Jack Reed: “it had been my hope that the Senate would vote today on my amendment to the Baucus substitute amendment No. 3401 to the…”

“it had been my hope that the Senate would vote today on my amendment to the Baucus substitute amendment No. 3401 to the trade bill, H.R. 3009. Sadly, that will not be the case because of procedural roadblocks that foreshadow the kinds of obstacles that passage of the underlying bill will raise when we consider future trade agreements in the Senate. My amendment is about fairness for secondary workers who I believe are being treated unfairly. This is why I voted against cloture for the underlying substitute, and one of the reasons why I will vote against the bill on final passage. Nonetheless, I want to take a few moments to point out the plight of secondary workers, and urge my colleagues to pay close attention to the issue as it continues to develop after we pass this bill later today. Several things have been said on the Senate floor about trade adjustment assistance, TAA, and secondary workers during the length of this discourse on trade, and I think it is important to go back and highlight some of them and reiterate what the truth is in this debate. Most importantly, I think it is imperative that we realize that however many jobs we may create through export-related activities, we may lose many more due to the impact of imports. The choice before us is, how do we treat those workers adversely impacted by trade agreements in the future?”