Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 692, the China Exchange Rate Transparency Act. I thank my friend, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Meuser), for his leadership in crafting and sponsoring this legislation. I also congratulate him for assuming the chairmanship of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations for this, the 119th Congress. He is off to a superb start. H.R. 692 is a critical tool as we reassess our economic relations with the People's Republic of China. Unlike advanced economies with floating currencies, the Chinese manage their exchange rate through a nonindependent central bank and a state-owned set of financial institutions. The Treasury Department has long been tasked with monitoring foreign countries' intervention in the currency markets, with a legal mandate from this House to call them out when manipulating exchange rates in order to gain an unfair trade advantage. The problem with China is that its exchange rate management is so opaque that Treasury cannot effectively assess the country's exchange activities. Year after year, Treasury reports back to Congress showing how Beijing's lack of transparency makes China an outlier among our major trading partners. This is not only alarming for the United States but the world at large as last year the People's Republic of China recorded a trade surplus of nearly $1 trillion. Mr.…”