It will be more democratic. The legislation is designed to safe guard american sovereignty and promote american values. Congress will be sending u. S. Trade policy in a more progressive direction than it has ever been before. The committee spent a lot of time over the last several days discussing these proposals. And the piece of the package that focuses on trade promotion is certainly going to get much of the attention today. But i want to make sure that the other parts get the attention they want as well. This package is going back to American Workers with job training, Financial Support and access to health care when they are knocked offstride by the Global Economy. It is a tough challenge competing in Global Markets and there is fierce competition everywhere. Thats why the package extends the Health Coverage tax credit and expands trade adjustment assistance to include for the first time Service Workers in addition to workers in manufacturing. The trade adjustment benefits will be enhanced through current levels and theyll last through 2021. Finally, the legislation is going to extend the generalized system through preferences in 2017 in both the haiti hope act and african Growth Opportunity act will be expanded for a decade. These are important programs. These are important programs that are going to do a lot of work for developing nations around the world. Im looking forward to a spirited debate to all of these proposals. I know theres going to be many amendments and certainly energetic discussion. I as believe theres a lot of common ground, particularly im guaranteeing there are modern trade policies that work for americas middle class. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator wyden. Lets have an understanding, were not going to have any outbursts in this room. Lets treat everybody with respect on both sides of these it issues. Were going to have to vote. Well let senator grassley give his opening remarks, about three minutes. While im not sure i thought we would get to this point a month or two ago, it sure has worked out well that senator hatch and senator wyden can Work Together and get us to this point. Trade is very important to our country and our economic future. Trade Promotion Authority with it, we are marking it up today as an important tool in the advancement of the u. S. Trade agenda. This legislation is Proof Congress and the administration can Work Together to increase Economic Opportunity for americans all across our 50 states. We already know and common sense dictates that 80 of the purchasing power is located outside of the United States, along with 95 of the worlds consumers. As the middle class expands in regions such as asia we have to make sure our businesses and workers have the ability to take advantage of the Economic Opportunity that growth represents. In iowa alone, 448,000 jobs dependent upon trade, according to the u. S. Chamber of commerce figures. And those jobs pay 18 percent higher wages on average because theyre tied to trade. We know that American Business and workers are the most efficient and productive in the world. We just need to make sure that they have the opportunity to succeed. And while i support and believe in immense benefits of free trade, i also oppose countries tilting the field in their favor through actions like undervaluing their currency to make their exports goods cheaper in the world market. No business can compete with cheap currencies that are artificially low and have a pegged Exchange Rate that prevents trade to fall freely. This tpa bill represents the modern realities that we face from the Global Economy that need to be addressed by our trade negotiators. The bill includes clear negotiating objectives for the standards on sanitary and vital sanitary regulations that must be sciencebased which will help limit disruptions to u. S. Agricultural exports. Negotiating objectives are offered related to digital trade and goods in crossborder data flows that are new and unique issues for the time we now live in. Clear guidance from congress is also given for localization barriers and intellectual property rights. More transparency and consultations are also required of the administration. This is a good tpa bill that Congress Needs to pass so we can finish our trade agreements. The tpp and other trade agreements that we may take part in, offer tremendous opportunity for my country and home state of ireland. We must take this necessary first step that is why we are here today. And so im glad were proceeding accordingly. Thank you, senator grassley. There has been objection to this meeting, so we will meet come back from this vote. These two votes and meet at 11 30, unless we can remove that objection. We will then recess until 4 00. And then well be back here for as long as it takes. And i will recognize other senators for their statement when we resume. Mr. Chairman. Have you voted senator . I have not. But my opening state is really short. Go ahead. Ill wait with you. Thank you for allowing this. Ill be brief. I filed many amendments on 88 initially to the four bills were considering today. My amendments will improve the negotiating objectives in key areas. It expands Congress Role which this should all be about in evaluating trade assessments and trade agreements. I appreciate chairman hatch and senator wyden working with me and my staff to get some of them considered. I look forward to debating them through the course of the day and evening. I wanted to thank chairman hatch and senator wyden for the Playing Field act in the