Xavier Becerra: “I would agree with everyone who says that we need to give the President fast track authority to negotiate free trade…”

“I would agree with everyone who says that we need to give the President fast track authority to negotiate free trade agreements. But we need free trade that offers fair treatment for America's workers and offers protection of our environment. And we need a bill to vote on for fast track authority that is not encumbered by politics. Everyone here, as has been said before, knows that this bill is not going to pass. If you believe it will, then you should stand up here and say that you are willing to put your month's paycheck behind that. Yet we are five days away from the end of this fiscal year. On day six, we would have to shut the doors of government down because we do not yet have a budget in place to allow us to operate the government for the next fiscal year beginning October 1. Were it not for a short-term, stopgap, emergency continuing resolution that passed this House that allows us to operate until October 9, we would be preparing to close all of the doors of government down, from our parks to our Defense Department to our Department of Justice, in five days.”