On the recordJune 12, 2015
I have great respect for my colleague from Ohio, but let me just give you a few facts. Of the 20 countries with which we have trade agreements, we have a trade surplus. With the countries with which we don't, we have a trade deficit. It speaks for itself. In Ohio, 89 percent of our exporters are small- and medium-sized companies with fewer than 500 people. With respect to TAA, I must say that most of these trading dollars are spent at community colleges, at technical colleges, and they use that money to train workers and to upgrade skills for a 21st century economy. I wish my dad, who had lost his manufacturing job way before NAFTA and who had lost his steelworker job way before any bilateral trade agreement for globalization, had had TAA to help him get a new job. As the President said, in reality, a vote against this TAA bill will be a vote to actually cut funding for community college. As the President said yesterday, a ``no'' vote could potentially kill TAA forever. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Washington State (Mr. Reichert), a distinguished member of the Ways and Means Committee and Trade Subcommittee and a leader on trade issues.
