Senators: “Investments in domestic production, however, must be paired with pro-worker, pro-environment trade provisions to give American businesses and workers a fighting chance”
Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senators Bob Casey (D-PA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) sent a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer urging them to prioritize the pro-worker, pro-environment trade provisions in the China competitiveness bill, known as USICA in the Senate and the America COMPETES Act in the House. As the House and Senate begin to conference their bills, the Senators write that bolstering domestic chip manufacturing and scientific innovation must be paired with trade provisions that help level the playing field for American workers and businesses.
“American workers can outcompete anyone in the world if they are working on a level playing field,” the Senators wrote. “We must make these overdue investments in domestic manufacturing and American workers, which will strengthen American economic and national security, lower costs for families, provide good-paying jobs to American workers and ensure that we can make things here in America rather than relying on our foreign adversaries for the basic functions of our economy. Investments in domestic production, however, must be paired with pro-worker, pro-environment trade provisions to give American businesses and workers a fighting chance to compete against non-market economies, such as China, that are rigging the rules in their favor and denying our companies and our workers the only thing they need—a fair shot.”
The full letter can be found HERE and below.
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi The Honorable Charles Schumer
Speaker of the House Majority Leader
United States House of Representative United States Senate
Dear Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Schumer:
As you work to negotiate the differences between the House America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology, and Economic Strength (COMPETES) Act of 2022 and the Senate United States Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) of 2021, we write to stress the importance of crafting a complete package that invests in American workers and American competitiveness in the final conference agreement.
As Democratic members of the Senate, we write to express our strong support for the trade proposals in COMPETES. Congress took up the COMPETES Act and USICA because we know that global economic and technology competition requires both making significant investments here at home and in securing domestic supply chains. While the Senate USICA bill included many important provisions to bolster our Nation’s competitiveness—particularly investments in our domestic chip industry and scientific innovation[1]—the COMPETES Act contained a wider array of needed investments in a trade title aimed at helping American businesses and workers.[2] The COMPETES Act trade title is directly focused on tackling competitiveness issues related to trade with China, including funding for adjustment assistance for workers, environmental safeguards against chronic pollution from foreign production and bipartisan proposals addressing trade enforcement and security issues.
American workers can outcompete anyone in the world if they are working on a level playing field. We must make these overdue investments in domestic manufacturing and American workers, which will strengthen American economic and national security, lower costs for families, provide good-paying jobs to American workers and ensure that we can make things here in America rather than relying on our foreign adversaries for the basic functions of our economy. Investments in domestic production, however, must be paired with pro-worker, pro-environment trade provisions to give American businesses and workers a fighting chance to compete against non-market economies, such as China, that are rigging the rules in their favor and denying our companies and our workers the only thing they need—a fair shot.
We look forward to engaging in a conference process and working with Congressional Leadership to produce the best possible bill for the American people, which should include important investments in American innovation and the critical pro-worker trade proposals our House colleagues included in COMPETES.
