releases: https://axne.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-axne-votes-advance-usmca-trade-agreement-tells-senate-pass-week
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| https://axne.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-axne-votes-advance-usmca-trade-agreement-tells-senate-pass-week | Rep. Axne Votes to Advance USMCA Trade Agreement, Tells Senate to Pass This Week | 2019-12-19 | 2019 | 2019-12 | Democrat | House | IA | Cynthia Axne | A000378 | axne.house.gov | legacy | Washington D.C. Today, Rep. Cindy Axne (IA-03) voted with 384 of her Democratic and Republican colleagues in the House to advance the United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) Agreement. I'm proud of my vote today to approve the USMCA and get it one step closer to being ratified, said Rep. Axne. Trade is fundamental to the state of Iowa, and this finalized agreement will modernize our partnership with our two closest neighbors and provide market certainty for Iowa farmers and manufacturers by ending the threat of back-and-forth retaliatory tariffs. Rep. Axne spoke during debate on the House floor prior to final passage of the deal. Video of her remarks can be found here. The agreement reaffirms trade partnerships with two of America's most important markets and ensures access for exports from Iowa, the second largest agricultural exporting state in the country. Last year, Iowa exported $4.2 billion in goods to Canada, 30 percent of the state's total exports, and $2.3 billion to Mexico. The deal now heads to the United States Senate, which has already stated that it intends to hold on passing the deal until sometime after the beginning of next year. Earlier this week, Rep. Axne led a letter with six of her freshman colleagues in the House calling on the Senate to stay in town to finalize the deal. It is completely unacceptable that after months of negotiations and an agreement that both the President and the House agreed to, the Senate will still leave town without giving our farmers and families the Christmas gift they deserve, said Rep. Axne. I hope my friends in the Senate will reconsider their plans to start their holiday vacation without passing this deal and getting our constituents the certainty of having this deal done by the new year. Rep. Axne has been a leader in calling for action on USMCA. She repeatedly urged her colleagues on the House floor to work to finalize the agreement. Earlier this month, shesent a letterto Speaker Pelosi and Leader Hoyer and called for action on the USMCA before the end of the year. The USMCA builds on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which went into effect in 1994. It includes provisions to enforce labor protections across all signatories to protect American jobs from outsourcing, and excludes language in an earlier draft that could have raised prescription drug costs by protecting pharmaceutical companies. The enhanced labor protections in the USMCA will benefit Iowa workers and keep our middle class strong. Without them, we'd see Iowa workers undermined and our American-made products undercut, Rep. Axne said. I am also glad that the biologics title was removed so Iowa families will not face higher costs for certain pharmaceuticals, and to see key improvements in environmental protections. The agreement passed today is a product of months of bipartisan collaboration between the House Working Group, the United States Trade Representative (USTR), and trade representatives from the Mexican and Canadian governments. The three countries signed USMCA in November of 2018 and on May 30, 2019 the administration submitted the text of the agreement to Congress. | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |