U.S. Senator Patty Murray yesterday delivered remarks at the Washington Council on International Trade (WCIT) Conference to discuss steps the next Congress can take to promote trade and global competitiveness.
Murray called for both parties to build on bipartisan work done this year on the budget, appropriations, and other issues, and work across the aisle to create jobs and make critical investments in the future.
Murray highlighted priorities including monitoring Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations to ensure an agreement works for Washington state, reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank, and finding a long-term solution to reform the Harbor Maintenance Tax.
“ Senator Boxer’s WRRDA bill took important steps toward reforming the Harbor Maintenance Tax to keep our workforce strong and our ports competitive in the global maritime economy ,” Murray said.
“ And through the annual appropriations process, we were able to secure funding for Washington state priorities like: the Sound Transit University Link project, the TIGER program, which supported a $20 million investment in the Port of Seattle to ensure it can stay competitive, and new investments in innovative research at our universities.
“The task ahead of us in Congress is to build on that foundation of working across the aisle.
“Because it is very clear that when it comes to our economic competitiveness, there is a lot we need to get done—for Washington state and for our country as a whole. Especially because, while we dealt with one fiscal battle after another in recent years, other countries focused on investing in their infrastructure, their workforce, and their future economic strength .”
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