Orrin Hatch: “soon the Senate will vote on final passage of the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities Act of 2015. This is a…”

“soon the Senate will vote on final passage of the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities Act of 2015. This is a historic piece of legislation that will renew trade promotion authority. As I have already said here on the floor many times, this bill has been a long time coming. I personally have been focused on this for the last 4 years, but I know that for those whose lives and livelihoods revolve around American trade, the wait has been much longer. This is an important bill, no doubt about it, and likely the most important bill we will pass this year. It is important to President Obama, and I know it is important to many of us here in this Chamber. It shows that when the President is right, we will support him. From the beginning, TPA has been a bipartisan effort. Despite the difficulties we have faced here on the floor, I am glad it has remained that way throughout the process. I am very appreciative of all those who have put in so much time and effort to get the bill to this point. Going back to last year, I want to thank the former chairmen, Max Baucus and Dave Camp, who helped get the ball rolling on this TPA bill. I would especially like to thank the staff, who put in a great deal of time on the initial draft of this legislation, including Amber Cottel, former staff director of the Senate Committee on Finance; Bruce Hirsh, former chief trade counsel; and international trade counsel Lisa Pearlman.…”