Sánchez Opening Statement at Trade Subcommittee Hearing on Maintaining American Innovation and Technology Leadership
(As Prepared for Delivery)
Thank you, Chairman Smith. I also want to thank the witnesses for being here today.
I can’t begin this hearing without addressing the elephant in the room: Why are Republicans hosting this hearing today? Is Congress’ top focus really digital trade right now?
Americans are facing higher prices on everything from groceries to housing due to President Trump’s tariffs. And American manufacturing jobs are declining under his watch. Since Trump took office, we have lost a staggering 68,000 American manufacturing jobs.
Instead of taking action to address the cost-of-living crisis and the gutting of American manufacturing jobs, President Trump has been busy illegally invading and trying to run Venezuela.
So much for America First.
And here we are. With all that going on, Republicans have us talking about digital trade policies. Putting aside the ill-timing of this hearing, yes, Democrats share some of the same concerns that Chairman Smith raised with respect to digital trade.
We have long supported strong copyright and intellectual property protections in our trade agreements, which have fueled American innovation. We have also fought to level the playing field for American companies competing abroad, including by opposing digital services taxes and other discriminatory measures.
Rep. Smucker and I recently led a bipartisan effort with 27 other Ways and Means Committee Members raising serious concerns with Canada’s Online Streaming Act. I look forward to hearing from Miss Brennan with the Motion Pictures Association about the harmful impact measures like these have on American workers and companies.
Digital must be part of our engagement with our trading partners. And, our trade policies should help American companies innovate.
At the same time, Congress must have a say in regulating the digital economy. We need to consider how foreign adversaries, like Russia and China, manipulate and weaponize American data to harm our democracy.
We must also be forward-looking when we think about the impacts that AI – as revolutionary as it can be – and other emerging technologies will have on our workforce. I am eager to hear from Mr. Mauer with the Communication Workers of America about the challenges American workers face with respect to the changes in the digital economy. As policy makers, we must not forget that behind these large tech companies are millions of workers, who support America’s digital economy day in and day out.
We must be mindful of how our policies, at home and abroad, affect them. There is a reason why American innovation is the envy of the world.
Most elected officials in the United States used to understand that freedom and liberty were essential to American ingenuity and economic growth. We cannot discuss the hearing’s topic “Maintaining American Innovation and Technology Leadership” today, without discussing the Trump administration’s attempts to suppress dissenting views both here and abroad.
At the hands of this administration, the United States is experiencing the greatest assault on freedom of speech since the McCarthy era. President Trump has threatened protestors, banned media outlets from covering his own administration, sanctioned law firms from defending the rule of law, and policed dissent.
This isn’t an indicator of a growing American economy but a crumbling one. Without protections for freedom of expression, freedom of the press, and the freedom of opportunity that has brought immigrants to our country to help strengthen it, I am unsure what the future of American innovation will look like. Districts like mine, in Los Angeles, which support large creative industries that were founded on these very principles, are facing a grave threat today.
I will take this opportunity to remind my colleagues that, as Members of Congress, we have a duty to push back against these cruel instincts and promote freedom of speech and freedom of the press, values we swore to defend.
With that concluding note, I look forward to hearing from our witnesses.
Thank you.
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