McAdams, Fellow Moderate Dems Push for USMCA Floor Vote

November 22, 2019 by Dan McCue
McAdams, Fellow Moderate Dems Push for USMCA Floor Vote

WASHINGTON – A quartet of moderate Democrats took to House floor this week to press for a vote on the USMCA trade deal, despite the stark partisan divide inflamed by the ongoing impeachment inquiry.

“I think it’s important that the people who sent us here know that a partisan dispute in one area is not going to keep us working on other matters,” Rep. Ben McAdams, D-Utah, told The Well News on Thursday.

“I can tell you farmers and manufacturers in my state are in a holding pattern and will continue to be until we get something done, and give them some sense of what the rules, as regard trade, are going to be,” he said.

As Rep. McAdams spoke, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was meeting on Capitol Hill with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass.

When she emerged from the hour-and-a-half-long meeting, Pelosi told reporters she doubts Congress has enough time left to pass the revised North American trade deal this year.

“We made progress. I think we’re narrowing our differences,” Pelosi said.

Lighthizer has been negotiating since June with a group of nine Democrats selected by Pelosi to secure changes to the USMCA.

Her concerns about the deal revolve around four main areas: labor standards, environmental standards, enforcement and prescription drug pricing.

People close to the negotiations have said many of Pelosi’s concerns have been addressed, but enforcement remains a sticking point. Democrats want the Trump administration to deliver on stronger enforcement mechanisms in the USMCA before a House vote is held.

McAdams said he’s heard the same reports, and understands “there are areas we need to improve.”

“At the same, time is of the essence,” he said.

Time, at least in 2019, is something the House really doesn’t have.

Thursday was the last day before Thanksgiving break for the chamber. When it returns, the House will have only eight official session days left on this year’s calendar, though there is talk that lawmakers will stay in Washington an extra week to deal with the budget and avoid a government shutdown that could occur on Dec. 20.

Prior to her meeting with Lighthizer, Pelosi conceded that even if a deal were struck Thursday, there were still numerous steps that needed to be taken before the USMCA could go into effect.

For one thing, the Trump administration would have to get Canada and Mexico to approve any changes made to the USMCA, which the leaders of all three countries signed in November 2018.

The White House would also have to quickly write up the formal implementing legislation that will be sent to Congress — something that can’t occur until the bill is marked up and voted on in the House.

It was concern over all this — and the increasing likelihood that USMCA won’t be passed this year — that inspired moderate Reps. McAdams, Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., and Greg Stanton, D-Ariz., to make it the focus of their one-minute floor speeches this week.

“Canada and Mexico are two of the Commonwealth’s largest trading partners,” Spanberger said. “In 2018 alone, Virginia exported $4.3 billion worth of goods to our northern and southern neighbors.

“Cattlemen and dairies, farmers and businesses across my central Virginia district care deeply about the certainty and stability afforded by a trade deal,” she said.  “My constituents want and need the long-term certainty of a trade deal between our three countries. We need house negotiators and the administration to come to a final agreement.”

Rep. Murphy, a member of the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee, said she believes well-negotiated trade agreements can improve our economy and security.

“USMCA fixes flaws in some NAFTA chapters, based on the lessons we have learned since NAFTA was enacted in 1994,” she said. “It also adds new chapters to reflect the reality that the world has undergone major changes in the last 25 years.”

“I support the deliberate and productive negotiations taking place between the Administration and House Democrats,” Murphy continued. “I think both sides are working in good faith, with the shared goal of getting the best possible agreement over the finish line.” 

“It’s important we move swiftly and with a sense of urgency, but it’s just as important that we get this right,” she added.

 While Stanton said he’s encouraged by the progress House negotiators have evidently made in improving the deal, he reminded leadership that trade with Canada and Mexico has been a job creator in his state.

“Since 2012, while the nation’s exports grew just 0.1 percent, Phoenix’s exports grew by 20 percent.  In 2017, trade with Mexico and Canada produced nearly $10 billion in exports statewide,” he said.

“Simply put: Trade with our North American allies is essential to Arizona’s economy,” Stanton continued. “Now, we have a real opportunity to improve these relationships through USMCA.”

As for McAdams, he emphasized that trade with Canada and Mexico is a multi-trillion business, that has created 120,000 jobs in Utah alone.

