The U.S. Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday advanced H.R. 5430, the legislative vehicle to ratify the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), with a bipartisan vote of 25-3. The committee’s favorable approval of the agreement to reform the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was the first of several Senate committees which must pass the bill before final consideration can occur in the Senate.
Finance Committee approval drew praise from committee members U.S. Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH), Steve Daines (R-MT), and Todd Young (R-IN) who said the trade agreement was vital to their home states.
“The Senate Finance Committee’s strong bipartisan approval of USMCA is good news for Ohio and the country, and an important step forward in our efforts to secure passage by the full Senate,” Sen. Portman said. “This long-awaited agreement is a significant improvement over the status quo of NAFTA. By opening more markets, it is good for American workers, farmers, and manufacturers, and it will create thousands of new jobs here in the United States.”
Sen. Daines said the committee’s vote “marks a very important step” for farmers, ranchers and small businesses across his home state and around the nation.
“Advancing this important trade deal between the United States, Canada and Mexico out of the Senate Finance Committee will bring us one step closer to providing more certainty and better access to markets for Montana agriculture,” said Sen. Daines.
Sen. Young noted that trade certainty with Canada and Mexico is vital in his home state of Indiana, where more than 233,000 jobs are directly attributable to trade with those two countries.
“I am pleased that we have come to this moment in the Finance Committee,” Sen. Young added. “It’s taken a bit longer than many of us would have liked and I hope in the future trade agreements can be considered more expeditiously.”
If enacted, the legislation is expected to create some 180,000 new American jobs and is forecasted to boost the nation’s GDP by $70 billion, according to Sen. Daines’ office.
Sen. Portman added that he supports the more modern H.R. 5430 in part because it includes new and enforceable environmental and labor standards, a new section on digital trade, expanded opportunities for agricultural trade, and new opportunities for auto jobs in America.
But Sen. Portman said he does also have some reservations.
“So, look. Is it perfect? No. No agreement is perfect but this is a big improvement and a vote for USMCA is a vote for these improvements,” he said. “A vote against it, of course is a vote for the status quo.”
The House on Dec. 19, 2019 approved the measure, 385 – 41, before sending it to the Senate, where the bill now awaits consideration before several other Senate committees before it heads to the full Senate floor for action.