Roy Blunt: “I am pleased the Senate is considering a critical bill this week to establish permanent normal trade relations with…”

“I am pleased the Senate is considering a critical bill this week to establish permanent normal trade relations with Russia. I should have borrowed my friend's sign that says ``PTC Creates Jobs,'' which may very well be an accurate equation, but PNTR also will equal jobs. We can compete given the opportunity to compete, and that is what these trade relationships are all about. This legislation overwhelmingly has passed the House. It is going to have strong bipartisan support in the Senate, and I believe it will pass today and needs to pass today. Russia joined the World Trade Organization in August of 2012. Since that time, our exporters--U.S. companies--have not been able to take full advantage of the fact that they have this new way to get to the Russian market because we haven't granted permanent normal trade relationships to Russia. Since all the other major WTO members already have that permanent relationship, they have had a real advantage since August of last year, as they can move forward immediately and compete and make agreements that American companies can't make. American companies are the only companies losing market share after Russia joined the World Trade Organization--and not because they are not as competitive. But until we do what we need to do here today, they will be working at a real disadvantage.…”