Pending free trade agreements (FTAs) with Colombia, Korea, and Panama have languished for so long that it’s worthwhile to remind Washington policymakers what these agreements are all about: jobs for American workers and fairness for American businesses.

If these free trade agreements are passed, they will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs. If they aren’t, we’ll lose 380,000 jobs to our competitors that have cut their own deals with these three dynamic economies. If passed, they will eliminate barriers to American exports. If they aren’t, our competitors will have a competitive advantage, winning the jobs and economic gains that come from additional trade.

At last, after a years-long education and grassroots campaign, arm-twisting on Capitol Hill, and building public support, the administration and a large bipartisan majority of lawmakers recognize the value of these FTAs. Now, they must be ratified.

What’s the holdup? When major challenges, like the debt, get punted to the 11th hour, they eventually consume everything—time, effort, and opportunities to do good for America. The result is that the critical actions Congress is ready to take often get hung up in unrelated dysfunction and delay. And the pending FTAs have been shunted aside while the debt ceiling talks have deadlocked Washington, putting jobs and economic growth at risk.

We’re already seeing the consequence of inaction. Barely a month after Korea’s free trade agreement with the European Union entered into force, exports from the EU to Korea increased by 16%, while Korean exports to the EU rose by more than 17%. On August 15, the Canada-Colombia FTA will enter into force, and the same sad story will be replayed.

Every day that we delay these FTAs, American workers, manufacturers, and farmers risk losing business to our competitors. In short, kiss American jobs and growth goodbye.

So these FTAs continue to sit and collect dust as Washington deals with a crisis of its own making. Job creation and trade are happening elsewhere, not in America. We fall behind.

Here’s a lesson we can take from this cautionary tale—waiting to the last minute to tackle big issues like debt invites disaster. Our urgent message to the White House and legislators is don’t leave town until you’ve agreed on a clear path to quick and final approval of all three free trade agreements.

Winston Churchill once said, “Americans will always do the right thing—after exploring all other alternatives.” But wouldn’t it be nice, for a change, if we did the right thing first and saved ourselves all this trouble?

Tom Donohue’s commentary appears every Tuesday in the Washington Examiner and the Weekly Standard. You can also read it at www.uschambermagazine.com.