Source:  PRESS RELEASE, 6/30/11
 

United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk issued a brief statement today regarding the planned informal markup in the Senate Finance Committee of trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama, along with a bipartisan agreement on Trade Adjustment Assistance.  From Ambassador Kirk:

"The three pending trade agreements with South Korea, Panama, and Colombia, will support tens of thousands of American jobs – each one a lifeline to a working family in this country.  We applaud Finance Chairman Max Baucus for his leadership in seeking to move these agreements today along with a responsible, cost-effective Trade Adjustment Assistance package.  Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee have repeatedly called on the Obama Administration to send these agreements to Congress for a vote.  Today the agreements were there – and Senate Finance Committee Republicans were not.  Americans need their leaders at work – in their seats, eyes on the ball, pushing every day to enact policies that create jobs here at home, advance this country’s economic recovery, and help our working families."