“Jobs that pay the rent, provide health care, send kids to college and help Utahns save for retirement,” he said. “Over $418 million dollars’ worth of agricultural exports are sent from Utah to our North American neighbors each year.”

“For weeks we’ve been told by leadership and by the White House that action on the U.S. Mexico-Canada trade agreement is eminently doable.  So why haven’t we gotten it done?” McAdams said. “Today, I’m saying no more foot-dragging, no more vague promises about “soon.” It’s time to deliver on what we promised.”

On Thursday, McAdams said he completely understands Pelosi’s concerns over enforcement.

“If you can’t enforce protections for American businesses and workers, what kind of deal would you have?” he said.

Asked if he thought the changes sought by Democrats will have bipartisan support in the House, McAdams sounded a hopeful note.

Speaking of bipartisanship, he said “For it to happen, it’s important for people to have each other’s trust and to be known as honest brokers. I think the representatives you mentioned, Reps. Murphy and Spanberger and I have those relationships.

“We are not going to have agreement without honest conversation, but I think we’ve built those trust relationships.  And they are something you don’t achieve in a day, you build them over time,” he said.

In regard to the USMCA, McAdams said he’s still hopeful the House can pass it by year’s end.

“But there’s no time to waste,” he said.

A+
a-
  • Abigail Spanberger
  • Ben AcAdams
  • Greg Stanton
  • Nancy Pelosi
  • Robert Lighthizer
  • Stephanie Murphy
  • U.S. House
  • USMCA
  • In The News

    Health

    Voting

    Trade

    Analysis Shows Trump's Tariffs Would Cost US Employers $82.3B

    WASHINGTON (AP) — An analysis finds that a critical group of U.S. employers would face a direct cost of $82.3... Read More

    WASHINGTON (AP) — An analysis finds that a critical group of U.S. employers would face a direct cost of $82.3 billion from President Donald Trump’s current tariff plans, a sum that could be potentially managed through price hikes, layoffs, hiring freezes or lower profit margins. The analysis... Read More

    Trump Hails Favorable Federal Appeals Court Ruling on His Sweeping Tariff Policy as a 'Great' Win

    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday hailed a favorable decision by a federal appeals court over his sweeping tariff policy as a... Read More

    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday hailed a favorable decision by a federal appeals court over his sweeping tariff policy as a “great” win for the United States. Trump said on his social media site that the court’s decision Tuesday night to let the government keep collecting his sweeping... Read More

    June 5, 2025
    by Tom Ramstack
    Trump Negotiates With China on Trade While Other Officials Warn of War

    WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump spoke on the phone with Chinese leader Xi Jinping Thursday amid tense relations over trade... Read More

    WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump spoke on the phone with Chinese leader Xi Jinping Thursday amid tense relations over trade and concerns about war in Taiwan. Tensions over trade escalated after Trump declared high tariffs on countries worldwide shortly after being inaugurated in January. Some of... Read More

    What Happens to Trump’s Tariffs Now That a Court Has Knocked Them Down?

    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has audaciously claimed virtually unlimited power to bypass Congress and impose sweeping taxes on... Read More

    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has audaciously claimed virtually unlimited power to bypass Congress and impose sweeping taxes on foreign products. Now a federal court has thrown a roadblock in his path. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled Wednesday that Trump... Read More

    May 29, 2025
    by Dan McCue
    Federal Trade Court Blocks Trump’s ‘Reciprocal’ Tariffs, Appeal Promised

    WASHINGTON — The U.S. Court of International Trade, a federal court that deals exclusively with trade issues, ruled Wednesday that... Read More

    WASHINGTON — The U.S. Court of International Trade, a federal court that deals exclusively with trade issues, ruled Wednesday that President Donald Trump overstepped his authority last month when he imposed tariffs on imports from nearly every U.S. trading partner. If the ruling stands, it would... Read More

    Hit by Trump Trade Wars, US Economy Falls 0.2% in First Quarter, an Upgrade From Initial Estimate

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy shrank at a 0.2% annual pace from January through March, the first drop in... Read More

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy shrank at a 0.2% annual pace from January through March, the first drop in three years, as President Donald Trump’s trade wars disrupted business, the government said Thursday in a slight upgrade of its initial estimate. First-quarter growth was brought down by... Read More

    News From The Well
    scroll top