customs remodification mark. This legislation will make a difference for Companies Across ohio and workers across those Companies Like this null core and u. S. Steel and many others who face an onslaught of unfairly traded imports and who need strong remedy laws to fight back. I know you and your staff worked hard to get this bill. Im truly grateful to my colleagues, casey burr and coates for their advocacy in this as well. I look forward to a productive and constructive markup. Thank you senator. Lets go vote. Well be back as soon as we can. So, you heard senator hatch say theyre going to go vote a couple amendments on the Human Trafficking legislation the senator is working on. The senator said they should be back about 11 30. Well see if theyre back in 30 minutes or so. A reminder, the Senate Begins on the nomination of Loretta Lynch the attorney general. We expect a procedural vote in the morning. And a confirmation vote is possible on the nominee in the afternoon. Our coverage of course, will be on cspan2. Yes, the congress haurdeard from donahue and tromp ka. Well show you as much as we can of that hearing until theyre ready to get back to this mockup. Id like to welcome everyone to the continuation of our hearings on congress and u. S. Tariff policy. Today we have a very distinguished panel of witnesses that i hope will help to us expand the ongoing nature of our trade agenda. As everyone here knows last week senator wyden along with the house and ways and Means Committee chairman ryan introduced legislation to renew trade Promotion Authority or tpa. Our intention is to mockup the tpa bill and also traderelated bills later this week. This legislation is a long time coming. Tpa expired in 2007. While talks of various trade agreements are gone since that time. Without tpa in effect, our nation and negotiators have been effectively negotiating with one hand tied behind their backs because theyve not been able to assure our trading partners that the deal they sign is the one that congress will vote on in the end. Our legislation will fix that. I want to thank Ranking Member wyden for his support and assistance. Weve got a long way to go, im confident we can get there. Now, some of us expressed concerns about the process by can were moving this bill forward. For example, ive heard examples that were moving too quickly without examination. Those concerns in my view are very unfounded. First of all, the bill in which our tpa legislation was first introduced in january 2013. Since that time its been available for examination, discussion, and comment. Thousands have weighed in on the merits of that bill including Business Associations organized labor, think tanks and advocacy groups. Many members of parties from both chambers are on record in praising or criticizing that bill. Officials in the Obama Administration expressed their support for it. In our discussions senator wyden, chairman ryan made improvements of that original bill but the fundamentals remain the same. And weve been very transparent as to what the changes really have been. Second in the 113th congress the finance Committee Held nine hearings on trade. And tpa was brought up at virtually every one of them. I know this because more often than not i was the one bringing it up. None of those hearings is negotiated specifically and entirely to tpa, and included witnesses across the spectrum including one representing organized labor as well. Finally, since the 114th congress convened just about three months ago this committee has had three hearings in which trade and tpa was a major topic of discussion. Todays hearing is the fourth. In other words this is a wellcovered territory for this committee. So while i understand and respect there are sincerely held views on this topic some of which are different from mine, any arguments that weve been less than forthcoming or transparent with this legislation are to put too fine a point on it are nonsense. Ive been in the senator a long time. I want our side to be heard. And i want to have a fair and open debate. Thats why were having this additional hearing. By all means we should have a frank and open discussion about these issues and i hope we will continue to do so today but lets not dress up our tradition for concern and tpa as concern for our process. During the hearing i made two assertions about trade. I stated plainly that u. S. Trade with foreign country says good thing. And i said that tpa is the best tool congress has in its arsenal to help facilitate trade. Those are pretty fundamental assertions and at the end of the day, people are either going to agree with them or they wont. More hearings or weeks of additional delays arent going to change many minds one way or the other on these essential issues. With that in mind i welcome todays hearing, like i said i get a very distinguished panel of witnesses. It doesnt get any more distinguished than these two gentlemen before us here today. And i think they will speak to the heart of these matters. I look forward to a spirited discussion. For my part, i just want to make clear if its not clear enough already, that i believe congress should be working hand in hand with the administration to break down barriers to foreign markets in order to give our businesses and job creators a chance to compete in the global marketplace. United states should be a leader in interNational Trade. We should be setting the standards and making the rules. We simply cannot afford to sit on the sidelines and let other countries dictate when the world goes on trade. Trade