House Democrats have all but ignored President Trump’s trade deal between the U.S., Canada and Mexico as the agreement languished in Congress this year, according to a new analysis of lawmakers’ outreach to constituents.
The three-way trade deal, which checks off Mr. Trump’s campaign promise to redo the North American Free Trade Agreement, has been awaiting ratification by the House for more than a year while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi insisted her Democrats were inching closer to tweaks that will win it approval.
Data analysis of Congress members’ references to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, found that Democrats barely mentioned the deal on social media posts, in press releases or speeches on the House floor.
House Democrats accounted for 8.4% of members’ mentions of USMCA, compared to Republicans making 91.6% of the mentions.
Between Jan. 1 and Dec. 3, House Democrats mentioned USMCA 468 times, while House Republicans mentioned it 5,123 times, according to the study by a data analytics firm.
The study was conducted for a GOP congressional office and obtained by The Washington Times.
The analysis looked at press releases, floor statements, House “dear colleague” letters, newsletters to constituents, statements in committee hearings, YouTube videos and posts on Twitter, Facebook, Medium and Instagram.
Lawmakers increasingly worry that the trade deal will not get a vote before the end of the year.
Ms. Pelosi, California Democrat, briefed her caucus Wednesday on the status of USMCA and other legislative items. But members emerged from the closed-door meeting no more certain about when the trade deal will get a vote.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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