U.S. Mayors Call on House Leaders to Adopt Trade Promotion Authority Legislation (TPA 2015)

WASHINGTON, June 10, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On behalf of mayors across the country, the US Conference of Mayors (USCM) sent a letter today to House leaders Boehner and Pelosi urging the House to adopt Trade Promotion Authority legislation (TPA 2015). 

In 2014, USCM adopted policy in support of the Administration's efforts to pursue high standard 21^st century trade agreements that create jobs, increase exports and compete in a highly competitive globalized economy in the Pacific Rim and Europe.  USCM's own forecasts, through IHS Global Insight, show that U.S. city/metro economies will continue to account for more than 90% of the nation's Gross Domestic Product, and 92% of its future economic growth—one-third of which will come from expanding exports. TPA would pave the way for metro economies to take full advantage of dramatically expanding markets overseas, which in turn would further bolster the nation's economic future.

"TPA is a critical step to ensuring that the United States and its metro economies remain leaders in the global market place," the mayors write in the letter.  "We believe that inclusion of enforceable labor and environmental standards, transparency, uniform tariffs, protection of intellectual property rights, and other standards and objectives will result in increased global trade that promotes fairness throughout the global trading system, and therefore increase U.S. competitiveness."

For the full letter, please go to: http://usmayors.org/pressreleases/uploads/2015/0610-letter-TPA.pdf

The following mayors signed the letter:
Becky Ames, Mayor of Beaumont, TX
Jim Ardis, Mayor of Peoria, IL
Mario Avery, Mayor of Fairbur, GA
Ralph Becker, Mayor of Salt Lake City, UT
William Bell, Mayor of Birmingham, AL
William Bell, Mayor of Durham, NC
Steve Benjamin, Mayor of Columbia, SC
Ardell Brede, Mayor of Rochester, MN
Alvin Brown, Mayor of Jacksonville, FL
Chris Brown, Mayor of Hawthorne, CA
Bob Buckhorn, Mayor of Tampa, FL
Roy Buol, Mayor of Dubuque, IA
Christopher Cabaldon, Mayor of West Sacramento, CA
William Capote, Mayor of City of Palm Bay, FL
Dennis Clough, Mayor of Westlake, OH
Michael Coleman, Mayor of Columbus, OH
Suzette Cooke, Mayor of Kent, WA
Mick Cornett, Mayor of Oklahoma City, OK
T.M. Franklin Cownie, Mayor of Des Moines, IA
James Darling, Mayor of McAllen, TX
Hardie Davis, Mayor of Augusta, GA
James Diossa, Mayor of Central Falls, RI
Robert Donchez, Mayor of Bethlehem, PA
Denny Doyle, Mayor of Beaverton, OR
Carol Dutra-Vernaci, Mayor of Union City, CA
Paul Dyster, Mayor of Niagara Falls, NY
William Euille, Mayor of Alexandria, VA
George Evans, Mayor of Selma, AL
Kevin L. Faulconer, Mayor of San Diego, CA
Greg Fischer, Mayor of Louisville, KY
Patrick Furey, Mayor of Torrance, CA
John Giles, Mayor of Mesa, AZ
Kent Guinn, Mayor of Ocala, FL
Wayne Hall Sr., Mayor of Hempstead, NY
Michael B. Hancock, Mayor of City and County of Denver, CO
Melvin Holden, Mayor of Baton Rouge, LA
Kevin Johnson, Mayor of Sacramento, CA
Dwight Jones, Mayor of Richmond, VA
Elizabeth B. Kautz, Mayor of Burnsville, MN
Rick Kriseman, Mayor of St. Petersburg, FL
Linda Krupa, Mayor of Hemet, CA
Mitch Landrieu, Mayor of New Orleans, LA
John Lewis, Mayor of Gilbert, AZ
Sam Liccardo, Mayor of San Jose, CA
Timothy Mahoney, Mayor of Fargo, ND
John Marchand, Mayor of Livermore, CA
Nelda Martinez, Mayor of Corpus Christi, TX
Kim McMillan, Mayor of Clarksville, TN
Dick Moore, Mayor of Elkhart, IN
Geraldine Muoio, Mayor of West Palm Beach, FL
Michael Nutter, Mayor of Philadelphia, PA
Ed O'Brien, Mayor of West Haven, CT
John O'Reilly, Mayor of Dearborn, MI
Sal Panto, Mayor of Easton, PA
Annise Parker, Mayor of Houston, TX
McKinley Price, Mayor of Newport News, VA
Betsy Price, Mayor of Fort Worth, TX
Miguel Pulido, Mayor of Santa Ana, CA
Mike Rawlings, Mayor of Dallas, TX
Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Mayor of Baltimore, MD
Dana Redd, Mayor of Camden, NJ
Kasim Reed, Mayor of Atlanta, GA
Joseph Riley, Mayor of Charleston, SC
Jesus Ruiz, Mayor of Socorro, TX
Pete Saenz, Mayor of Laredo, TX
Libby Schaaf, Mayor of Oakland, CA
Pedro Segarra, Mayor of Hartford, CT
Mark Shepherd, Mayor of Clearfield, UT
Tom Stallard, Mayor of Woodland, CA
Raymond Stephanson, Mayor of Everett, WA
Mark Stodola , Mayor of Little Rock, AR
Marilyn Strickland, Mayor of Tacoma, WA
Ashley Swearengin, Mayor of Fresno, CA
Fredrick Sykes, Mayor of West Covina, CA
Lester E. Taylor III, Mayor of East Orange, NJ
A C Wharton, Mayor of Memphis, TN
Howard Wiggs, Mayor of Lakeland, FL
Sharon Wolcott, Mayor of Surprise, AZ

The U.S. Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are nearly 1400 such cities in the country today, and each city is represented in the Conference by its chief elected official, the mayor. Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/usmayors, or follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/usmayors.

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SOURCE The U.S. Conference of Mayors