rate. including my dad's job, working the assembly line at the auto plant. i saw the unfair treatment of farmers trying to export their products. i live in a district where the major board -- with major border crossing to canada, the blue water bridge. so i also saw the importance of trade with our neighbors. but trade must be fair, balanced, not disadvantaged, hardworking american -- not disadvantage hardworking american families. nafta failed miserably at that. usmca's a massive improvement over nafta. but america needs the usmca, we need it now. so let's finish this drawn-out process, pass the bill, and urge the senate to proceed with speed. thank you, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: i'm pleased to yield one minute to the gentleman from arizona, congressman stanton. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from arizona is recognized. mr. stanton: thank you to the gentleman for yielding. passing the u.s.-mexico-canada agreement is essential to creating new jobs and

stredgening the economy of my home state of arizona -- strengthening the economy of my home state of arizona. those of us in border states understand the value of trading with our neighbors and i can tell you, growing trade relations with -- relationships with canada and mexico is essential to arizona and this new agreement will offer a big lift to our local companies. already in arizona nearly 230,000 jobs rely on across the border commerce. that means 230,000 paychecks buying holiday gifts, 230,000 paychecks putting food on the table for their families, and 230,000 paychecks contributing to our state's economy. today we have a real opportunity for job creators, for multinational companies, to midsized and small businesses, from tech workers to farm workers. there's no doubt that the new usmca is a win for all arizonans. this is a bipartisan agreement and it sets a new standard for creating trade rules that are enforceable, good for american workers, and effectively

consider how business is done in the 21st century. and importantly, it reasserts congress' role in trade policy. thank you, chairman neal, and trade working group, for your hard work in getting this deal done. thank you very much. i yield. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: madam speaker, i'm pleased to yield one minute to a gentleman -- exrose district has the longest board -- whose district has the longest border with mexico, the gentleman from texas. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. hurd: why should all americans care about free trade with mexico and canada? we should care about the usmca because just about every aspect of our lives, food on our table, the clothes on our back, the fuel in our cars, depends on free trade with mexico and canada. we should care about usmca because 14 million jobs across the nation, including the jobs of over half of my constituents in south texas, depend on free

trade with mexico and canada. we should care about usmca because we live in a world where u.s. military and economic dominance is no longer guaranteed and a strong north america is essential for us to remain competitive as china tries to replace america as the most important economy in the world. so let's get the usmca to the president's desk so we can start talking about increasing north american competitiveness in the rest of the world. i support this bill and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: madam speaker, i'm glad to yield one minute to the courageous the gentlelady from virginia, congresswoman spanberger. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from virginia is recognized. ms. spanberger: thank you, mr. chairman. madam speaker, i rise today in support of h.r. 5430. last year virginia exported $4.3 billion worth of goods to canada and mexico. one out of six virginia manufacturers exports to these two countries, and of these firms, 64% are small or medium

sized businesses. these businesses are the backbone of our economy and today they're looking to congress to take this vital step toward securing long-term trade stability. earlier this month i maid that -- made that point clear at a meeting with the vice president. during our discussion, i underscored the usmca's potential to stimulate growth across the seventh district of virginia. for central virginia business, today's vote is a welcome step forward toward modernizing nafta and staying competitive in the 21st century. from virginia's crop and live -- for virginia's crop and livestock producers this means expanding relationships with critical buyers in canada and mexico. and for central virginia's workers, today's vote carries with it a commitment from our trading partners to live up to their labor commitments. i know that central virginia's economy and the hardworking men and women who spur it forward have waited patiently for this day to arrive. i thank everyone for their work on this. mr. chairman, mr. ranking member, ambassador lighthizer and my colleagues on the working group. i urge my colleagues to support

usmca and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: madam speaker, i'm proud to yield a minute and a half to the gentlelady from missouri, mrs. hartzler. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from missouri is recognized. mrs. hartzler: thank you, madam speaker. this week represented the best of times and the wort of -- worst of times. yesterday displayed the worst of times by impeaching the president for political reasons and reversing the will of 63 million americans. today, however, represents the best of times, by finally voting to approve the usmca. this historic agreement, which has been held up by speaker pelosi for over a year, will bring 16 -- 176,000 new jobs and spur $68 billion in new economic activity. it removes trade barriers for our ag products, creating new markets for our farmers and helping rural america as a result. encouragingly, the auto industry will benefit as well. just last week general motors

