Political Quotes

“I am ready to close, and I yield myself the balance of my time. Today the votes on TAA and TPA are combined, and we did not do that. The Republicans did so to win votes for TPA, so they used TAA as a bargaining chip. I don't support their doing so, as someone who has been a lead sponsor of TAA. Voting ``no'' on TAA gives us a better chance to get all of these issues right. Throughout my career, I have voted on lots of trade agreements, and I have voted for most of them. I negotiated a few of them when USTR would not do so. As mentioned, we Democrats are responsible for the labor and environmental standards and, very importantly, access to medicines that we worked out with difficulty also on May 10. So we Democrats built the foundation, and we don't want to see it eroded. Language in bills isn't enough; it is what will happen in terms of the implementation of that language. I want to say just a few words about jobs, because it is often said we have lost those jobs, they have gone away, so, therefore, don't worry. There are millions of jobs in this country that are in danger of being lost if we don't do trade right. That is why we need to do it right. I think TPA essentially puts TPP on a fast track when it is on the wrong track. It is on the wrong track. There are negotiating objectives, but they are so vague, they don't really mean anything.…”