(WASHINGTON, D.C.) -- The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW), America's largest taxpayer watchdog group, today urged Congress to pass Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) for China.

"Taxpayers and their representatives in Congress should pay special attention to the positive effects of free trade on the federal budget," said CCAGW President Thomas Schatz.  "America's markets are already open to Chinese products.  PNTR will level the playing field, allowing American farmers and manufacturers access to the huge Chinese market."

It is estimated that opening the Chinese market to American goods will generate up to $13.9 billion in increased exports in the first five years.  "Free trade is the foundation of the economic prosperity that has turned the U.S. budget deficit into a surplus," Schatz continued.  "Every dollar that goes to the Treasury from increased trade is a dollar that doesn't come from a hard-working, wage-earning taxpayer."

Schatz noted that the gains in agricultural trade would be especially beneficial to taxpayers.  The Department of Agriculture estimates that American farmers will reap $2.2 billion more every year by increasing exports to China.  "Almost every year, Congress passes an 'emergency' bailout appropriation for struggling farmers.  Last year it was almost $11 billion," Schatz said.  PNTR will help farmers help themselves by giving them a huge new market for their goods.  That will save taxpayers money."

Finally, expanded trade for China means that consumers will continue to benefit from lower prices on a wide variety of products already imported from China.  "PNTR is about sustaining America's economic expansion.  This rising tide will lift all boats and relieve taxpayers of part of the burden of wasteful government spending that costs the American people tens of billions of dollars every year," Schatz concluded.

CCAGW is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse in government.