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Trade Compromise Points Way to Action on Economic Growth

The following opinion column by Business Roundtable President John Engler was distributed nationwide by The Tribune News Service.

At the recent White House ceremony where President Barack Obama signed two major pieces of trade legislation into law, he was surrounded by leading Republican and Democratic lawmakers who had shepherded the measures through Congress.

"This was a true bipartisan effort," the president said of Trade Promotion Authority and Trade Adjustment Assistance. "And it's a reminder of what we can get done - even on the toughest issues - when we work together in a spirit of compromise."
 
Business leaders share the desire for more bipartisan compromise. Its absence has prevented Washington from tackling the most important issues facing the country.

Still, compromise for the sake of compromise is not enough. It must be in service of a concrete goal. And that goal should be ensuring that the United States lives up to its full economic potential.

The American economy continues to underperform. Since 1960, U.S. gross domestic product has averaged an annual growth rate of 3.1 percent. But it's been a decade since the modern economy has hit that figure. In fact, the economy shrank in the first quarter of 2015, with GDP falling 0.2 percent.

And, while unemployment declined to 5.3 percent in June, its best figure since August 2008, the labor force participation rate stood at just 62.6 percent, the lowest level since October 1977.

Simply put, millions of Americans are underemployed or have abandoned the labor market entirely.

Economic growth arguments ultimately won the day for Trade Promotion Authority, which will help expedite final negotiations of new trade deals with Pacific Rim countries and the European Union.

This bipartisan approach - with lawmakers working across the aisle in pursuit of economic growth and the creation of more, good jobs - can serve as an effective model for even more legislative successes in the future.

Take tax reform. Our tax system has not been updated since the mid-'80s, before the Internet revolutionized business and the global economy.

America's CEOs have long called for our outdated, anti-competitive tax code to be modernized. The nation's corporate tax rate is the highest in the developed world.

Obama has made the case for reform, as have several high-profile Republicans and Democrats. This is an issue ripe for bipartisan compromise.

So is education reform. Congress is currently considering reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. In the Senate, reauthorization legislation is sponsored by the Republican chairman and Democratic ranking member of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. The Senate and House should now work out their differences, keeping students as the focus of their efforts.

Business leaders regard high educational standards and school accountability as critical to cultivating the skills American workers need to flourish in the modern economy.

Immigration reform is another pro-growth policy area where the White House and Congress can work together.

America is now losing out in the global race for talent. My organization, the Business Roundtable, ranks the United States' immigration system a dismal nine out of 10 among top economies in terms of its economic competitiveness. Republicans and Democrats alike recognize that our current system is broken and must be fixed.

With the Highway Trust Fund set to expire at the end of the month, there is also a pressing need for bipartisan action on infrastructure investment.

Infrastructure is the foundation upon which our economy stands. And there's broad support for reviving both physical and digital infrastructure.

In his remarks after the Senate voted to move forward with Trade Promotion Authority, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., observed, "We have demonstrated we can work together on a bipartisan basis to achieve something that is extremely important for America."

Congress must build upon this success. Lawmakers should engage in more bipartisan cooperation to tackle the problems that are hampering America's economy and preventing this country from meeting its full potential.

 

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