In photos: Vice President Pence tells Congressional Democrats to put U.S. workers before politics
“Over one year ago, President Trump negotiated the largest trade deal in American history: the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement,” Vice President Mike Pence told a crowd of Iowans yesterday. “I was there all along the way for a lot of the negotiations, and I’ll tell you what: The President drove a hard bargain.”
Iowa is America’s second-largest agricultural exporting state, producing more than $10.3 billion in these goods each year. When Congress finally passes USMCA, these numbers will get even bigger, expanding opportunity for workers in America’s heartland.
So what’s the holdup? As usual, it comes down to one group. More specifically, it comes down to one person: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Her refusal to bring this trade deal to the House floor for a vote boils down to nothing more than petty, partisan politics.
“The truth is—and we all know it—Democrats have been spending all their time on endless investigations and a partisan impeachment,” the Vice President said.
“But enough is enough. The American people deserve better.”
USMCA replaces and updates NAFTA, accomplishing many goals that Democrats claimed to support for years. It gives American workers a better deal, strengthening labor provisions with Mexico and Canada from the voluntary terms that NAFTA set. It also does a much better job protecting our environment than the outdated deal it replaces.
Congressional Democrats have had a problem keeping their promises to voters. First, they said they would secure our borders better than President Trump could. They didn’t. Then they said they would level the playing field for American workers by addressing NAFTA’s flaws that put corporate profits over people. They haven’t.
“I’ll make you a promise,” Vice President Pence said. “Whatever the Democrats in Congress choose to spend their time on, President Trump and I are never going to stop fighting for you and the agenda that Iowa voted for in 2016. Count on it.”
In photos: Vice President Pence fights for USMCA in Iowa.
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