announced that it would be investing over $1 billion in a truck plant in my home state of missouri due to the usmca. this agreement moves our relationship with mexico and canada into the 21st century and will benefit the american farmer, the american worker, and the american consumer. i applaud president trump for delivering on this historic trade agreement. i look forward to voting yes on the usmca, and bringing more jobs to our great country. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. -- it the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: happy to yield one 911 the gentleman from texas. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas -- one minute to the gentleman from texas. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is ecognized. mr. neal: happy to yield one minute to the gentleman from texas. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. gonzalez: i rise today to express my support for the united states-mexico-canada agreement and also to sound the

alarm of an issue that should have concerned us all. violence. to put things in perspective, 2006, mexico has lost as many people to homicide as the united states has lost in every war since korea. just in the last three years, the number of homicides exceed the number of soldiers lost in korea and vietnam combithe combined. all whiles wwe act as if nothing is happening in our own backyard. negotiators work tirelessly to get us here to today's vote, but they failed to acknowledge the single greatest threat to the north american trade prosperity. violence. i rise today to say that we've missed an opportunity and i cannot be silent and will not let this go. mexican president ran on a promise to achieve peace and end the war on drugs and create a new civilian national guard to tackle organized crime by fighting poverty. while i have no doubt of his good intentions, he's failed miserably. mexico's crime rate continues to rise. the mass murders, disappearances, extortions,

assaults in mexico show no signs of slowing. madam speaker, by accepting this as a status quo and staying silent, we risk standing in the way of our own economic success. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: thank you, madam speaker. i'm proud to yield one 911 a champion of agriculture, the gentleman from -- one minute to a champion of agriculture, the gentleman from iowa, mr. king. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from iowa is recognized. mr. king: thank you, madam speaker. i thank the gentlewoman from -- the gentleman from texas, the ranking member of the ways and means committee, and perhaps one of the most successful in my modern time. i'm looking at this usmca trade agreement, i said from the beginning that i would not have opened up nafta. it was good for iowa agriculture, it was good for iowa manufacturing, it was good for america in many ways. but the president promised he would open it up and he would prevail in his negotiations. he has followed through and he has kept his word. for a year and a half i've been having discussions with every entity that i can find that has been affected by this trade agreement. they all say, we are better off. they might say we're marginally better off, but they say, we are

better off. until you get to dairy. where we're a lot, lot better off than we were in the past. this is a terrific trade agreement. whatever the nuances were afterwards, were some changes that didn't affect -- i don't think the district that i represent, but what this amounts to is this. it's a huge victory for the president of the united states, for americans everywhere, for iowans in the fourth congressional district, which is the number one agriculture producing district in all of america. we are happy, we are delighted. we are thankful to have this christmas present coming to us. we say merry christmas, mr. president. merry christmas, america. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts voidsed. mr. neal: glad to yield one minute to the courageous the gentleman from texas. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. allen: madam speaker, i rise -- arlarl madam speaker, i rye -- mr. allred: madam speaker, i rise to congratulate the house for this agreement. i know this was no easy task and today we are poised to pass this historic agreement. this was a priority for me.

i worked tirelessly to ensure the administration, my colleagues and house leaders knew how important this was for texas. for texans, trade with mexico and canada isn't just a textbook exercise or abstract policy issue it is really real -- real jobs for more than 36,000 texans in my district. businesses across north texas reline to -- rely on supply chains to manufacture, distribute and manufacture goobsgoods and services. i urge my colleagues to vote yes. this job creating agreement will shift the trade paradigm and create a new standard for trade that will protect workers and the environment, both here at home and across the north american continent. i want to thank chairman neal and the working group and ambassador lighthizer for their work on getting this across the line and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: madam speaker, i'm pleased to yield one minute to a leader of ag and auto from michigan, mr. huizenga. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. huizenga: thank you, madam speaker. i rise today in strong support

of the united states-mexico-canada trade agreement. negotiated by president trump and his team, as well as the strong leadership here in the house. for more than a year, i've called on speaker pelosi to have this vote on this trade agreement. i'm glad the day has arrived. the stakes for michigan are extremely high. one estimate is 38.9% of michigan's total g.d.p. depends on trade. the highest in the nation. a staggering 65% of the state's exports are bound for canada and mexico. trade with our nation's neighbors support more than 338,000 michigan jobs. radify -- ratifying the usmca will lead to more than $30 billion of investment in new automotive manufacturing in the u.s., and create more than 75,000 jobs for american auto workers. passing the usmca is also vitally important to our agricultural community. michigan's food and agricultural exports total approximately $1.98 billion annually and support roughly 805,000 food and agricultural jobs.

