Jeff Bingaman: “I want to begin by emphasizing the positive. We have come a long way to where we are today on trade adjustment…”

“I want to begin by emphasizing the positive. We have come a long way to where we are today on trade adjustment assistance. The provisions in the conference report are far better than what exists in current law. I want to thank all my colleagues for their support on trade adjustment assistance, and I want to thank the Administration for finding a path to compromise on this very important legislation. But I also want to take this opportunity to say that this conference report does not go nearly far enough in terms of what needs to be done. In fact, on trade adjustment assistance, I would have to say that the end result in many respects misses the point of what my original bill tried to do.”