To extend the trade adjustment assistance program under the Trade Act of 1974 for 3 months.

Mr. President, in a moment, I am going to offer a unanimous consent request to pass H.R. 4341, which is a 3-month extension of something called the Trade Adjustment Assistance Act. We call it TAA.

But first I wish to speak for a moment about this program, because when we talk about families, when we talk about middle-class families-- people who love this country, who play by the rules every day, and want to know that they can take care of their kids and have a job and a home and all those things we want for our children--we have a group of people in this country who, through no fault of their own, have found themselves losing their job because of this global economy we have-- something called trade, jobs being shipped offshore.

Certainly, I support trade. We all support trade. But I want to export our products, not our jobs. Back when the free trade laws were passed, NAFTA and others, there was a commitment made by the Federal Government to help those who are caught in the middle, who lost their job because of trade policy.

Their job goes away, and the Federal Government is the one passing these trade laws. So the Federal Government said: OK, we are going to help people transition to new jobs, to be able to get the help, the support they need--some help for health care in the short run and be able to go back to college, go to community college, go to trade school, whatever they want to do to be able to transition, to be able to keep their standard of living, and, again, to keep their way of life.

We are in a situation right now where the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program will expire at the end of this year, and we have been pushing very hard for a simple 3-month extension. The House sent to us a simple 3-month extension of the current law until we can revise and update the law.

Now, I have to also say, I am very pleased, as a member of the Finance Committee, to be working with our chairman, to have joined him in introducing a very important bill to improve trade adjustment assistance, to be able to expand what we can do to more adequately meet the needs of workers and families and communities and small businesses that are impacted by unfair trade situations or the loss of jobs through trade.

But, right now, we have an immediate situation, an immediate situation going on that will affect thousands--tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands--of Americans across the country if this law expires. We have been doing everything possible to be able to simply get a 3-month extension. We did that once back in September--a 3-month extension. We are asking for another 3-month extension so we can pass this broader, more up-to-date law that will help more people.

When I think about this issue, it is something that is shocking to me, to think we would even have to be struggling with our Republican colleagues about a 3-month extension. I think about Greenville, MI, on the west side of Michigan, a town of about 8,000 people, who saw their Electrolux plant--they made refrigerators--that employed 2,700 people-- they did a great job; they worked in three shifts; they were making a profit--but the company decided they could make a bigger profit if they moved to Mexico.

After a lot of discussion with the State, myself, and others in the Federal Government--how could we help them be able to stay--they said: Do you know what. You can't compete with $1.57 an hour and no health benefits, no pension benefits in Mexico. So they left.

The people in Greenville, MI, have been counting on the Federal Government to keep its promise through trade adjustment assistance, to be able to help them pick themselves up and continue their lives.

This is not some theoretical debate. I know these people. I know people in communities all across Michigan who have been told: Gee, we are sorry this current race to the bottom in trade, where you go to the lowest wage around the world, is affecting you. We are sorry about this, but at least there is the thing called TAA, trade adjustment assistance, that can help you.

Well, right now this is running out. It may not be there for new people who find themselves in a situation similar to the folks in Greenville. That is outrageous. When we think about the obstruction that has gone on, on this floor over and over and over again, the 62 different filibusters, the obstructions, the objections that have gone on, you would think, a few days before Christmas, the holidays--a time of charity and good will--we could come together, that our colleagues would join with us and simply allow a current law to continue for 3 months--just 3 months. That is it; just 3 months.

Unfortunately, our Republican colleagues have held this issue hostage over a totally unrelated issue. They have wanted to tie this to a dispute regarding the FAA. Certainly, the FAA is important, but they want to tie it to a dispute there and are blocking our efforts to simply move forward on a 3-month extension of something that directly helps working people in this country--families, communities. It helps families be able to stay intact, be able to move into this new economy, new world that everybody is talking about that involves a different kind of trade policy.