this agreement will level the playing field for our farmers, growers and producers of and expand market access for commodity sutches as dairy goods, poultry and eggs. this is a win for michigan workers, farmers and job creators and i support this bill. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: thank you, madam speaker. i'm glad to yield one minute to the gentlelady from minnesota who i can assure everybody was an assertive advocate for this agreement, congresswoman craig. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. craig: thank you, madam speaker. i rise today in support of usmca . this trade agreement is a win for minnesota's family farmers and small business owners. it protects american workers and creates certainty and new opportunity moving forward with our largest trading partners. i've walked on farms across my district and with the families who feed, clothe and fuel this

country. one thing is clear -- years of tough prices, severe weather and trade issues have taken their toll. they need this trade agreement now. and i'm proud to have worked to eliminate the handouts to big pharma from the original draft. my commitment is to work with this administration when it benefits our community and stand up to them when it doesn't. this is a good deal for american farmers, workers and businesses. i urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this important trade agreement. madam chair, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: yes, madam speaker. i'm pleased to yield one minute to the gentleman from tennessee, dr. desjarlais. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from tennessee is the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. desjarlais: i am pleased to rise in support of the u.s.-mexico-canada agreement that will replace the outdated nafta agreement. it returns manufacturing jobs

outsourced to mexico to our own country and is the first u.s. trade keel to focus on cross-border commerce for small businesses, easing rules and regulations to level the playing field for startups and entrepreneurs. our economy is strong. jobs and income are growing, especially for working and middle class americans. my home state of stn a manufacturing and transportation hub and small business jobs and wage growth there leads the nation. usmca will further strengthen -- -- nomy, however, our my constituents supported in 2016. we have succeeded despite unrelenting resistance. donald trump has shown courage and determination that's resulted in a pending trade deal with china, combined with tax cuts, reduced regulations and american indemens. -- independence. these trade deals and others the

president has produced will continue our economic progress an strengthen national security. i'm proud to support nor tennessee farmers, manufacturers, and small businesses. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. neal: i want to yield one minute to the ferocious advocate on behalf of the people of michigan, congresswoman stevens. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from smch recognized for one minute. ms. stevens: today we rise to pass a trade deal for the middle class. today we rise to strengthen the protections for the workers. today is a greet day, for today we are standing up for our manufacturers and our manufacturing economy. to all the suppliers in my district, who advocated, who reached out, who asked for this certainty for their work force, who are the investment, today we are getting spg done for you. we do not say republican or democrat, but we say

manufacturing. we say hurrah for the middle class. and the growth and the expansion or our middle class. we came here to get something done and to reach a compromise and to shed the awful effects of the original nafta and to deliver yet again for people. that is what we are here for in our majority. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas. mr. brady: i'm proud to yield one minute to the gentleman from washington, mr. newhouse. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. newhouse: today has been a listening time coming for the american people, the and farmers and ranchers. today enswhires deliver on our promise to bring fair and equitable trade with our closest trading partners, mexico and

canada. in my home state of washington, exports to canada and mexico and $103 billion in 2018 totals -- and for all jobs in the state. i heard from farmers and manufacturers and they all agree. today's vote to pass usmca is exactly what we need. most importantly, usmca maintains duty-free access for u.s. agriculture products including the iconic washington state apple which accounts for nearly $450 million in exports annually. usmca goes further, to advance access for the u.s. dairy and wine industries. two substantial drivers for washington's economy. madam speaker, i am proud. today we are delivering usmca for my constituents. thank you and i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. neal: i'm glad to yield one minute to the gentlelady from new mexico who followed me into a coffee shop to advocate for this agreement, mrs. torres small. ms. torres small: i want to thank congressional leadership, chairman neal and ranking member brady and members of the usmca working gupe for fighting to make improvements to the out of date nafta agreement. that is a win for new mexico's workers. small businesses, and agricultural producers and our economy as a whole. in my conversations with constituents from across southern new mexico, i've seen just why nafta is out of date and usmca will be a better deal. dairy producers in roswell have talked with me about how even when new mexico dairies aren't selling directly to canada, increased market access and new prices will raise commodity price across the country. usmca makes significant progress to protect american workers by

evening the playing field with meaningful enforcement mechanisms to protect hard-won improvements. other new mexicoians like our new mexico chili and pecan growers have the certain i have to a trade deal. new mexico stands to gain real benefits after we pass usmca today. like any deal, it isn't perfect. environment and enforcement standards can always be improved but it's entirely necessary for new mexico's producers, workers and consumers. this deal will deliver for new mexico, it shows that compromise can be made, that we can put politics aside. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. ms. torres small: i urge my colleagues to vote in favor. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas. mr. brady: i'm proud to yield one minute to the gentlelady from arizona, mr. gosar. mr. gosar: i rise in support of usmca but also to raise concern about inclusion of language of the communications decency act. this act gives broad legal immunity to big tech who use it as a shield from accountability.

