Think of the wording, political intelligence. You know, there's so much question about what that even means, and there's a lot of discussion in this building and elsewhere about what is the consequence of that provision.

But you understand that there's always a trade-off, and that sometimes it is--you know, you can't make the world perfect.

One of the problems that we have in my area where we have lost a lot of jobs is that even if we accept some of the policies of Dr. Bivens, the people who are gaining are not Americans.

We need to look at the whole world situation and make sure that we are not destroying American jobs.

I think every statistic shows that, and I pick up Mr. McKinley's chart and he showed you the coal power plants that are closing down.

the United States has got a job problem, if you all haven't figured that out by now, and that we shouldn't be piling on regulations that are killing jobs.

I know when I was out there many, many years ago, the No. 1 export for a long time was scrap metal left over from all the battles in World War II.

Freedom House report for 2012 notes that China is trending down in terms of its political freedoms and civil liberties.

I do not think that there has been any greater challenge in this area in my adult life than Vietnam.

You can legitimately in any country have someone who has committed acts that are not political acts and still be a political person who is incarcerated.

I would never dismiss what she says from our thinking.

I actually held a hearing a couple of years ago on the--what I was calling the situational ethics in American foreign policy where we tend to focus on different countries in different ways, depending on power relationships and economic…

It is also important to note that the lifting of sanctions on Burma does not equal the establishment of full trading relations.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And Ambassador--congratulations. I wish you well in the new assignment, for which I know you are going to be confirmed.

At this critical moment, it is imperative that our policy toward Burma be forward thinking, providing incentives for further reforms.

The process of reform in Burma is still far from complete, but the positive steps that have been taken should be met with a positive response from our own government.

I think the results in that so far are pretty mixed.

I was one of those who was very opposed to lifting the trade embargo against Vietnam until the mid-1990s.