America Gives More Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, before I move forward, I want to thank the gentleman. He has shown true leadership in working, and working with everybody, in this House. Any time you take up a large piece of legislation, there are concerns. I have never seen another Member of this House sit with more meaning, more concerns, and try to find a solution, and I thank the chairman for that work.

Mr. Speaker, earlier this year, when I was headed home to California from D.C. one weekend, I saw something very troubling, but something actually today we can solve for the future. You see, it was February, and there was a labor dispute. There was a shutdown on our ports on the West Coast. So as the plane descended, instead of seeing the beaches stretched throughout California or the Santa Monica mountains, my attention was drawn to the number of ships sitting idle in the ocean and the number of ships that were just sitting in the port. You see, the docks were shut down and our economy was halted.

When Americans cannot have their products moved to willing buyers, the men and women who are part of the creation do not receive the rewards of their efforts. And in California, we cannot afford to waste any of our resources, especially what we have a short supply of--water. So when the trade was shut down, the food that was produced throughout the Central Valley would just rot on the docks.

But what was most interesting to me, Mr. Speaker, I remember a phone call I got just another weekend after. It was the president of the Republican freshman class here. He had just done a town hall, and he is from Colorado. He said: Mr. Leader, I have got a big issue in Colorado. The ports of the West Coast are shut down. You see, my small businesses are hurt by that. They are hurt when we are not able to have trade.

I remember a big bipartisan press conference we had, Republicans and Democrats alike, the largest one I have ever been a part of in the press room, talking about the ports being shut down, because every single one of their districts were affected, especially the small businesses.

When we cannot trade, our economy suffers and our way of life suffers. In fact, during that same period of this crippling shutdown, our economy actually shrank.

Today, what we are talking about on the floor is trade promotion authority. It allows us to get to an agreement. You know, we have not had it for a few years.

So what has happened around the world while the rest of America sat idle? There have been 100 trade agreements; 100 trade agreements around the world that we would want more of our small businesses to be a part of. You know how many we were a part of during that time? Zero, because we did not have TPA.

You know, trade is the difference between rotting produce on the harbor docks and sending California goods around the world. Trade is the difference between the lines of prosperity and the lines of stagnation.

We have a unique opportunity today. It is not a trade agreement. It is an opportunity. It is an opportunity that will empower each and every Member of this floor to have input, to have transparency, but what is more important, to empower every single American to make sure they are now at the table, that when there is the next trade agreement between countries who want to engage, America won't be left out, America can lead once more.

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