USMCA Passes in House With Huge Margin

The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement passed in the House of Representatives with a vote of 385-41, with all but two Republicans and 193 Democrats voting yes. This was the biggest vote for a free trade deal in the House since the Canada Free Trade agreement in 1988, and many of the top Democrats in the House say it will serve as a template for future trade deals. It was a far more resounding “yes” than the original NAFTA vote of 234-200, when just 102 Democrats voted yes.

In the two hours of floor speeches on Dec. 19 preceding the vote, many freshman “majority maker” Democrats for whom the USMCA is politically important were given time, and Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, a pro-free trade Democrat from the Houston area, was given the last speaking slot.

Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., said that the ratification of the NAFTA rewrite “sends a message to the rest of the world we can work with our friends on better trade deals -- like Japan. Like the United Kingdom. This shows we can close deals.”

It was a huge victory for U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who watched the vote in person. For more than a year, he predicted he'd found the formula for winning a majority of both the Democrats and Republicans on trade. Although it took more pushing to move the agreement he'd first negotiated toward Democratic priorities, the vote proved him right.

Many House Democrats who voted no on NAFTA voted yes this time, including Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, Rep. Al Green of Texas, Rep. Maxine Waters of California and Rep. Collin Peterson of Minnesota. Several Republicans who voted no on NAFTA also switched sides.

Lewis said: “Twenty-six years ago I opposed NAFTA with every bone in my body. I never thought the day would come when we would have the opportunity to right some of the wrongs in that agreement. ... NAFTA destroyed the hopes and dreams of a generation. With this vote, we have a chance to reset the clock.”

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., another no vote on NAFTA, was not a surprising convert, but Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., was. She sent a letter to colleagues in the morning urging them to vote yes, saying, “Over time, the labor standards and enhanced enforcement terms we forced into the new NAFTA may help raise wages in Mexico, and this may also reduce U.S. corporations' incentives to outsource U.S. jobs to Mexico to pay workers less.”

On the floor, she said, “Despite the president's rhetoric, this agreement will not bring back factory jobs.” She added, “Wage stagnation in America is not the inevitable result of globalization and technology. Special interests have shaped government policies that have held down wages and increased inequality.”

Fellow working group member Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., declared on the floor that USMCA will be “the first trade agreement I have ever voted for in 20 years,” as Neal smiled broadly and clapped.

Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, a no vote on NAFTA in 1993, voted no again, saying on the floor that if the president of Mexico can't even enforce drug laws -- such as capturing the son of infamous trafficker El Chapo -- how can Congress trust that he'll enforce labor laws?

Rep. Dave Schweikert, R-Ariz., spoke for the bill during debate, saying that updating NAFTA could make Mexico more competitive for companies that are looking to move production out of China The ratification “gives us a chance to draw much more of the world's supply chain,” he said. He also praised the increased de minimis levels in Canada and Mexico, saying, “Internet businesses now have a fighting chance to compete in commerce across the border.”

While Republicans praised the bipartisan process that made the vote possible, many also angrily contrasted this vote with the impeachment the day before.

“The American voters will not forget the travesty that the House Democrats have overseen. Had they not been obsessed with impeaching President Trump, we could have approved this very deal a year ago,” Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said. “And the bipartisan nature of this deal that we are here discussing today cannot cover up what happened on this floor last night.”

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who spoke on the floor shortly after hosting her weekly press conference, said one of the reporters there had asked: “Aren't you giving the president a victory to boast about?”

“The president will take credit. So be it,” she said. “That would not stand in the way of our passing this.”

The implementing legislation will be taken up by the Senate in the new year. If the impeachment trial begins in early January, it is expected to wait until that trial is over.

Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., a member of the working group that won concessions from the administration, said in a hallway interview that he hopes there's a rapid response case brought for labor violations at a Mexican factory within the first six months after enactment. “The reason why is we need to send a message quickly, that we are going to be using this mechanism .... if we do, then the Mexican government and corporations will know we're serious.”