On the recordMay 19, 2015
I appreciate the opportunity to speak a little bit today about the trade legislation that is before this body this afternoon. As we have talked about over the last week, as I have come to the floor, I do think we ought to be expanding exports in this country because it is good for jobs. I think trade-opening agreements can be very good for the workers and farmers, people that provide services who I represent in the State of Ohio. We need those jobs. 60 percent of our soybean crop is exported in Ohio, our biggest agricultural product. One of every three acres is planted for export now. For our farmers, those overseas markets are really important. Of course we want to expand them. For our industrial workers, about 25 percent of our factory jobs in Ohio are now trade jobs, export jobs. We want to expand them. For 7 years we have not had the ability to open up new markets, by knocking down barriers overseas. So that is a good thing. We should all be for that. Everyone should be for that. But the question is, as we knock down barriers overseas, are the other countries playing by the rules? If not, then it is not fair to our workers, our farmers, our service providers. In Ohio, a lot of companies have become more productive. They have worked on productivity, and they have worked on efficiency. Workers have given concessions, including some of our major labor unions: the UAW, steel workers, and others, in an effort to join the global economy in a competitive way.…