Our leader has offered that we will deal with trade adjustment assistance, a 3-month extension, but also address the unrelated Republican FAA proposal on its own, that both would be dealt with but dealt with separately. For some unknown reason, that was not acceptable. There has been a desire to tie them together and to object to proceeding on this very important effort to support families and to make sure nobody falls through the cracks come January 1.

That is the least we can do in the Senate. If this program expires, unemployed men and women all around America are going to be in a position to be denied the help they need to be able to continue on with their lives. Those who are currently involved in the program will be able to continue to receive help, but I can assure you, coming from a State in great transition right now, with thousands of people falling into that situation, where they need trade adjustment help, we have people who have been waiting and waiting and waiting and will find themselves in a situation on January 1 with no help.

This is not acceptable. This is absolutely not acceptable. It does not have to happen. There is absolutely no reason for this. We have a simple House bill in front of us--no secrets; very simple. Very simple: extend this critical program through Christmas, through New Year's. Get us into the new year so we can work out any other differences and let families be able to know we understand and we are not going to use unemployed men and

women, who are unemployed through no fault of their own--the plant picks up and goes to Mexico, goes to China, goes someplace else. This is not their fault. They want to work. They are great workers. They are going to continue to find a way to work. But to hold them as pawns at this time is shameful.

So, Mr. President, I am being told there is going to be a Republican objection. I received a note to that effect. I am told there is no one here who is able to object at this time. But due to the courtesies of the Senate, I will not ask, although I am very tempted, I have to tell you--but due to the courtesies involved in the Senate, and the rules of the Senate, I will not proceed to ask for unanimous consent because, in fact, I have received a notice that the Republicans will, in fact, be objecting one more time, one more time, one more time to our ability to support and help working men and women and their families for the next 3 months.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4341) to extend the trade adjustment assistance program under the Trade Act of 1974 for 3 months.

TAA will run out very soon, and it's essential that that not happen. This is a vital program for workers in this country, for the firms for which they work, for farmers, and for their entire communities.

We've been trying to not only extend TAA, but we've been trying to reform it and to improve it. We have passed legislation in this House, legislation that, indeed, reformed and enhanced and expanded TAA, and it passed this House with some considerable bipartisan support. It addressed issues like this:

Expands TAA to service workers;

Improves funding, because a number of States have essentially run out of funds;

Streamlines the process for application for TAA because an unfriendly regimen of rules has too often made it difficult for people to access it;

Modernizes the unemployment system, which badly needs it;

Provides assistance to manufacturing communities hard hit by trade.

Unfortunately, though this bill passed comfortably in this House and was an important landmark supported by our Speaker, by the majority leader, by Chairman Rangel, by others, many of us on the Ways and Means Committee and, as I said, with some considerable bipartisan support, but unfortunately, the bill has essentially not moved in the other body. And it has been blocked, I think, by a position in the other body that it should be linked to something else.

Also, the administration essentially has opposed this legislation. And it was really rather startling that that occurred. After all, earlier this fall the President said this about TAA: ``I understand that if you're forced to change a job halfway through a career it can be painful for your family. I know that. And that is why I'm a big believer in trade adjustment assistance that helps Americans make the transition from one job to the next.''

Unfortunately, it was only a few weeks after that that we received, on the eve of the markup of the bill in the Ways and Means Committee, a letter from the Secretary of Labor opposing the bill that was before the committee. And in the letter the Secretary said, ``negative impacts with trade that are borne by the few,'' that this does not warrant the changes we make in the legislation. Unfortunate language, indeed, because there has been an impact of trade very substantially across the board, not only in the manufacturing industries, but in the service industries and beyond, and that that impact has been borne by many, many more than a few.

So, what has happened is that we passed this legislation with some bipartisan support, legislation that, as I say, expanded and reformed TAA and also addressed overdue issues of unemployment counts. We're just stuck because of the opposition of the administration, and also because of inaction in the Senate.

So, here's what this legislation does:

It extends TAA for 3 months. Why 3 months? Three months because it's the intention the majority, after we return after the holidays, if we adjourn for the holidays, and I assume we will, to get moving quickly to take up this vital reform of TAA within the first few months, to make it a high priority in this House, and we hope in the entire Congress, and we hope in the White House.

