Message from WCIT President Eric Schinfeld
We won! No, that's not quite right. You won! Yes, partly true but not the whole story. One significant success, but much more to go! That is the proper framing for our collective victory on the passage of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), paving a path for trade agreements that open new opportunities for Washington workers and employers. "Collective" being the operative word, because it was truly a group effort; hundreds of you emailed, called and wrote letters in support as well as flew to DC (with us or others) to share your views. Because of your efforts, the Washington congressional delegation helped lead the way for TPA passage. In fact, the bill passed with exactly the number of votes it needed in both the Senate and the House, so we can honestly say that we would not have been successful without the leadership and commitment of Senators Murray and Cantwell and Representatives Delbene, Herrera Beutler, Kilmer, Larsen, McMorris Rodgers, Newhouse and Reichert. Yet, we can't sit around patting ourselves on the back. The work to complete and pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership Regional Free Trade Agreement must continue without a beat. Meanwhile, on June 30, Congress let the Export-Import Bank of the United States expire, meaning that hundreds of Washington businesses depending on the Ex-Im Bank to help them reach global customers are facing lost sales and jobs. WCIT won't stop our relentless advocacy until Congress passes both TPP and a long-term reauthorization of the Ex-Im Bank this year. With the strong leadership of our congressional delegation and your nonstop commitment to sharing your support for TPP and the Ex-Im Bank, we will hopefully soon be able to truly declare this a mission accomplished...at least for a few days, until we move on to the next major trade policy issues! |