Victor Fazio: “regrettably, I, too, rise to say I cannot vote in favor of fast track today. Many of my colleagues know that the…”

“regrettably, I, too, rise to say I cannot vote in favor of fast track today. Many of my colleagues know that the gentleman from California (Mr. Matsui), the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), a number of us, helped lead the effort to gain support among Democratic Members in order to win a fair and bipartisan fast track proposal in the past. Unlike some, my support for strong and fair trade policies for this country has not changed when the person in the White House has changed. It has been consistent under both Republican and Democratic Presidents. We rallied the troops last year because we knew the necessity to grant the President fast track authority. Fair and timely fast track ensures, in my view, a continuation of United States engagement and leadership on the international scale that it must be. But I must say that, unfortunately, today the timing of this vote has little to do with granting the President fast track authority or reasserting American primacy in international markets. It has to do instead, I am afraid to say, with politics. It is not fair, it is not timely, and I think it lays the predicate for further defeats, if we are not careful, when we have all our forces coming together to bring fast track to a successful conclusion in the next Congress. Mr. Speaker, I think the International Monetary Fund issue is where this Congress should concentrate its fire.”