So I come today on behalf of many of us viewing the importance of this legislation and asking that this House vote for a 3-month extension until March 31, 2008.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, this is not the time to have any lengthy debate about trade nor, I think, about TAA. But before I yield back my time, since this is going to be a 3-month extension, and that means there needs to be quick action and we intend to undertake it as soon as we come back, I do want to emphasize a few points. Number one, the bill that passed here addressed the issue of service workers. Essentially, what Mr. Herger has referred to in his bill left the status quo and left out virtually all service workers, and that is simply inadequate and inappropriate.

It also did not touch the issue of funding. It did not streamline the processes so many people today in the manufacturing field for example when they lose their job because of trade simply can't work their way through all of the red tape. Also it doesn't address the issues within the unemployment compensation system and also doesn't refer to the needs of communities especially hard hit in manufacturing areas.

So we should pass this bill with notice that we here on the majority side intend to move quickly next year. I hope there can be a lot of bipartisan discussion. We need to do it quickly.

Let me say one last thing about the gentleman from California's statement about trade bills. We need to reform trade policy. We also need to pass trade adjustment assistance, and the attempt to link the two in terms of legislation simply will not work, and I don't think should or will happen.

TAA can stand on its own feet. TAA is necessary for those thrown out of work through no fault of their own because of the impact of trade. And to try to use TAA as an instrumentality to push particular trade bills simply shortchanges people in this country who lose their jobs, communities that lose their base, firms that are left out because of trade. Trade is not the only cause of dislocation in this country, but it is a substantial cause that needs to be addressed by reforming trade policy, number one, and we took major steps to begin to do that this year on the majority side, and also to pass TAA.

So I hope Mr. Herger and the Republicans will join with us the first 3 months of next year, and let's get busy and pass TAA. I hope also that the administration will drop its resistance and also stop trying to use TAA as a bargaining tool. That is not fair to people who are hurting economically through no fault of their own.

General Leave

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 4341.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back myself so much time as I may require.

I rise in support of this extension of the Trade Adjustment Assistance, or TAA program, for 3 months beyond its expiration of December 31. The TAA program provides important training,

health care, and other benefits to American workers adversely affected by trade. While this bill will continue the program for 3 months, I believe 6 months would be better and would allow the Senate sufficient time to pass the TAA reauthorization bill.

Also, the Senate and House must work together to develop what I hope will be truly bipartisan legislation that helps workers affected by trade and globalization get retrained and back to work sooner. Unfortunately, the House-passed Democrat bill was not the product of a bipartisan approach as I had hoped and did not include key Republican reform proposals.

In light of this, an overwhelming majority of the Republicans did not support it, and the bill drew a veto threat from the administration. In contrast, a TAA reauthorization bill that committee Republicans offered in an alternative on the floor was supported by 95 percent of all House Republicans and 11 Democrats. This strong support reflects the meaningful reforms in our 5-year TAA reauthorization, such as an increased health coverage tax credit.

As debate moves forward, I hope that at least some of the key TAA reforms in our bill will be considered and adopted. Several critical reforms in the House Republican TAA bill were not included with the House-passed language. They include providing more flexible training options to get people back to work sooner, such as training before layoffs, part-time training, and providing training scholarship for workers to use over 4 years, provisions to enhance the capacity of training providers, primarily community colleges to provide effective training programs, new accountability measures for TAA program funds, an extension and modernization of the Workforce Investment Act that will better integrate it with TAA to expand services to all workers and additional flexibility for States to operate UI programs that would help workers get back on the job faster.

I also want to reiterate my opposition to how the majority paid for the House-passed bill, and I hope we can revisit this issue as the process moves ahead.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, I believe we should discuss TAA expansion in the context of initiatives that would expand trade opportunities for U.S. workers, farmers, and producers. We must pass all of our pending trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea and reauthorize trade promotion authority that allows the President a stronger hand to negotiate these beneficial agreements in the first place.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.