is an essential element of a healthy economy. We should be doing all we can an america that advances on the world stage. This will cover 11 nations in the Transpacific Partnership plus ours. And 28 different makes in the european Partnership Plus ours. So it involves a High Percentage of trade out there the world, and it puts us in a position to be able to do a good job with regard to trade and advance our country in many ways that we will not be able to do without this agreement. Now, lets thats where we are. Lets stop right there. Senator wyden. Thank you mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman and colleagues, normally, i would make an opening statement. The focus of which would be to lay out the significant differences between this bill and the trade bills of the 1990s. And under normal circumstances, i would detail that before the committee at this time. Given the interest however with colleagues on the committee, and engaging with our two witnesses and we thank them both, mr. Trumka and mr. Donahue for doing it. Ive talked with mr. Trumka often in the past. Visited with a number of members of the chambers in the interest of my colleagues who want to ask question i will forbear a further statement at this time, mr. Chairman. Thank you senator wyden. Our first witness is thomas j. Donahue. Hes the president and ceo of the u. S. Chamber of commerce. The largest Business Organization in the the world represents more than 3 million businesses across various industries and sectors. Mr. Donahue has held this position since 1997. Weve had a lot of experience working together. Prior to that he served as 13 years as president and ceo of the American Trucking association. Earlier in his career, he served as the Deputy Assistant postmaster general of the United States and was Vice President of development at fairfield university. Mr. Donahue received a bachelors degree from st. Johns university and an mba from adolphfy. We welcome you. Our second witness on this panel is richard l. Trumka. Mr. Trumka is the president of 12. 5 million members of the organization of aflcio. Hes held this position since 2009. I might add that this organization has an eckk effect for all organizes around the world. One of my best friends want an International President of the aflcio. Hes since passed away. Prior to this, mr. Trumka served for 15 years as the aflcios secretarytreasurer. He was president of the United States mine workers. Mr. Trumka has a bachelors degree from Penn State University and a law degree from villanova. Hes a tough guy and somebody i have a lot of respect for. These are the two top people in this country, as far as im concerned, to appear at this hearing. Theyre widely divergent views, perhaps but on the other hand, we need to listen to both of them i want to thank you, mr. Trumka, and mr. Donahue as well, for joining us today. Welcome to the Senate Finance committee. We hope this wont be the last time you come before the committee. For that, youll be the first witness. Thank you very much chairman hatch, Ranking Member wyden and distinguished members of the committee. As you now know im tom donahue and im president and ceo of the chamber of commerce of the United States. Im really pleased to testify on behalf of our 3 million small and mediumsize businesses state and local chambers of commerce, as well as Large Companies that are members of the chamber and our national federation. Im as pleased to be here with my friend rich trumka. We appear quite often together on matters of infrastructure, and when we return, were going to get a mike ike show and get on the road, we think we can make a good deal out of it. The chamber strongly supports the bipartisan congressional trade priorities and accountability ability of 2015 which will renew trade Promotion Authority. Tpa is critical because Economic Growth and job creation at home depend on our ability to sell American Goods and services abroad. After all, 95 of the worlds consumers live outside the borders of the United States. Why does trade matter to our country . In a word, it comes down to american jobs. Already 1 in 4 manufacturing jobs depends on exports. And 1 in 3 acres of American Farms is planted for consumers overseas. All told nearly 40 million american jobs depend on trade. Nearly 400,000 jobs in utah and 500,000 jobs in oregon depend on trade. Just to pick two states at random. These numbers could even be higher but unfortunately, the Playing Field for trade isnt always level. While our market is generally open u. S. Exports face foreign tariff and often soaring into double digits, as well as the thicket of nontariff barriers. No one wants to go into a game many points behind the tipoff. But that is exactly what american exporters are doing every day. These barriers are particularly burdensome for americas small and mediumsize is companies. About 300,000 of which are exporters from the United States. The good news is that americas trade agreements do a great job leveling the Playing Field and the results include significantly higher exports and new and better jobs. The chamber analyzed these benefits in a recent report entitled the open door of trade, which wed like, and mr. Chairman to enter into the record today. Without objection it will be entered. Thank you. Heres some of the highlights of that study. Americas 20 trade Agreement Partners represent just 6 of the worlds population. Let me say that again. The 20 trade agreements we have around the world represent just 6 of the worlds population. But buy nearly half o