Joe Baca: “I stand in opposition to the Singapore-Chile Free Trade Agreement. This agreement will do nothing to promote fair trade…”

“I stand in opposition to the Singapore-Chile Free Trade Agreement. This agreement will do nothing to promote fair trade and nothing to help working families in this Nation. We need to create jobs here in the United States. We have seen the damage and what has happened when Congress passes free trade agreements. We have lost over 3 million jobs since NAFTA came into existence. In California alone, we have lost over 80,000 jobs. We currently have an unemployment rate right now of 6.4 percent. A 6.4 percent unemployment rate right now. Hispanics have an 8.4 percent unemployment rate. African Americans have an 11.8 percent rate. We need to create jobs here in the United States, not somewhere else. The Chile and Singapore trade agreements will hurt American manufacturing jobs here in the United States. What happens when those products are not made and manufactured here in the United States? We lose revenue right here in the United States. What happens to Social Security? What happens to Medicare? It affects the kinds of income that we need in the future when we look at the services that we have to provide if we are going to some other country.”