Washington, D.C. - U.S. Congressman Kevin Brady (R-TX) today launched the new, bipartisan Congressional Services Caucus, with colleagues Gregory Meeks (D-NY), Phil English (R-PA), Joseph Crowley (D-NY), Deborah Pryce (R-OH), Rubén Hinojosa (D-TX) and Wally Herger (R-CA).  Congressman Brady serves as the lead Republican co-Chair of the Caucus, which was formed to emphasize the importance of services to the U.S economy – and to our nation’s global competitiveness.

            “The services industry is the new face of the U.S. economy,” said Congressman Brady.  “80% of America’s workforce makes their living by providing services – whether as accountants, doctors, computer specialists, bankers, engineers, teachers, real estate agents, lawyers, or express package handlers.   These are strong, good paying jobs, with an average pay of over $50,000 a year.

            “And we’re better at it than anyone else.  The United States is the largest, most competitive services provider in the world – we actually had a $73 billion trade surplus in services last year.  In Texas alone, our providers sold $31 billion in services abroad in 2005.

            “Each month we add more and more services jobs to our economy – experts expect 90% of all new jobs created in the next five years to be in services.

            “Congress can play an important role in spurring such job growth by moving forward with pro-active trade agenda.

            “Trade agreements, global, regional, or with just one country, work to open markets abroad, creating new customers for our service providers here at home, and creating new jobs.  And these agreements are typically with countries that already have pretty open access to our market – but U.S. companies face barriers in theirs.  They make a two-way street out of a one-way highway. 

            “I hope we can find a way forward on a global trade agreement through the World Trade Organization’s Doha Round negotiations, which some say could add nearly half a trillion dollars to U.S. GDP if the Round delivered worldwide free trade in services.

            “I also urge my colleagues in Congress to pass pending bilateral agreements that are already ready to go now – with Peru, Colombia, Panama, and Korea. 

            “And we must approve Trade Promotion Authority, which provides the necessary negotiating framework and expires in just 4 days.  With other countries negotiating nearly 100 bilateral free trade agreements, we can’t afford to sit on the sidelines.”

Congressman Brady is a Member of the Trade sub-Committee of the House Ways and Means Committee and the Joint Economic Committee.  One of the top leaders on trade issues in Congress, he successfully led a three-year long fight for approval of the Dominican Republican-Central American Free Trade Agreement.