Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I would like to briefly explain my position on the free trade agreements/trade adjustment assistance package. I support the free trade agreements, FTAs, with Panama, Colombia, and South Korea, and only wish these agreements had been taken up sooner. The FTAs represent true, bipartisan jobs legislation, and I am pleased they will soon become law. Free trade agreements have proven to be one of the best ways to open up foreign markets to American exporters. These agreements will create tens of thousands of new jobs by boosting American exports to three nations. The FTAs will also strengthen America's interests in two strategically important regions. I do not, however, support the trade adjustment assistance, TAA, deal that was negotiated as part of the compromise to pass the FTAs. Nor do I think it should have been included in the FTA negotiations. I have several key objections. First is the enormous costs. Over the next 3 years, the TAA deal adds over $1.15 billion in new costs to the baseline TAA costs. Together, baseline TAA and these provisions will cost almost $6 billion for the 2011-2013 fiscal years. Second, the TAA deal does not represent a true compromise. The proposal was made only by three of the strongest TAA supporters. No critic of TAA was included in the negotiations. Third, the umbrella of TAA programs deserved greater scrutiny than the process allowed.…”