Political Quotes

“I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott), ranking member on Trade. (Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.) Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the Korean free trade agreement. We should all be proud of Korea. We created Korea. Our troops went to Korea at the beginning of the Korean War and saved South Korea from becoming North Korea. That's how the Koreans look at it. I took a trip with the Commerce Secretary, Gary Locke, who's now the Ambassador to China. And the Koreans said, we're very grateful and we want to have this relationship with you. And they have come--because we opened our markets to them, they are the most successful country in Asia in coming from nowhere to an average income of around $33,000 per person. Now, making an agreement with them is making an agreement more with an equal. And when we went from Seattle, we know about our regional relationship with them, we are the third-largest State exporter to Korea. In 2010, Washington State exported more than $55 billion worth of goods; more than half of all that went to Asia. Hundreds of thousands of jobs in my State depend on this trade relationship. So this is not something where we're going to lose jobs. I believe it's important to move ahead because I think it's equally important to move ahead right.…”