WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), has introduced two amendments to Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) legislation -- commonly known as “fast track” -- that is expected to come before the Senate for final vote this week.

One of Booker’s amendments seeks to enhance American economic competitiveness and afford our workers and manufacturers greater opportunity to benefit from 21st century trade agreements by boosting investments in apprenticeship programs that empower young people and displaced workers, increasing our commitments to STEM education, supporting manufacturers in the export sector, and incentivizing state and local government investment in infrastructure.

The second amendment requires a report on the market access opportunities and challenges arising from a prospective trade agreement before the President initiates trade agreement negotiations with a country.

“The trade legislation currently before the Senate does not appropriately balance expanding American trade with the need to elevate opportunities for American workers,” Sen. Booker said. “When we enter into trade agreements, we must vigorously prepare new generations of Americans and displaced workers to compete in an interconnected global economy. My amendments make changes that prioritize greater investments in our nation’s human capital -- especially our young people and displaced workers. By supporting and expanding initiatives like apprenticeship programs that prepare workers for higher-wage, advanced manufacturing jobs, we can provide American workers with the skills that are needed to compete and succeed.”

Below are more detailed summaries on Booker’s trade amendments:

Booker Amendment # 1363:
There is a skills gap in the United States: 60 percent of U.S. employers report they are having difficulties finding qualified workers to fill vacancies at their companies, yet 8.5 million Americans remain unemployed and only 0.2 percent of the U.S. workforce is currently in a registered apprenticeship program. The US is falling behind other countries in key competitiveness metrics, from skills education (26 industrialized nations high school students performed better than in math US students in 2012) to infrastructure investment (the US spends only 2.4 percent of its GDP on infrastructure, compared with 9 percent in China).

This amendment seeks to increase investments in apprenticeship programs that empower young people and displaced workers to succeed in a global economy, and extends programs that will speed infrastructure investment and help small businesses compete. The amendment includes:

  • Worker Apprenticeships: Provides a tax credit to U.S. companies to invest in apprenticeship programs, helping young people and workers displaced due to trade prepare for advanced manufacturing jobs to make our workforce more competitive globally in this sector.
  • Infrastructure Investment: Reestablishes the expired “Build America Bonds” program under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which provided state and local governments a direct federal payment subsidy for a portion of their borrowing costs on taxable bonds, in order to help fund capital projects.
  • Export Assistance: Reforms a previous export assistance law to ensure that an interagency policy committee devoted to promoting U.S. exports abroad functions effectively. Also requires redistribution of foreign commercial service officers to align with priority export markets to allow them to promote our exports in a more targeted and sensible manner.
  • STEM Education: Creates a grant program for states and localities to improve K-12 instruction in STEM subjects, in part by building capacity among teachers, and also through supporting non-traditional teaching methods and nonprofit STEM competitions.
  • Research & Development Tax Credit: Extends the research and development tax credit for five years in order to support and incentivize investments by organizations seeking to pursue innovative new technologies potentially for export.
  • Small Business Manufacturing: Reauthorizes the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership for five years in order to enhance competitiveness, productivity, and technological performance in United States manufacturing, with a particular focus on strengthening the ability of small businesses to keep manufacturing facilities in the United States while adopting advanced technologies that will make them more competitive globally.

Booker Amendment # 1346:
This amendment requires the International Trade Commission to provide a report on the market access opportunities and challenges arising from a prospective trade agreement not later than 45 days before the President initiates negotiations for a trade agreement with a country. The report must:

  • assess tariff and nontariff barriers, policies, and practices of the government of the foreign country;
  • assess expected opportunities for U.S. exports to that country if such tariff and nontariff barriers are eliminated; and
  • assess the agreement’s potential impact on aggregate employment and job displacement of workers in each country.

“As the world becomes more interconnected, and the global economy more competitive, we need to do everything we can to ensure that our country’s most precious natural resource is enriched and enabled. That resource is not natural gas or coal, nor grain or goods -- but the American people,” Booker added.