{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.moran.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ID=EC807DBB-EED0-4C6A-9536-E851A3FB55DF", "VIDEO: Sen. Moran Speaks on the Senate Floor on the Importance of Trade for the U.S. Economy and Defense", "2023-05-12", "2023", "2023-05", "Republican", "Senate", "KS", "Jerry Moran", "M000934", "www.moran.senate.gov", "moran", "https://www.moran.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (Kan.) spoke on the Senate floor this week about the importance of trade to the U.S. economy and national security and called on President Biden to enter into \u2013 and Congress to ratify \u2013 the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).\n\n\u201cAmerica\u2019s economy is the foundation of our power. Without the creation of wealth, we cannot afford to sustain the world\u2019s greatest military, which in turn defends the peace that enables the flow of goods,\u201d said Sen. Moran. \u201cIn competing with China in the coming decades, it is essential that the United States provides a positive vision for the region that attracts countries to what America offers beyond security support. Leadership is more than making clear what we\u2019re against: we must offer a compelling case of what we\u2019re for and how it will benefit those we wish to lead. Little in geopolitics is a win-win, but trade is the rare area that advances our interests and those of our partners.\u201d\n\nClick HERE to Watch Sen. Moran\u2019s Full Remarks\n\nSen. Moran\u2019s Full Remarks as Prepared for Delivery:\n\n\u201cHere in the early months of this new Congress, I note the broad bipartisan agreement on the importance of the Indo-Pacific region to our country\u2019s future. We are strengthening our military posture in the region, and last Congress we passed legislation to strengthen our strategic industries.\n\n\u201cWhat is being ignored, however, is a third component essential to our success in the region: expanding trade.\n\n\u201cAt an SFOPS [State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs] hearing in March, I noted the importance of our economic relationships around the world and asked Secretary of State Blinken about our approach to trade agreements, particularly America\u2019s absence from the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership, the CPTPP.\n\n\u201cHe told me the original pact in 2015 had real benefits, economically and strategically, but since then the world has moved on. I agree with him: our allies and partners have moved on \u2013 without us.\n\n\u201cA year ago this month, President Biden made his first visit to Asia and unveiled the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, the administration\u2019s initiative to re-engage the region on standards involving digital trade, supply chains, climate change and corruption.\n\n\u201cThis is a small start, and it falls far short of what needs to occur to advance American prosperity and security\u2014and that of our Asian partners. In particular, the President\u2019s proposal fails to include greater U.S. market access. The United States is belatedly offering tepid leadership to a region that remains committed to open trade.\n\n\u201cWe can and must correct this or fall further behind in the most economically dynamic region in the world.\n\n\u201cI call on President Biden to enter into \u2013 and Congress to ratify \u2013 the CPTPP.\n\n\u201cIt would be difficult to overstate how important the Indo-Pacific is to American prosperity. The region comprises 40 percent of global economic output and is expected to grow to 50 percent by the end of the decade.\n\n\u201cThe largest economy in the region belongs to China, which is the largest trade partner for the region\u2019s countries. This provides Beijing with the leverage to bully our allies and partners into making concessions in exchange for access to the Chinese market.\n\n\u201cChina\u2019s dominance of the region would put at risk American liberties and prosperity. It\u2019s reality, not an exaggeration.\n\n\u201cChina used coercion to retaliate against Australia after our allies in Canberra called for an investigation into the origins of COVID-19. Beijing regularly forces American businesses to refrain from criticism of China or conform to Communist policies. China\u2019s leaders can coerce and intimidate because of their economic strength.\n\n\u201cIt is clear China will exert its tremendous leverage over other nations to achieve its global ambitions. Its attempts to bully countries into its sphere of influence are on full display through the Belt and Road Initiative, which has left a trail of debt traps and human rights abuses.\n\n\u201cYet the United States is ceding our economic leadership that we have established and maintained for the last 80 years.\n\n\u201cHaving quit the Trans-Pacific Partnership under bipartisan criticism, the countries we worked with \u2013 treaty allies and partners \u2013 moved ahead and in 2018 brought into force a successor agreement, the CPTPP. These countries represent more than 13 percent of global GDP. In the last few weeks, Great Britain has gained membership.\n\n\u201cSo important is the CPTPP to the Pacific economies that China applied for membership last September. It would be a grave mistake for us to assume that, in America\u2019s absence, China will be denied membership indefinitely.