Bart Stupak: “If I may cut in here, the gentleman and I both have a letter that was going to the President in which we are asking him…”

“If I may cut in here, the gentleman and I both have a letter that was going to the President in which we are asking him to include very specific food safety provisions in his fast track proposal. This really is not a trade issue. It is really a safety issue. What we are asking here, while Secretary Glickman says we have to do more things in this country, let us make sure that these provisions and regulations we are going to put out for our producers and growers and poultry and meat plants in this country also apply to goods and services. Especially when it concerns our health, meat and poultry and vegetables and fruits, let us apply those same standards in our trade agreements. Isn't that only fair? When we take a look at it, and if we study NAFTA, whether it is chapter 7 or 9, which talks about inspection of trucks, if we put kind of a standard out there, the first thing people say is we are putting up a trade barrier, we are putting up trade barriers. Let us have fair trade, but let us have a level trading position here and make sure our safety standards are not compromised. That is the least we should expect from these agreements, because it does threaten the well-being of every American family. There is no doubt that NAFTA has been a direct cause of threats to our communities and our health and our safety.”