Loebsack, Braley Promote Fair Trade Policies

David Sirota wrote today about 39 freshman members of the US House speaking out about so-called Free Trade policies, including Iowa's Bruce Braley and Dave Loebsack, and Phil Hare of the Illinois side of the Quad Cities.

The 39 Congressman sent a letter to Charlie Rangel, Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee stating Democrats won the majority because a lot of candidates ran againt Free Trade. The letter says...

“As you may know, in each of our campaigns the issue of trade and the impact of the Administration’s trade policy on working families, the environment, independent farmers and businesses in our districts were critically important. Vital to our electoral successes was our ability to take a vocal stand against the Administration’s misguided trade agenda, and offer our voters real, meaningful alternatives to the job-killing agreements, such as CAFTA, that the majority of our opponents supported.”

Americans are tired of hearing about more and more American jobs being shipped overseas. They are tired of having their calls routed through India when they need help fixing their computer. They are tired of hearing about family members and friends getting laid off. Americans made their voices heard in the November election.

Braley and Loebsack made trade a big part of their campaigns. Braley's campaign site says...

Bruce believes that irresponsible economic policies in Washington have cost our state good-paying jobs. Unfair trade agreements like NAFTA and CAFTA are hurting our economy. In Congress, Bruce will fight for fair trade laws that are good for American workers.

While Loebsack has this statement on his campaign site...

...it is time for fair trade agreements that help open markets abroad and guarantee labor and environmental protections in other countries. The second district of Iowa has suffered dramatically over the years as a result of Republican policies. We know that globalization has led to companies abandoning many communities in this part of the state. Republicans, including the incumbent, have championed free trade pacts that have only made this problem worse. It is time to take stock of the effects of previous free trade agreements and place a moratorium on more such pacts that do not include the necessary labor and environmental provisions.

It is great to see 2 newly elected Iowans standing up on this important issue. I look forward to hearing more from them on this issue.