Political Quotes

“since trade-promotion authority lapsed in 1994, America has stood on the sidelines while other countries have brokered trade agreements that benefit their workers, their businesses, and their economies. Soon after taking office, President Bush called on Congress to grant him trade-promotion authority to reassert America's leadership in promoting U.S. goods and the expertise of our workforce to more markets. The House has acted, the Senate Finance Committee has acted, and it is now time for the full Senate to deliver. Exports accounted for more than one-fourth of U.S. economic growth in the 1990s. Jobs depending on exports pay wages that are an estimated 13 to 18 percent higher than the national average. One in ten American workers, 12 million people, work at jobs that depend on exports of goods and services. Trade is good for American farmers and ranchers. Trade is good for American small businesses. At the most basic level, trade is essential to our country's economic growth and prosperity. Yet, every day that America delays, other countries throughout the world are entering into trade agreements without us, benefitting their workers, their farmers, their businesses and their economies at the expense of ours. Our competitors in Europe, Asia, and Latin America have sealed deals on approximately 130 preferential trade compacts, many within our own hemisphere. Yet the United States is party to only three, with Canada and Mexico, Israel and Jordan.”