Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, the claim is that this legislation is going to boost the U.S. economy tremendously, but the copper will likely benefit China more than the United States. Nine percent of Rio Tinto is owned by the state-controlled Aluminum Corporation of China. Rio Tinto has a long-established relationship and at our hearings refused to disclaim what level of exportation they were going to make to China of this copper ore. At a time when we should focus on U.S. industry supporting that industry, creating jobs here in America, we should not be trading away billions in copper to supply China's needs. This bill doesn't even require that the ore extracted from this mine be processed here, much less that it will be marketed or sold here. With that, let me yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California, a member of the Resources Committee, Mr. Garamendi.”