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House Republicans Refuse To Consider Assistance For Displaced Workers During Markup Of Free Trade Deals

Senate Republicans last week threw a hissy fit last week over the Obama administration’s insistence that free trade pacts pending before Congress not be approved without renewing an expired program that aids workers who lose their jobs due to international trade. The Senate GOP were so incensed that they refused to attend a scheduled markup of the trade deals. Following suit, Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee removed trade assistance from their version of the trade deals entirely. “We note that the Ways and Means Committee documents released today do not provide a path forward for the bipartisan agreement to renew Trade Adjustment Assistance, and therefore are at odds with the administration’s stated intentions for advancing a package that includes both the free-trade agreements and assistance for workers adversely impacted by trade,” said U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk.

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