IRS Bureaucracy Reduction and Judicial Review Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, before I address the matter at hand, I want to say that our hearts go out to the families of the men and women who lost their lives as a result of the Amtrak derailment last Tuesday. There are many still fighting injuries, and our thoughts and prayers are with them and their loved ones.

This was a commuter train. I have ridden it personally hundreds of times, and it is one my colleagues have ridden.

It was a train full of people on their way home--to their families, to their loved ones, to the things they like to do. So our thoughts go out to all of them.

It will be our job as lawmakers to analyze why this happened, how we could have prevented it, and how we can best move forward to ensure such a tragedy is not repeated. Some of this is already underway. But the more pressing task in this moment of tragedy is for us to show solidarity with the victims and their families, and recognize their contributions--however large or small--to our national story.

New York lost a few native sons and daughters:

Abid Gilani, a senior vice president of Wells Fargo and a father of two.

Rachel Jacobs, an industry leader in her field, was heading home to her husband and 2-year-old son as CEO of a new job at an educational software company.

Jim Gaines, a software architect for the Associated Press, a beloved member of the staff, who was heading home to Plainsboro, NJ, to see his wife, 16-year-old son, and 11-year-old daughter.

We lost Dr. Derrick Griffith, a dean of student affairs at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, just a stone's throw away from where I live. He spent his entire adult life working to improve urban education.

And we lost a young man named Justin Zemser, who lived in Rockaway, in my old congressional district, and was studying at the U.S. Naval Academy. He was a tremendous young man--and I know that because I nominated him to the Naval Academy.

He was a valedictorian, an earnest big brother and mentor to two children with autism, as well as being captain of the varsity football team. His family mourns his loss and so does America. He would have done so much for our country.

Today, let us remember them. Tomorrow, let us work together so that their loss is not in vain.

Mr. President, I rise to urge my colleagues to support the Customs bill before this body, particularly because of the strong language it contains on the crackdown on currency manipulation.

I have spoken many times on this subject in the Finance Committee and here on the floor because I am passionate about finally passing enforceable mechanisms for dealing with this malicious trade tactic. Why? Because I am deeply concerned by the plight of the middle class in today's economy, where globalization and free-trade agreements have accelerated a downward pressure on middle-class wages and forced entire industries to relocate to low-wage countries.

And I believe currency manipulation is one of the most significant emerging trade challenges this country faces, because it directly impacts wages and it directly impacts jobs.

As this Congress is soon to reengage on a fast-track for a massive free-trade agreement, now is the time to think deeply and comprehensively about our country's trade policy and how it impacts the broad middle of our economy.

To me and many of my colleagues, it does not make sense to move forward on the one hand with a blank check for free trade without passing strong worker protections on a parallel track. The global economy is a rough sea. We should not pass a trade package that forces the American worker to navigate those waters with a leaky boat and a deflated lifejacket.

So to me and to many of my colleagues, this Customs bill and the currency manipulation issue is unquestionably germane to the larger debate on trade. If the goal of TPP is to lure countries away from China, it makes perfect sense that, as part of the overall effort with TPP, we also go after Chinese currency manipulation, as well.

But beyond the question of relevance to this debate--which I believe is dispatched easily--this bill is substantively good trade policy.

It contains several smart, balanced, effective measures to create a level playing field with our international trading partners.

First and foremost, currency manipulation is finally attacked head-on. Companies have asked me about this. CEOs of major companies have said to me: We cannot compete if we have one hand tied behind our back, which currency manipulation does.

Mr. President, may I ask my colleague a question, the ranking member?

How much time do you wish?

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Mr. SCHUMER. Big companies have been hurt. Small companies have been hurt. We have lost millions of jobs because of currency manipulation, which makes the exports from China and other countries about 33 percent cheaper and imports from America to China 33 percent more expensive.

I would say this: China seems to feel they can get away with any kind of trade misdeed, whether it is stealing intellectual property by cyber security or any other means, whether it is keeping out the best of American products, which they do until they can learn how to make them themselves in their protected market and then fight us everywhere else.

This currency bill will finally be the first real shot across the bow to China that you cannot keep getting away from it. Their unfair trade practices hurt us in low-wage industries that were very important--shoes, clothing, toys, furniture. Those industries have already suffered. But if we do nothing, it will be the cream of American industry where our innovation and hard work is lost to China through unfair means, currency and other, whether it is tech or pharmaceuticals. Talk to the CEOs of these companies, and they will tell you China does not play fair. Talk to them, and they will tell you that the Chinese shrug their shoulders at what we have done up until now. We must do something--if not in the TPA bill, alongside it--that shows China once and for all they cannot get away with it. I fear that if we do not, in 10 years we will be saying the same thing about the industries that we say today. The customs measure, currency measure is bipartisan. The currency measure passed our committee with an overwhelming bipartisan vote, 18 to 8, and was supported by our ranking member, which I most appreciate. It passed the Senate in 2011 with 63 votes. It passed the House of Representatives with 348 votes. And a year and a half ago, in 2013, 60 Senators sent a letter to the President imploring the inclusion of enforceable currency provisions.

In conclusion, we have to think about the big picture when it comes to trade policy. If we move the ledger on one side, opening up our markets in foreign markets, we better make sure we adequately move the ledger on the other side to protect our workers, curb unfair deceptive practices, and give our small businesses the ability to compete in a global economy.

The fate of middle-class wages, middle-class jobs, and the very economy of this country hang in the balance. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support the bill.

I yield the floor.

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