Political Quotes

“in conjunction with that, I think it is noteworthy to recognize President Clinton's themes this week. He continues to push the themes that, one, he is the environmental President, and, two, he is the export President. Let's examine that for a minute. I just shared with you my views on why his decision to lock up Utah's vast energy resources was a mistake, but I also want to discuss why his rhetoric about exports covers up what is really going on with the trade deficit. The most recent statistics on the trade deficit were absolutely horrible. In July, imports increased to $78.9 billion from $77.9 billion in June. The largest increases were in industrial supplies and materials, primarily the cost of crude petroleum. Our exports decreased to $67.2 billion from $69.7 billion in June. The trade deficit in goods for the first 6 months of this year amounted to $89.6 billion, and this is expected to grow to $170 billion by year's end, second only to last year's record $175 billion. China and Japan continue as the countries with the largest trade imbalance, but focusing only on China and Japan ignores one of the major contributors to our trade deficit, and that is our dependence on foreign oil. Right now, America is importing 51 percent of its daily oil needs. That percentage is expected to rise to two-thirds by the year 2000.”