it is important that this provision is not, i state, not, included in future trade agreements. the behavior of big tech has been the subject of substantial scrutiny. nudge of the scrutiny revolves around the appropriateness of maintaining this immunity clause. on a daily basis new concerns are raised about section 230, including illegal drug sales, child exploitation, terrorist recruitment, revenge important, deep fakes and many more. 230 as played a significant role. when speaker pelosi and i agree on an issue there's something there, there. i encourage my colleagues to support the usmca but again raise the issue about section 230. this continued merit on how it would apply to both trade agreements and everyday application demand modification due to its lack of accountability. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: thank you, madam speaker. i want to yield one minute to the gentlelady from iowa and

assure he people of iowa she advocated on behalf of this agreement. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from iowa is ecognized. >> thank you, madam speaker. today a lot of hard work is paying off with the passage of usmca. thank you to my colleagues who crafted this agreement that gives market stability to farmers, protects iowa workers from having their wages undercut an helps redeuce the high cost of biologic drugs and even has important environmental protections. i know my farmers, producers and agricultural workers are celebrating the passage of usmca today. everywhere i go the message has been clear, we need usmca because of uncertainty in our markets. mrs. axne: we now have that deal. the house has done a great job but the senate said they won't take up this agreement any time soon. it will pass today with bipartisan support. and whenever the senate chooses to bring it up, it will pass with bipartisan support then as well.

the name -- the same senators who tpwhramed house for not moving this forward quickly enough are now stopping the usmca from becoming law. iowans and americans are asking for help and we must get this deal done. i'm proud to have fought for a better trade agreement that works for iowa and i encourage those of us to volt for it in the house and for the senate to take it up for a vote to make life better for people across the country. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserve, egentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: i yield one minute to the gentleman, mr. keller. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. keller: i rise today in support of the united states-mexico-canada trade agreement. while i'm glad we are here today this moment is long overdue. while democrats have been focusing on impeaching president trump, manufacturers and family farmers in pennsylvania's 12th congressional district have been waiting for the trade deal to be ratified. that's because this trade deal means a lot to the hard working people and farnlers of pennsylvania's 12th

congressional district. take the positive effect the usmca will have on pa-12's farmers. pennsylvania's 12th district is home to hundred os farm, 9 % of which are family farms. our district vespoonsable for 18% of pennsylvania's agricultural products. the provisions in this deal eliminating canada's class 7 milk pricing program, increasing joy and corn exports and many other improvements will make a huge difference for those family farms. more importantly, it is the leverage that gives the united states when negotiating additional trade deals. it's no surprise that when speaker pelosi agrees to the usmca, china agreed to trade deal president trump had been negotiating for the benefit of our country. the usmca is long overdue. i'm glad we're finally here. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. neal: glad to yield a minute

to the gentleman from california who was an assertive advocate of usmca. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> i rise to recognize all the hard work it took to reach this agreement for the united states-mexico-canada agreement. chairman neal, ranking member brady, chairman blumenauer, the good work of ambassador lighthizer. the working groups the speaker put together and the speaker's desire to see this get across the finish line, it's important to update nafta for the sake of american workers and our agriculture economy. this agreement will improve opportunities for good-paying jobs in america by updating labor protection and standards in mexico that can be enforced. the agreement gos a long ways to improving environmental standards and clean up across the border pollution between california and mexico and other border states. california farmers, ranchers, dairy men and women will benefit from this deal. mr. costa: with nearly half of

california's agricultural products headed for foreign market, deal brings relations between our two largest trading partners, canada and mexico, cannot be overstated. i was glad to be part of this bipartisan effort to bring people together for today's vote. i congratulate the president, the fact of the matter is, this is good for america, it's good for working people and it's good for agriculture. i look forward to supporting usmca and i urge my colleagues to do the same. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. this gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: i'm pleased to yield one minute to the gentleman from minnesota. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> after the gentlewoman is recognized vacating for usmca this past year i'm excited to vote for it today. not only will the deal expand trade with mexico and can canada but it's going to help us build momentum for deals with other nations like china, vietnam and so forth. it's going to be great for our country. one quick example of how this helps the american people, particularly farm families. over the summer, farmers for

free trade rallied in our southern minnesota district for the usmca at the hoffman dairy farm about 15 miles south of new elm. the hoffmans are sixth generation dairy farmers. they needed a win. our market for dairy has been shut out of canada with 300% tariffs. usmca is going to knock down the tariffs, allow more exports, help families like the hoffmans, help our country. i urge everyone vote for the adwreement. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: i want to recognize as i yield to the gentleman from south carolina, congressman cunningham, the critical role he played in getting us to this bipartisan negotiation of usmca. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from south carolina is recognized. mr. cunningham: today i'm proud to rise in support of usmca. as a representative of south carolina's low country, home to the port of charleston, volvo,

