mr. speaker , i very much appreciate the good work of my friend , the gentleman from vermont ( mr. sanders ) xz4003570 . 
mr. speaker , earlier this week the committee on appropriations passed an amendment to prevent the u.s. trade representative from using trade pacts as a tool to block prescription drug reimportation . 
the fact that appropriators in this body felt compelled to take this dramatic step points to a larger issue . 
congress should not have to police the u.s. trade representative to make sure he or she is acting in the best interests of u.s. consumers . 
we should not have to instruct our trade representative to make sure that he is looking out for u.s. workers and u.s. manufacturers . 
we should not have to tell the trade representative to protect the environment and our food supply . 
congress should not have to scour every trade pact to make sure that some patent extension or importation barrier or other big government crutch designed specifically for the drug industry has not been inserted into the trade agreement by the u.s. trade representative or by the president or by my friends on the other side of the aisle . 
congress should not have to take the u.s. trade representative to task for trying to reverse the world 's progress against the global aids epidemic , progress partially financed with u.s. tax dollars . 
congress should not have to fight the u.s. trade representative in order to ensure jobs for our nation 's workforce , affordable medicine for our nation 's consumers , and manufacturing capacity for our nation 's protection . 
who does the u.s. trade representative work for ? 
the ustr should be acting in the interest of all americans . 
if the international drug industry benefits too , all the better . 
instead , the multinational drug industry 's interests trump those every day of everyday americans . 
the tail is wagging the dog . 
in fact , our trade representative 's office includes a position , and i am not making this up , our trade representative 's office includes a position called u.s. trade representative for asia , pacific and pharmaceutical policies . 
so we are bringing the drug industry into the ustr to make sure these trade agreements protect the drug industry , usually at the expense of american consumers who pay twice as much , three times as much , four times as much for prescription drugs , and even more seriously , frankly , who harm the world 's poorest people . 
in the cafta agreement , as the gentleman from michigan ( mr. levin ) xz4002380 said earlier , in africa , in asia , the world 's poorest people have to pay more for prescription drugs because the u.s. has , in our trade representative 's office , a u.s. trade representative for asia , pacific and pharmaceutical policy . 
it begs the question , what are our trade agreements for ? 
mr. speaker , it is not like they are working . 
look what has happened to our trade deficit in the last 12 years . 
i came to congress in 1992 . 
we had a trade deficit of $ 38 billion . 
in 2004 , 12 years later , our trade deficit was $ 618 billion . 
from $ 38 billion to $ 618 billion , and my friends are arguing our trade policy is working ? 
look at our stagnating wages , the fact that the top 10 percent of people in this society are doing very well . 
their incomes are going up and up and up . 
the 90 percent of the rest of the country , their wages are stagnant and partly because of trade policies . 
look at our crippling job loss in my state , and especially in manufacturing . 
not only has our trade deficit gone from $ 38 billion to $ 618 billion in only a dozen years , look at what has happened in manufacturing . 
the states in red have all lost 20 percent of their manufacturing in the last 5 years . 
my state of ohio , 216 ; pennsylvania , 200 ; michigan , 210 ; alabama and mississippi combined , 130 ; illinois , 225 ; virginia , 80 , 000 ; new york , 220 , 000 . 
our trade policy , mr. speaker , simply is not working . 
when members think about this , maybe in fact some people would say our trade agreements are working . 
after all , these trade agreements do work for the pharmaceutical industry . 
