House Majority Leader Says Democrats Have 'Sense of Urgency' to Move USMCA
On a day when more than two dozen House Republicans tweeted that their chamber should pass the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement -- most contrasting the impeachment movement with the lack of action on the trade deal -- the Democrats' No. 2 said his party's members want to finish negotiations with the U.S. trade representative and get the bill under consideration.
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House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland, in response to a question from International Trade Today during a press conference Nov. 13, said, "I think there is a sense of urgency, getting this done...." But he complained that there has not been any enforcement under NAFTA, and without enforcement "the agreement's just words, not reality." There have been disputes resolved under NAFTA, but there have been no state-to-state disputes since 2001, when the U.S. blocked a panel (see 1905220040).
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., told reporters Nov. 12 that there needs to be more money for factory inspectors in Mexico, and Hoyer said it's important that Mexico is the one to provide that money, rather than the U.S.