Today, Representative Bill Pascrell, Jr. (NJ-09), the Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade, wrote a letter to Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX-08) and Trade Subcommittee Chairman Dave Reichert (R-WA-08) calling on them to assembly the House Advisory Group on Negotiation (HAGON) to advise the Trump administration as it continues the NAFTA renegotiations. With negotiations moving forward, Pascrell’s letter makes point that executive consultation with Congress is more important than ever.

“The failure of the Administration to adequately consult during the course of the NAFTA renegotiation, including potentially as the Administration is required by TPA, coupled with the increasingly chaotic Trump Administration trade policy, continues to raise serious concerns for not just members of the HAGON and Congress, but American workers, businesses, and farmers,” Pascrell writes. “I urge you to take action finally and call upon the Administration to consult the HAGON as soon as possible.”

Rep. Pascrell’s letter follows the announcement yesterday of a “preliminary agreement” with Mexico in the NAFTA negotiations. Pascrell and Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA-01) wrote a letter to Reps. Brady and Reichert in April 2018 calling for HAGON to meet. HAGON has not been consulted by the Trump administration since May 2017, before the NAFTA renegotiation started. During that time, Brady and Reichert have failed to call the congressional body together, as is mandated by the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015. Today’s letter brings attention to their “deafening silence” in refusing to assert congressional trade prerogative.

“On repeated occasions now, Ways and Means Democrats have asked you to convene Committee hearings or a HAGON meeting with Administration officials on NAFTA, while the negotiations were still going on.  Those requests have so far been met with a deafening silence.  I ask you again, with respect and urgency, to take action so that we, as members of Congress, can do our jobs,” the letter concludes.

The letter can be viewed in its entirety here.