\n\n\u201cChina wants in despite already being the largest member of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Agreement, which also includes our treaty allies Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. This trade bloc accounts for nearly one-third of global GDP.\n\n\u201cThese two agreements, comprised of nations with diverse ideologies, underscore the importance of economics to the Indo-Pacific. In Asia especially, economics and security are one and the same, and for Washington to ignore that is a miscalculation.\n\n\u201cOur allies and partners in the region are noticing America\u2019s absence. Australia\u2019s foreign minister, Penny Wong, said at the end of last year, \u2018America\u2019s decision not to proceed with CPTPP is still being felt in the region\u2026We have reached a stage in the evolution of our alliances where they will increasingly require a fully developed economic dimension, as well.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd at the end of 2022, Singapore\u2019s defense minister had this to say: \u2018The U.S. increasing their military presence in Asia as a stabilizing force is virtuous, it is good and we will support that.\u2019\n\n\u201cBut he made this key point: \u2018We think that the U.S. should do more to engage as it did previously, to build an economic framework, which as a tide can lift all boats.\u2019\n\n\u201cDespite a National Security Strategy which declares \u2018we need to win the competition for the 21st century\u2019 and that we will \u2018shape the rules of the road for\u2026trade and economics,\u2019 the document makes clear President Biden believes \u2018we have to move beyond traditional Free Trade Agreements.\u2019\n\n\u201cBut given the words of our Pacific friends, it is equally clear they have not moved beyond such agreements. In fact, they are doubling down on them without us. The President and his Administration are either oblivious to this fact or indifferent as he seeks to satisfy his constituencies. Given the stakes, I\u2019m not sure which is worse.\n\n\u201cDating back to the 1980s, the National Security Strategy is a Congressionally-mandated report issued by the President to convey the Administration\u2019s national security goals and how to achieve them. In recent decades, one document is published each presidential term rather than yearly.\n\n\u201cThe 2022 document President Biden stresses upholding the \u2018rules-based international order\u2019 but refuses to engage in shaping one of the significant pillars of that order: trade. The National Security Strategy invokes four principles, two of which are openness and inclusiveness. As one scholar observed, the President\u2019s approach to trade is neither open nor inclusive. This hurts our goals in the region, and it hurts Americans at home indeed, our very national security.\n\n\u201cEconomic partnerships like the CPTPP promote U.S. national security interests by protecting access to critical technology, minerals, and food supplies. Robust trade agreements safeguard the intellectual property and manufacturing capabilities that underpins American military dominance.\n\n\u201cSoutheast Asia presents a situation in which our agricultural producers can score significant market access wins while U.S. soft power can bolster our influence with these critical partners.\n\n\u201cAmerica\u2019s economy is the foundation of our power. Without the creation of wealth, we cannot afford to sustain the world\u2019s greatest military, which in turn defends the peace that enables the flow of goods. As a column in the Wall Street Journal recently argued, \u2018the U.S. must embrace the politics of growth. Our world must be, and must be seen to be, the surest, fastest path to raising living standards all over the world. That\u2019s what we did after World War II. We must find a way to do that again today.\u2019\n\n\u201cWe can\u2019t help make the rules that will benefit Americans if we refuse to sit at the table and pretend other options will be convincing just because this White House says so.\n\n\u201cIn competing with China in the coming decades, it is essential that the United States provide a positive vision for the region that attracts countries to what America offers beyond security support. Leadership is more than making clear what we\u2019re against: we must offer a compelling case of what we\u2019re for and how it will benefit those we wish to lead.\n\n\u201cLittle in geopolitics is a win-win, but trade is the rare area that advances our interests and those of our partners. According to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, three in four Americans think trade is good for the U.S. economy.\n\n\u201cBut Congress \u2013 and the President \u2013 are making a mistake ignoring the old idea of open trade. To best compete with China in Asia and to help Americans at home, joining the CPTPP and providing greater market access is the obvious place to begin.\u201d\n\n# # #", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:07:47Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.moran.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ID=EC807DBB-EED0-4C6A-9536-E851A3FB55DF"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6063153743743896, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}