Mike Levin: “Mr. speaker, there are deeply felt reasons to vote for this disapproval resolution. Issues of human rights, issues, for…”

“Mr. speaker, there are deeply felt reasons to vote for this disapproval resolution. Issues of human rights, issues, for example, and important ones of trade. China presents vital questions on how America competes with a low-wage economy. But I have asked myself, where would a vote for disapproval lead? First of all, it would be vetoed. Second, even more importantly, even if it were to become law, what would we do next? What issues would we negotiate with the Chinese? What would our demands on each of these issues be? What would we settle for? In a word, I have concluded we need a policy, not a protest. We need to go beyond an annual skirmish over an action we are unlikely to take. We need to do the difficult work of hammering out a year-round policy, and Congress needs to participate. We have to engage ourselves, which we have not done, year round. We have to engage our legislative counterparts in Asia and in Europe. We need to have an active role in the question of China's accession to the World Trade Organization, and we in this country need to develop allies in Europe and Asia so we simply do not go it alone on all of these issues. The administration deserves credit for its recent success in the issue of intellectual property piracy, and I favor the use of sanctions against China. But it is time for all of us in both the Government and the private sector to put these endeavors in the context of a larger long-range blueprint. I want not a message but a program.”