[国会记录第161卷第79号（2015年5月21日，星期四）][参议院][页数]S3221-S3223]贸易政策，威登先生。主席先生，今天下午早些时候，我听取了一些辩论——在争取双方都能得到一系列公平修正案的努力之间——关于围绕贸易政策的整个保密问题。很多参议员都在讨论这个问题，所以我只想花一分钟的时间来澄清一点，我认为他们有一个非常正确的观点，那就是长期以来伴随着这些贸易讨论的保密性。我想讨论一下，我如何将其作为我的首要改革，以确保我们在制定贸易政策的讨论中拥有一个透明、开放和问责制的新时代。我一直觉得，如果你像我一样对国际贸易深信不疑，而且你还想要更多的国际贸易，那你到底为什么要保守秘密呢？这只会让美国人对整个话题更加愤世嫉俗，并让他们认为在华盛顿特区，有一些东西需要隐藏。我注意到我的朋友和合作伙伴，哈奇主席，正在发言，他会记得我们开始讨论的时候——他们真的进行了近7个月的努力，以形成一个跨党派的方案——我想在透明度方面采取一种非常新的方法，我希望我们能够说，在辩论这些政策的历史上，我们将不会再让国家和当选官员对这些讨论中的真正问题蒙在鼓里。因此，这里是对真正发生变化的简短评估。当然，目前我们正在制定未来贸易协定的规则。我们正在制定《贸易促进法》，为未来的协议制定规则。显然，第一个问题将涉及跨太平洋合作伙伴关系，即所谓的TPP，还有许多其他问题正在讨论中，特别是与欧洲的问题。如果国会——参议院和其他机构——通过哈奇主席和我，以及瑞安主席在这几个月里共同制定的方案，我认为，我们已经实现了我们的目标，即在参议院或其他机构进行一次投票之前，确保国会中的每一位议员和选择了解贸易协定的每一位美国人都能获得他们所需要的信息。改革将如何进行：首先，法律要求——换句话说，这不是自由裁量权——这些贸易协定，从跨太平洋伙伴关系开始，将在美国总统签署该协定前60天公布。这意味着如果你想参加科罗拉多州的市政厅会议，由杰出的参议院议长主持——甚至在总统签署之前——科罗拉多州的公民可以手里拿着跨太平洋伙伴关系协议——整个协议——向参议院议长或参议院和众议院的任何一位同事提问。在60天的阳光照射和曝光期之后，总统可以签署该协议，然后在参议院和众议院开始投票之前还有将近2个月——2个月。因此，当我今天早些时候听到我的同事们——我非常尊敬的参议员们——谈论保密问题时，保密是没有好处的，为什么不能改变这一点，为什么不能改变这一点，这让我想发言——我将概述对这一方案所进行的所有渐进式改革；我认为改革对于我所说的“贸易做对了”的新时代非常重要——确保我们纠正了这样一种说法，即在国会和国家看到参议院和众议院开始投票之前，不知何故，每个人都将蒙在鼓里。哈奇主席在这里，他记得我们在这一点上的所有谈判。这真的意味着——在总统签署协议之前，阳光照射时间为60天，在协议签署之后，可能还有两个多月，在我们开始投票之前——公民可以参加科罗拉多州的市政厅会议，犹他州或该国的任何地区，并拥有跨太平洋合作伙伴关系协议，以便能够就此提出问题。我当然认为这让我们的贸易谈判者和其他所有人都有点紧张，因为他们知道美国人民和国会将会有这份文件。这将从跨太平洋伙伴关系协议开始。现在，哈奇主席和我做了一些其他的改变。在未来，谈判的讨论——谈判的总结——将有可能公开，这样人们就可以在谈判过程中获得更多的信息。我们已经取消了一些限制，成员可以使用这些材料，员工可以使用这些材料。因为主席在这里，我想to express my thanks to him especially on this point. We spent a lot of time on a whole host of issues: How you could put the brakes on a flawed agreement. I am glad the chairman can smile about our discussions on that point today, but suffice it to say they were pretty spirited. We had discussions on a host of these topics. I am especially pleased we made these very substantial changes on the issue of sunlight, transparency, openness, and accountability because I think my colleagues--who discussed it on the floor and many others who have been concerned about secrecy in the past with respect to these agreements--when they get a chance to actually see the details that are in the reforms Chairman Hatch, Chairman Ryan, and I put together, are going to see we have made some very dramatic changes. Now, I think some specific changes here are areas that I would like to outline. I am going to go to the question of major changes in workers' rights and environmental protections because I know that a number of my colleagues, when they talked earlier, were concerned about these issues as well. Suffice it to say, on workers' rights and environmental protections, if we go back to the 1990s, back to the NAFTA era, these vital priorities basically were just shunted to the side. It would be almost inflationary to say they got short shrift. They basically got no shrift. They just got shunted to the side. They were in unenforceable side deals, which meant that the United States in effect had to take it on blind faith that our partners would live up to their commitments. It was my view that many of my colleagues, particularly on the Democratic side of the aisle, were spot-on in saying that wasn't good enough. This trade package will say in clear terms that the United States is done allowing labor and environmental protections to be pushed aside and disregarded. Our partners will be required to adopt and maintain core international labor standards. Core international labor standards are going to be required of our trading partners. They will have to adopt them, and they will have to maintain them. That is not something that is to the side and is unenforceable. That is real. It has got teeth. Also, our partners would be required to adopt what are really common multilateral environmental agreements, and these would be backed by the threat of trade sanctions. So these are major changes that certainly contribute to what I think makes the most progressive approach with respect to trade policy in the future. And for the first time, the President is