Latta: Passing trade agreement crucial

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

U.S. Rep. Bob Latta was in Van Wert on Thursday for a fundraiser, and also sat down with the Van Wert independent to talk about what is happening in Washington, D.C.

While predictably unhappy with what he called the “sham” impeachment investigation, Latta said he feels people in Ohio Fifth’s District are more concerned with the “real” issues.

Chief among those issues, Latta said, is the USMCA, the United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement. The congressman noted that he attended a recent meeting at an American Legion in his district when a man came up to him and gave him a folded napkin.

“When I opened it, it said ‘pass USMCA’,” Latta noted.

Latta said he feels the trade agreement with Mexico and Canada is crucial legislation that needs to be voted on by the House as soon as possible, noting his opinion that the agreement will create tens of thousands of jobs and be a boon to the U.S. economy

The congressman said he was frustrated with the lack of legislative action in general by the U.S. House of Representatives, noting that one committee on which he serves — the Energy and Commerce Committee — considered 57 bills when the Republicans were in control of the House, with 93 percent of those bipartisan legislation, and all 57 bills were signed into law.

That’s not happening now, Latta said, with the Democrats apparently deciding to go it on their own in deciding what legislation gets reported from the committee.

He also provided his take on the impeachment hearings, noting that he feels the Democrats are unfairly harassing President Trump with impeachment talk, as well as the Mueller investigation, while calling a good part of the Ukraine investigation “hearsay evidence”. 

“They’ve gone after this president since about 15 seconds after Hillary Clinton conceded the election,” Latta said.