Jessica CisnerosKonto zweryfikowane

House Democrats have spent a year trying to force Trump and the Republicans to remove the Big Pharma giveaways he added to NAFTA and add strong and enforceable environmental and labor protections to the agreement.

And, while many of us in South Texas go into Mexico to buy our prescription drugs, my opponent is working with Republicans to enact a version of NAFTA that would not only lock in high drug prices in at home but make prescription medication more expensive in Mexico.

It’s concerning that Rep. Cuellar wants to hand Trump a major legislative victory in the midst of the impeachment process. This is yet another example of his brand of "bipartisanship": providing the "Democratic" stamp of approval to a Republican-led agenda.

Our trade partnership with Mexico is critical to our economy. That's why it's so important that a new NAFTA include enforceable environmental & labor standards to raise wages & improve conditions — not incentives to outsource jobs or new monopoly rights for pharmaceutical firms.

My hometown of Laredo, TX, which is right on the border, has a poverty rate of over 30%. And according to the U.S. Department of Labor's Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program, since implementation of NAFTA in 1994, Texas has lost 195,240 jobs due to outsourcing and imports.

We have a real opportunity to enact a new NAFTA that would actually benefit working people across North America. That means closing corporate tax loopholes that encourage jobs & investments to be outsourced.