directed under this piece of legislation to make sure our trading partners adopt and maintain key laws. That is why, for example, I mentioned labor standards. And here is what those are: freedom of association, the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining, the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labor, the effective abolition of child labor and a prohibition on the worst forms of child labor, and the elimination of discrimination with respect to employment and occupation. Now, those are the keys with respect to the labor side. Here are the key protections on the environmental side, which I have again highlighted here at the outset. The bedrock protections here are that there has to be recognition to ensure that there is compliance with the Convention on International Trade and Endangered Species Act, the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Depletes the Ozone Layer, the Protocol on Prevention of Pollution from Ships, the Convention on Wetlands, the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Resources, the Convention on Whaling, and the Tropical Tuna Convention. This, again, is not stuck in a side deal but is fully enforceable, and not just rearranging inadequate policies of the past, sort of rearranging sinking deck chairs. This is better than anything that has existed before--better than the North American Free Trade Agreement, better than the Central American Free Trade Agreement. With these changes, our country is saying that we will no longer take it on blind faith that other countries are going to adopt stronger standards for protecting workers and the environment. This is the first time the United States is setting the standard and demanding that trading partners hit that mark. That is very real progress. I will close with just this point. Many colleagues who have been skeptical about trade agreements always raise the issue about whether trade is somehow going to be a race to the bottom. What I have just described is a concrete way to have a new force for raising standards up and getting the standards up, because my colleagues are right that they have been inadequate in the past. So whether you are for this bill or not, I hope my colleagues will take a look at the new sunshine provisions, because the American people are not going to be in the dark about what is in a trade agreement before anybody votes on that agreement here in the Senate and the House. I hope my colleagues will especially look at the new provisions with respect to labor rights and environmental rights, because the day is over when those considerations are going to be shunted to the side. They are going to be front and center, and they are going to have teeth. And instead of a race to the bottom that my colleagues have been concerned about, the United States will be where it always is, where we are at our best--forcing standards up. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah. Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I wish to personally thank the distinguished [[Page S3223]] Senator from Oregon for the work he has done on this bill. It couldn't have been done without him. A number of other people on his side have been very contributory and helpful. We are not there yet, but we are going to work at it. I just have to say how much I have enjoyed working with him on the floor so far. I just hope everything will go smoothly so we can get this bill up and out and get the President what he needs to conclude these negotiations and also especially for our Trade Representative. Mr. Froman has done a very good job, as far as I can see. We will have to see what the TPP is like, but we will all have a chance to look at it for a considerable period of time before we have to vote on anything regarding that. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll. The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll. Mr. LEE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. ____________________