bosh, j.w. aluminum and countless other manufacturers, i know just how important market stability and trade certainty is to my constituents. i promise the people of low country i'd come to washington to work with democrats and republicans in congress, the white house, and anyone else necessary to find bipartisan, commonsense solutions to issues impacting our district. passage of usmc sambings a major step in that direction. nearly 30,000 jobs in our district are supported by trade with mexico and canada. this agreement is absolutely critical to maintaining good-paying jobs and economic growth in the low country. i urge all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support passage of the usmca to bolster america's economy, support workers, and protect the environment. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: i'm proud to yield one minute to a leader of trade

policy in the george h.r. bush administration, my friend from arkansas, mr. hill. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. hill: i rise in support of the usmca and want to congratulate my friend, mr. brady of texas, and mr. neal, for their leadership in the house ways and means committee. it's a great victory for your hard work and verse veerns. as a member of the usmca republican house whip team, i was proud to advocate on behalf of this much-needed update to and a half tafment 27 years ago, i worked for president bush 41 and worked on supporting his goal of north america becoming the world's premier economic market. how pleased he would be to be here today and see this bipartisan support to update the north american trade market for a new generation. impressive i deed. we'll take converts to free trade, even overnight converts. the accident must act expeditiously to convert this

dream to a reality and been fit the 100,000 arkansans that live and die by trade with canada and mexico. congratulations to president trump and ambassador lighthizer on this historic victory. happy new year to the economic region in north america. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: happy to yield one minute to the well regarded gentlelady from illinois whose district i have visited. congresswoman bustos. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from illinois is recognized. mrs. bustos: thank you, chairman neal. i appreciate the time. thank you, madam speaker. in my congressional district i represent more than 9600 family farms. 90,000 labor households. i have toured my district many, many times and was fortunate enough to bring the speaker of the house into the state of illinois over the summer to meet with our family farmers. trade is one of the top issues people back home bring up to me. and the message that they deliver is loud and clear. we need a strong trade deal with

broad based support to help both america's farmers and our labor communities. i have worked to help bring parties to the table and reach a deal that works for everyone. and i am proud to say that the united states-mexico trade agreement is that deal. the usmca outlines protections for labor that will make america better prepared to expand opportunities for our work force. it build on trade relationships critical to our agricultural markets and it represents the strongest trade enforcement mechanisms our country has ever seen. i'm proud to cast my vote to support this step forward and to help build the foundation for future trade agreements. i yield back. thank you very much. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: i'm pleased to yield one minute to the ag leader from the mount rushmore state, mr. johnson. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from north dakota is recognized. mr. johnson: -- the gentleman from south dakota is recognized. mr. johnson: thank you very much. madam speaker, so often in this

political environment victories bring with them a winner but many more losers. but today is different. today is a celebration. today brings with it a bounty of benefits to a multitude of winners. if you are a dairy family, today you are a wirn. if you are a middle class family, today you are a winner. if you grow wheat, if you write code, if you process cheese you are a winner today. so often in this chamber we lament deals that could have been. but today is a deal we are celebrating with $2 billion of new ag exports. with 176,000 new jobs. with $68 billion of real growth in this economy. madam speaker, today 300 million americans are winners. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: thank you, madam speaker.

i want to introduce a very good friend of mine, the gentlelady from ohio, congresswoman kaptur. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from ohio is recognized. for how much time? mr. neal: one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from ohio is recognized for one minute. ms. kaptur: i thank the chairman for yielding and rise in opposition to nafta 2 which has been rebranded the usmca. first of all it's being rushed through at the last moments of this session without the majority of members even able to read it or participate in hearings on it. number two, it will not stem the continental outsourcing of u.s. jobs. sadly and most importantly, it will not achieve the real enforcement by the governments of mexico or the united states. for over 10 years i have been trying to get the government of mexico to arrest and prosecute the brutal murderers of santiago cruz, a mexican national fighting against the huge continental labor trafficking of his countrymen. he was educating his fellow farm

workers that they did not have to pay a bounty of $8,000 to come to this country to work in our fields as they became endentured workers. despite my over 10 years of effort to bring justice to his brutal killers, mexico behaves as if this crime never occurred. why should i believe mexico will enforce anything? furthermore, about a month ago we saw the president of mexico not able to keep control of his own streets and release the son of elchapo, the drug lord. what makes you think this administration or the next one will be able to do anything to enforce the laws -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. ms. kaptur: i urge all my colleagues to vote no. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from texas. mr. brady: madam speaker, pleased to yield one minute to the gentleman from indiana, mr. baird. the speaker pro tempore: gentleman from indiana is recognized. mr. baird: thank you, madam chair. for several months now i have been very vocal about the importance of passing usmca for indiana.

