Defending Public Safety Employee's Retirement Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, it is no secret that Republicans on this
side of the aisle don't agree with President Obama about everything. In
fact, I would say that on balance most Republicans disagree with the
policy choices made by this President. But occasionally--occasionally--
even the leader of the Democratic Party, the President of the United
States, gets things right.

Occasionally, the President of the United States gets his policy
choices right, and he did so with regard to trade promotion authority.

I would point out to our friends and to anybody listening that this
actually is a 6-year trade promotion authority. This extends well
beyond the tenure of the current occupant of the White House, and it
will be available for the next President of the United States to
negotiate trade deals that are in the best interests of the United
States.

So I agree with the majority leader. This latest vote is just another
example of the Senate getting back to work and restored to regular
working order. This is a dramatic departure from the old Senate,
because there has actually been a lot of time for consideration of
important pieces of legislation--from the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review
Act to the Justice for Victims of Human Trafficking Act to the budget.

By moving this trade promotion authority bill forward, we can ensure
that American workers and businesses can get the best deal in trade
agreements with countries from Asia to South America to Europe.

I believe we have actually kept the campaign promises we made last
year that, if the American people entrusted the Republicans with the
new majority, we would work together with our allies where we could on
the other side of the aisle where we have common cause to deliver
results for the American people, to legislate in their best interest--
not just to obstruct for obstruction's sake or gain some temporary
tactical or political advantage but to promote a functioning,
deliberative Senate. I see one of the leaders of this effort, the
Senator from Delaware, who has done great work trying to find that
common cause and producing a result, as exemplified by the TPA. I am
going to yield for him in just a moment.

But let me just talk briefly about my response to the Senator from
Vermont and the Senator from Ohio, who said there is nothing good to be
had out of this trade promotion authority or any potential trade deals
that we might negotiate.

My home State of Texas relies heavily on international trade. We are
the number one trading State in the Nation, which is just one reason
why our economy grew at the rate of 5.2 percent in 2014. Our economy in
Texas grew at the rate of 5.2 percent in 2014. Do you know the rate at
which the U.S. economy grew? The U.S. economy grew at just 2.2 percent.
So why wouldn't we want to do anything and everything we can to
stimulate the growth of the economy to benefit people looking for work
and people looking for higher wages? This important trade promotion
authority is the first step to doing that.

I will conclude because the distinguished Senator from Delaware is
here and others who want to speak.

Trade is an engine of growth. It keeps our economy growing. These
upcoming trade agreements, whether it is the Trans-Pacific Partnership
or the transatlantic investment treaty, serve as a great opportunity to
turbo-charge that growth.

Our economy actually contracted last quarter by 0.7 percent. As long
as our economy is shrinking and not growing, we are not going to be
able to create the jobs to put America back to work. We are not going
to be able to create the sorts of wages that we want for all working
Americans. This legislation represents an important step in that
direction. I am glad that in the exercise of a little mutual trust and
comity, we have reached this important point.

We are not through yet because there are other parts of this trade
package that we are going to need to process this week. But the promise
and commitment we made on this side of the aisle was that if our
colleagues across the aisle trust us to move through the trade
promotion authority bill, we will continue to work with them and keep
our commitments to them, and, hopefully, more than just the trust that
produces these pieces of legislation will result from this increased
confidence and trust in one another.

We know we are going to find measures we will disagree on, and we
will fight like cats and dogs when we need to. But when we actually
agree on the policy and can find it within ourselves to work together,
the American people are the beneficiaries.

I yield the floor.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I would respond to the question by our
colleague from Delaware that assurances have been given that we
understand that the trade promotion authority and the trade adjustment
assistance travel together.

I think we have seen examples where the benefits of trade are not
uniformly felt across the country. There are some people who will be
displaced. But the importance of trade adjustment assistance--I wish we
could negotiate something a little more frugal that would actually get
the job done. But a negotiation took place between Chairman Ryan in the
House and the ranking member, Senator Wyden, in the Senate on this
important piece of the package.

We all recognize that these travel in pairs and that trade adjustment
assistance is part of the price you pay for getting trade promotion
authority done. But most importantly to my colleague's point from
Delaware, for those people who are displaced, this guarantees that they
will have access to the sort of job training and skills enhancement
that they will need in order to get even better jobs in this economy
that, on net, will benefit the entire country. That is the intent on
this side of the aisle and I think the intent of trade adjustment
authority and making sure that we finish our work--not here today but
through the rest of the week--on this important package of pieces of
legislation.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source