Click Here to View Committee Proceedings Live   Health Care Reform H.R. 3962 Affordable Health Care for America Act as Introduced H.R. 3961 Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act of 2009 “The American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan”  Request for Written Comments on Additional Miscellaneous Tariff and Duty Suspension Bills H.R. 3548 Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2009 H.R. 7060, “Renewable Energy and Job Creation Tax Act of 2008” Tax Legislation in the 110th Congress Fact Sheet on H.R. 3631, the Medicare Premium Fairness Act Information on Extending Unemployment Benefits H.R. 7327 “Pension Relief and Technical Corrections”   President Signs SCHIP Bill Into Law President Barack H. Obama signs H. R. 2, the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act on February 4, 2009 The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Your Money at Work Health Care Reform Reforming Health Care is a Necessary Step in Rebuilding Our Economy Internship Opportunities Committee on Ways and Means Internship Opportunities   Printer Friendly Version HEARING ON INVESTMENT PROTECTIONS IN U.S. TRADE AND INVESTMENT AGREEMENTS   HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION MAY 14, 2009 SERIAL 111-20 Printed for the use of the Committee on Ways and Means COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS CHARLES B. RANGEL, New York, Chairman FORTNEY PETE STARK, CALIFORNIA SANDER M. LEVIN, MICHIGAN JIM MCDERMOTT, WASHINGTON JOHN LEWIS, GEORGIA RICHARD E. NEAL, MASSACHUSETTS JOHN S. TANNER, TENNESSEE XAVIER BECERRA, CALIFORNIA LLOYD DOGGETT, TEXAS EARL POMEROY, NORTH DAKOTA MIKE THOMPSON, CALIFORNIA JOHN B. LARSON, CONNECTICUT EARL BLUMENAUER, OREGON RON KIND, WISCONSIN BILL PASCRELL, JR., NEW JERSEY SHELLEY BERKLEY, NEVADA JOSEPH CROWLEY, NEW YORK CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, MARYLAND KENDRICK B. MEEK, FLORIDA ALLYSON Y. SCHWARTZ, PENNSYLVANIA ARTUR DAVIS, ALABAMA DANNY K. DAVIS, ILLINOIS BOB ETHERIDGE, NORTH CAROLINA LINDA T. SÁNCHEZ, CALIFORNIA BRIAN HIGGINS, NEW YORK JOHN A. YARMUTH, KENTUCKY DAVE CAMP, MICHIGAN WALLY HERGER, CALIFORNIA SAM JOHNSON, TEXAS KEVIN BRADY, TEXAS PAUL RYAN, WISCONSIN ERIC CANTOR, VIRGINIA JOHN LINDER, GEORGIA DEVIN NUNES, CALIFORNIA PATRICK J. TIBERI, OHIO GINNY BROWN-WAITE, FLORIDA GEOFF DAVIS, KENTUCKY DAVID G. REICHERT, WASHINGTON CHARLES W. BOUSTANY, JR., LOUISIANA DEAN HELLER, NEVADA PETER J. ROSKAM, ILLINOIS Janice Mays, Chief Counsel and Staff Director Jon Traub, Minority Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON TRADE  SANDER M. LEVIN, Michigan, Chairman JOHN S. TANNER, Tennessee CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland JIM MCDERMOTT, Washington RICHARD E. NEAL, Massachusetts LLOYD DOGGETT, Texas EARL POMEROY, North Dakota BOB ETHERIDGE, North Carolina LINDA T. SANCHEZ, California KEVIN BRADY, Texas, Ranking Member GEOFF DAVIS, Kentucky DAVID G. REICHERT, Washington WALLY HERGER, California DEVIN NUNES, California Pursuant to clause 2(e)(4) of Rule XI of the Rules of the House, public hearing records of the Committee on Ways and Means are also published in electronic form. The printed hearing record remains the official version. Because electronic submissions are used to prepare both printed and electronic versions of the hearing record, the process of converting between various electronic formats may introduce unintentional errors or omissions. Such occurrences are inherent in the current publication process and should diminish as the process is further refined. C O N T E N T S The advisory of May 07, 2009 announcing the hearing WITNESSES Thea M. Lee, Policy Director and Chief International Economist, AFL-CIO Ambassador Alan P. Larson, Senior International Policy Advisor, Covington & Burling LLP Theodore R. Posner, Partner, International Trade Group, Crowell & Moring Robert K. Stumberg Professor of Law and Director of Harrison Institute for Public Law, Georgetown University Law Center Linda Menghetti, Vice President, Emergency Committee for American Trade SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD    Chevron Corporation, Statement    Coalition of Service Industries, Statement    Kevin P. Gallagher, Statement    Linda Menghetti, Statement    Mark Hudson Botsford, Statement    Sarah Anderson, Statement    Todd Tucker, Statement    U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Statement   HEARING ON INVESTMENT PROTECTIONS IN U.S. TRADE AND INVESTMENT AGREEMENTS   Thursday, May 14, 2009   U.S. House of Representatives,   Subcommittee on Trade   Committee on Ways and Means,   Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:03 a.m., in Room 1100, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Sander M. Levin [chairman of the subcommittee] presiding. [The advisory of the hearing follows:] *Chairman Levin.  All right, let us start.  The rumor is we may have unusually early votes, or at least one early vote, so let me make a very brief opening statement -- and the ranking member, my colleague, Mr. Brady, will do the same -- and see if we can at least begin the testimony before the vote.  It is not certain, but it is likely. So, today we are going to take up an important issue regarding the investment provisions.  My feeling is this, that, by definition, trade issues are complex, they are controversial.  And that is especially true if we believe that we both have to expand trade and to shape the content and the course of it.  I do not think trade is automatically win-win.  There are ups and downs to most trade issues.  And I think that is the spirit within which we have to examine all of the key issues relating to the expansion of our international trade. So, today we are going to focus in, I think, a very constructive way, and take a further look on the investment provisions that are in U.S. trade agreements and in our bilateral investment treaties.  As we know, these provisions were originally designed to make sure that the investments by U.S. citizens overseas were safeguarded, were protected from expropriation without compensation and without due consideration, and to make sure that there wasn't discriminatory or inequitable treatment by foreign governments. The question today is whether we have an appropriate balance.  And issues have been raised -- and I think often in a constructive way, perhaps sometimes not -- about the provisions in our FTAs, and whether the provisions today adequately articulate what would be called a balanced approach, issues like the minimum standards of treatment. There were some original provisions in NAFTA, as we know.  And there then were some changes made a few years ago.  The new administration is taking a new look at trade policy, as they are at other key issues.  And what the administration has now done is to undertake a review of these investment provisions, both in our FTAs and in our bilateral investment treaties.  And it has set up an advisory committee within the State Department.  The Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy has formed a subcommittee to review these investment issues.