i have heard from constituents and their desire to get this deal done. i have also encouraged my colleagues to push for a vote. so i applaud the leadership to get this historic deal accomplished. today's passage of usmca will give businesses and farmers across our district increased opportunity to grow. in 2018 our state exported more than $18 billion to ex-- to mexico and canada. under usmca that number will rise. this trade deal is a big win for our ought toe mowive industry -- automotive industry and protection of our intellectual property w this improved trade agreement, we will see better market access and job growth here at home. i'm proud to support the passage of usmca and look forward to supporting more victories for the u.s. economy. >> the gentleman from texas reserves. gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: happy to yield one minute to the very accomplished gentleman from new york,

congressman brindisi. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. brindisi: i want to thank the chairman for yielding and thank him for his work and the work of the trade working group for their tireless effort to get this deal done. i rise today in strong support of this legislation and swift approval of usmca. we need to make sure that new york's workers, farmers, and small businesses have a fair shot at success. that's why i worked hard with members on both sides of the aisle and the administration to get this deal to the finish line. there are many reasons to support this agreement. such as stronger labor and environmental standards. but i will use my brief time to highlight the impact this will have on upstate new york's dairy farmers. i have heard from dairy farmers across upstate new york about the need to get more milk to market, boost milk price, and crack down on unfair canadian price supports, which usmca will do. usmca will help family farms, help manufacturers, and protect

workers. and i urge swift passage of this agreement. thank you, madam chair. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: madam speaker, prior to yield one min to a manufacturing champion from ohio, mr. davidson. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio is recognized. mr. davidson: it is an honor to stand in support of the united states-mexico-canada agreement. trade is a vital part of our economy. it's made america the world's land of opportunity. we have been a vital part of the world's commifment certainty is needed in trade right now. this deal certainly isn't perfect. but far too often here in congress we let perfect become the enemy of good. frankly we have a choice between no nafta, nafta, or an improved nafta. so not a hard multiple choice test. it's an improvement and i look forward to continuing to work to advance the cause of capitalism and free-throw in the united states of -- free trade in the united states of america. opportunities will make things better for ohio's eighth

district from agriculture -- manufacturing, to agriculture, and i think everyone has had a hand in making this come to fruition. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: thank you, mr. speaker. gladly will i yield one minute to the very capable gentlelady from california, congresswoman davis. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. mrs. davis: thank you, narmecheal. mr. speaker, trade negotiations are not for the faint of heart. few votes have generated more passion in this chamber than votes on trade agreements. that is why i'm so glad that we finally have an agreement that members from both sides of the aisle can support. and it's no secret why that is. this is an agreement that sets up for the first time the facility level inspections to ensure workers' rights are being honored. and it removes the onerous provision that is have made their way into far too many trade agreements in recent years. and finally as a member of the san diego region it is important to have an agreement like this which boasts preserves and

improves the binatural partnership that defines a larger community. this agreement lays the groundwork for the federal government to finally address the long-standing pollution flowing from the tijuana river into san diego bay which impacts both the health of our community and our military. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yield back. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts virginia tech. mr. neal: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to yield one minute to a very capable member of the house from michigan. congresswoman dingell. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from michigan is recognized. mrs. dingell: thank you, mr. speaker. thank you, mr. chairman, for all of your hard on getting us here today. we have to be honest. this trade deal won't undo the deep damage nafta 1.0 has done to our american workers, american manufacturing he, and our environment. today factories sit empty in michigan and across my district while workers are unable to compete with subpar, nonunion

workers in other countries. a new trade agreement's not going to just uproot those factories from overseas and bring them back home. but we fought hard to improve the original deal because with the trump administration first proposed wasn't enough. democrats fought for stronger labor and environmental standards and tougher enforcement mechanisms. this agreement has earned my vote because of the significant improvements made over last year and nafta 1.0. but our work is still there to strengthen american manufacturing, protect our environment, investing in our workers, and making sure we keep america at the forefront of innovation and technology. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: yield one minute to the gentleman and my neighbor new yorker, congressman delgado. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is

recognized. mr. delgado: thank you, mr. speaker. thank you to the chairman for yielding. my district, new york's 19th congressional district, is home to nearly 5,000 farms. these are not large or corporate operations. they are small. family farms passed down from one generation to the next. these family farmers across my district, dairy, organic, to veggable, are being squeezed by market consolidation, lower price, and unfavorable conditions during this down turn in the farm economy. today the house has an opportunity to provide a long overdue tool for their success. in a word, stability. the usmca will maintain and in some cases increase for our farmers' access to critical markets in canada and mexico. i'll cast my vote to ratify this important agreement which strengthens protections for american workers and organized labor, as well as facility specific enforcement mechanisms

for these new terms. i'll close with a remind. this is not a panacea. our small farmers are facing significant head winds and it is our duty -- the speaker pro tempore: the entleman's time has expired. the gentleman from texas. reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: i want to yield 30 seconds to my friend, the gentleman from michigan, congressman levin. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. thank you, mr. speaker. i thank my colleague for yielding. the threshold question for any nafta replacement must be whether we'll finally stopt outflow of american jobs and raise the standard of living for mexican-canadian, and american workers. my democratic colleagues have worked tirelessly to ensure nafta's replacement leads to positive change. i thank them for their efforts.

