On the recordMay 9, 2013
I thank the gentleman. I rise today to oppose the Pay China First Act, and I do this with a heavy heart because I know the number of talented individuals that we have on this committee and the process that we've been through where we're working together. It astounds me that somehow the ideological tail of the Tea Party wags the whole Republican effort in this area, and the ideological reach of the Tea Party exceeds the certainty that we should be bringing to the American people. {time} 1010 Instead, we're playing hostage politics again, holding up the American people, creating all the uncertainty that we don't need in this kind of climate instead of demonstrating that we can sit down and work together. I get the politics. I understand how you have to accede to a group that continues to take us to the precipice and then pull back. The American people are through with it. Let's sit down, deal with this, and then move on; create the certainty that will create the jobs here. Let's not find ourselves in a situation that becomes almost oxymoron, where we're paying China first, at the expense of Americans when there is no good reason why we should be dealing with this issue whatsoever, other than the hostage politics that it creates to deal with an ideological minority that drives the other side.
