Make sure to catch our latest Heritage Libertad Radio Show, available in Spanish or English. We kick off the first 30 minutes of our hour-long broadcast with the Spanish segment. Topics include Obamacare, the economy, jobs, and a look at the recently signed Free Trade Agreements with Panama, Colombia and South Korea, with expert Jim Roberts. The last 30 minutes are devoted to the English segment. Topics include the economy, the administration’s recent decision to cancel the CLASS Act, and an interview with Family Research Council President, Tony Perkins. Be sure …
Now that Congress has passed free trade agreements with Columbia, Panama and South Korea, it’s a good time to ask why the United States should support and expand free trade. The chart below shows that the benefits of free trade are hard to deny. Countries that have more trade freedom also enjoy stronger economies, less hunger, and better care of the environment. Opponents of free trade complain that it leads to “unfair” foreign competition and that it destroys jobs, but the truth is a much different story. “Countries with the …
Free trade agreements (FTAs) have economically benefited nations the world over since their inception. Poverty rates in countries with low trade barriers are significantly lower, and data in The Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom demonstrate that free trade also leads to higher incomes, more jobs, and greater equality. That’s why it’s vitally important to quickly enact the three pending U.S. trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea. These FTAs have been sitting on the President’s desk since 2007 for no good reason. President Obama has finally made them …
The House Rules Committee advanced three proposals Wednesday that may help curb a growing problem for the nation’s economy: stagnant job growth in the technology sector. The three pending free trade agreements with Columbia, Panama and Korea are up for full House approval next week. Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) also said that the Senate will vote on the agreements next week as well. 115, 800 U.S. hi-tech industry jobs were lost in 2010-the second straight year of decline for the industry- according to a report released by …
Congress keeps threatening to shut down over the budget, but there is at least one thing the two houses can agree on. Pending free trade agreements have bipartisan support in both the House and Senate; all that is needed is for President Obama to send them to Congress, so that they can be passed. Congressman Kevin Brady (R–TX), vice chairman and top Republican on the Joint Economic Committee and chairman of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade, spoke at the Heritage Bloggers Briefing on the pending free trade …
Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) visited Heritage earlier this week for The Bloggers Briefing and stuck around to chat in our Robert H. Bruce Radio Studio. On this week’s Scribecast, we cover tax reform, Brady’s MAP ACT, free-trade agreements and what Texas can teach the rest of America. Listen to our interview with Rep. Kevin Brady on Scribecast Brady is the vice chairman and top Republican on the Joint Economic Committee and serves as chairman of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade. He was the point man for the White …
The efforts of House Ways and Means Committee chairman Dave Camp (R–MI) to implement long-overdue trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea may soon pay off, providing a much-needed boost to the stagnant U.S. economy. Camp has rebuffed demands from the Obama Administration and Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus that the U.S.–South Korea Free Trade Agreement include an expanded Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program. It is not insignificant that Camp is willing to move the trade agreements forward independently from a TAA program that he supports. Offering to …
The U.S. Commerce Department today reported that the country’s 2010 trade deficit was $497.8 billion, an increase of $122.9 billion from 2009. Exports increased from $1.57 trillion to $1.83 trillion, and imports increased from $1.95 trillion to $2.33 trillion. Increased imports are often a sign that the U.S. economy is growing. Imports typically fall during recessions and increase during economic recoveries. Prospects for a strong economic recovery could be boosted by extending agreements like the Andean Trade Preference Act and implementing new trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama. …
Last week, Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke delivered a speech at the National Press Club titled “Back to Basics: A Blueprint for Exports-Driven Job Growth,” and remarked that “[President Obama’s National Export Initiative] will correct an economic blind spot that has allowed other countries to chip away at America’s international competitiveness.” The secretary also stated that “The United States is the most open major economy in the world…And that’s not going to change!” Well, unfortunately, “empirical reality” tells us a different story. According to the 2010 Index of Economic Freedom, …
As the Ranking Republican on the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, I am committed to promoting the ideals of freedom, security, and prosperity. And yet we live in an era in which we are reminded every day that freedom is a fragile thing. Around the world, freedom is under attack every day. Many are rightly focused on the dangerous nuclear ambitions of Iran and the rising fundamentalism in Afghanistan. However, I have spoken out at great lengths about the threats to freedom and prosperity that are occurring in our own …