which have improved the deal that president trump originally negotiated. these improvements will not be enough to overhaul the entrenched system in mexico that denies workers their rights, keeps wages unconscionably low, and consequently incentivizes companies -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. levin: and incentivizes companies to ship jobs to mexico and out of our communities like mine in southeast michigan. mexico has not demonstrated the will meaningfully to reform its labor system and weaken -- weakness of usmca's enforcement mechanisms mean we will not be able to hold mexico's feet to the fire when promised reforms do not occur. i genuinely hope i'm wrong about this but i fear we can expect the usmca will perpetuate the harms of nafta for mexican and american workers alike. therefore i oppose this legislation. thank you. i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: glad to recognize the very capable gentlelady from texas, congresswoman fletcher. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from texas is recognized. for how much time? mr. neal: one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. mrs. fletcher: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in support of this usmca agreement. in my home state of texas trade with mexico and canada accounts for billions of dollars and millions of jobs. many of them at the port of houston and in the greater houston area. the usmca modendizes the framework for our trade, strengthening enforcement, labor, and environmental provisions in an updated agreement that does not adversely impact our businesses, our workers, or our environment. it is also critical for our energy future. codifying a new zero tariff policy and further encouraging u.s. energy exports across north america for years to come.

the agreement represents a true bipartisan accomplishment that will set the standard for future trade agreements. i want to thank chairman neal, the working group, ranking member brady, and ambassador lighthizer for their work. as co-chair of the new democrat coalition trade task force, i have been actively working with them to advance this agreement -- this agreement all year. i am so glad to see it come to the floor of the house and i encourage my colleagues to vote yes. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yield back. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: mr. speaker, i'm prepared to close. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from texas. mr. brady: i'm prepared to close as well. mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. brady: thank you, sir.

texas is made for trade. no state ships or sells more around the world than the lone star state. especially in my home region in the houston area in the eighth congressional district of texas. so many of our jobs depend on free and fair trade. almost a million in our state alone. the new usmca is incredibly viable and important for us because our two largers trading partners our our friend and neighbor mexico, and canada as well. i want to thank president trump for bringing this trade agreement to reality. . like other presidential candidates he pledged to renegotiate nafta. unlike any others, he delivered. he was convinced we could rebuild bipartisan trade here in america by insisting on a fair and level playing field for american workers. he was exactly right. earlier when he championed tax reform, every expert and every

other presidential candidate, including democrats, said manufacturing america is dead. just give up. it won't come back. he believed otherwise and so did republicans. because of our tax cuts and his balanced regulations, we have created over half a million new manufacturing jobs right here in america. over the last two years. i thank he representative lighthizer for being an act tech. i was a skeptic when he said we can rebuild bipartisan trade and we can fulfill many of the democrats' labor and environmental wishes that no other president had ever delivered. so he proved me wrong. working closely with chairman neal and others. they -- he in the original trade agreement of nafta a year ago produced the most pro-labor and pro-environmental trade

agreement in american history. in the last few months he's worked closely with democrats to fine-tune that agreement so that they -- these issues are enforceable. republicans support that enforcement. i also appreciate the leadership of chairman kneel with whom we would not be here today. i thank my trade staff, led by the remarkable angela elered, josh snead, david, and someone whose last day is with us blake harden as well. during my time i am proud to lead passage of the 12 trade agreements america has in place today. two updates of the trade promotion authority that lays out the trade rules for the white house and congress to follow. so for me this is number 13. i believe in the freedom to trade. and i truly believe it is the greatest economic freedom we possess. it lays at the heart of our free

enterprise system and as thomas everyson wrote, it is not only necessary and beneficial to all parties, it is a right and a duty. it is the freedom to buy and sell and compete anywhere in the world with as little government interference as possible. it's the freedom that if we build bipartisan mousetrap, we can sell it anywhere in the world. when someone else builds a better mousetrap we have the freedom to buy it for our family and our business. that economic freedom has lifted millions of out of port and provided opportunity and -- poverty and provided opportunity and prosperity and peace not just for ourselves but the world. that's why it was disappointing the democrats held up moving forward on this agreement for so long because every day of delay helped china and our countries. this wag long overdue. the truth of the matter is we are here today.

