Al Franken: “I rise to speak briefly on the trade legislation before us and on the importance of considering and voting on amendments…”

“I rise to speak briefly on the trade legislation before us and on the importance of considering and voting on amendments that would improve it. I have submitted amendments of my own. I am co-leading a pair of amendments with Senator Baldwin, and there are a number of very important amendments that I support. We are talking about how we will consider trade agreements that would cover a major portion of the entire global economy. That is a very important subject, and I believe we need to fully debate this bill. I also believe we need to have votes on a number of amendments to make this bill better than it currently is. I believe that when trade is done right, it can benefit our workers, our communities, and our businesses. But I am concerned that the fast- track procedures set up by the trade promotion authority bill we are considering will not do enough to make sure we do trade right. So, at a minimum, I believe we should debate and have votes on a number of amendments that would considerably strengthen this bill. I have submitted two amendments of my own. One of my amendments would strengthen the negotiating objective on labor and environmental standards in the trade promotion authority bill. Right now, the bill effectively says that partner countries violate those standards only when they fail to enforce labor or environmental laws on a sustained and recurring basis.…”