Political Quotes

“Let me just give you another example. I thank you for raising that very, very important issue. Last year, this House by an overwhelming bipartisan vote set out to address the China situation. It was a piece of legislation that simply said that when any government anywhere around the world unfairly subsidizes its business sector in a way or to the detriment of American businesses, then that country will face sanctions. And specifically, it had to do with the Chinese currency. The Chinese currency is significantly undervalued, perhaps giving as much as a 20 percent advantage to China in its exports. Bipartisan, it passed here. It did not pass in the Senate. However, this year my Republican colleagues would not even allow that to come up for a vote here, even though it has now passed in the Senate. So the Chinese currency bill passed the Senate; it is languishing in this House. I do not understand why our Republican colleagues want to continue to allow China to have an unfair advantage. I was going to wrap up with this. China subsidizes to a fare-thee- well its solar and wind industries. So much so that they have taken over the market and have led to the bankruptcy of a couple of American solar manufacturers, Solyndra being one example that is much discussed around here. But it was really as a result of China driving down the price of solar panels.…”