we have pulled together a historic vote. america is made for trade. with our new strong economy, the most competitive economy today in the world, we need more customers. all around the world. that's what this trade agreement does. it delivers new customers and delivers on new prosperity. i close with this. on the ways and means committee i hold the seat formerly held by former president bush and when he signed this agreement in san antonio he said this so many years ago. it expresses our confidence in economic freedom and personal freedom in our people's energy and enterprise. it is an honor to vote today in support of the u.s.-mexico-canada agreement that embraces and enhances today's trade agreement

a reality. with that i yield the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yield the balance of his time. the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. neal: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. neal: on this occasion, mr. speaker, we conclude after 14 months of negotiating a hemispheric trade agreement. no small matter and no small accomplishment. . it included with a delegation to meet with the president of mexico. t included a delegation that visited prime minister trudeau fair ada and i think it's to say that the conversations in both countries were indeed very spirited. but also, before i go with more

specifics, we would not have gotten here without some very important and critical and diligent used work by members of the house and the staff that got us to where we are today. to t, it acknowledged speaker pelosi who from day one said the game plan is to get to yes. deal adership to get the across the line i think was atched almost by her top trade advisor, kathryn. let me thank the working group subcommittee chair blumenauer and his staff, laura, representative thompson and his staff, jennifer, representative staff, scott, terri sewell and her staff, rob. hisesentative jim gomez and staff, jim, representative rosa staff, jack, r

epresentative schakowsky and ausarai f, sid, and raymond, and representative bonamici, allison. the house hank partho for counsel, their expertise, creativity and many hours of hard work and good prepare our staff to this legislation. it is more than 200 pages long. they represent the very best of institution's profession professionalism. for the support i received from corps i received in mexico city and ottawa, i thank elizabeth and our to ssy for her attempt support our groups as we got to a yes.

we have great staff on both sides. i want to thank my committee i worked tirelessly on this agreement. hief trade counsel and director, kathryn, led us through the process, along with julia, katie, and kate. john, they were supported by very interns.llows and rishila, tiffany. want to thank our colleagues across the aisle. nd especially i want to acknowledge today the role that ambassador robert lighthizer played in this. is something to be side about the experience of capitol hill and having been a former staff member. time and again when i don't get to where we want to be and so many moments of back and commentary forth and even though there were

to leave, they didn't materialize because it can solve of challenges. but mr. brady was invaluable as well. his committee staff, angela, josh snead, blake, david, all played a very important role here. this really is a bipartisan i hope and expect the challenges to usmca will 5430 to enjoy broad bipartisan support. certainly am urging support for this because of the bolsters -- it workers' rights, it corrects i recallier trump trump tration -- earlier administration backsliding to get to this trade agreement. eliminated many big giveaways to companies that would have prices n high medicine and it preserves congress's freedom to legislate to bring and it ices down incorporates the strongest

-- rcement membering mechanisms including enforcing labor rights. there are three titles devoted to the u.s. government and our enforcementring and of the usmca partners obligations, monitoring and nforcement of usmca partners environmental obligations, and $843 million over four years that will be dedicated to monitoring and enforcement of environmental obligations, including funds for education and training of and inspectors. we would not have gotten here today, however, without the considerations of organized labor and the honor of the men and women of the afl-cio and the teamsters. we had broad support by ncluding them in the negotiation and the discussions. this agreement is much the bett but also a t signature of accomplishment -- sign of accomplishment for those participatehance to in it. every once in a while, you get

participate in these it won't happen moments and i believe this is indeed one of them. we thank the nat work lobby of catholic justice, accessible ion for medicines, the coalition of service industries, farmers for the information technology industry, the association of manufacturers, the national council of textile organizations, and the software alliance, and indeed, many others. i hope this will serve as a emplate going forward for the two sides to reach accommodation on many of the priorities that we will his year that include next year but also i think an example that men and in this institution of goodwill, not just in this eason, but men and women of goodwill can find common occurrence and common ground for an issue in the end that's all members of the american family. and with that i want to yield back the balance of my time.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. debate has expired. pursuant to the order of the 2019, the cember 16, previous question is ordered. the question is on engrossment reading of the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. third reading. the clerk: a bill states of america, the united mexican states, and canada attached as an annex to the protocol replacing the north .merican free trade agreement the speaker pro tempore: the question is on passage of the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the bill is passed. the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. neal: on that i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. those favoring a vote by the will rise.ys a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are

ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question will be postponed. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house for a period of less than 15 minutes.