Political Quotes

“I come to the floor to speak about two of the votes we will be casting at approximately 5:30 this afternoon, and to explain how I am going to vote and why. On the first, the legislation regarding China's currency policy, I am going to vote no, and I want to explain why. Managing our economic, military, and diplomatic relations with China is going to be one of the great challenges of this century. China is obviously a rising power today, though not one without problems, as I will get to in a moment. We have come to a point--China and the United States--where we not only interact and sometimes bump up against each other militarily, diplomatically, and economically, we also, in many ways, have become dependent on one another. What each of us does has an effect on the other, and often a significant effect. That is why I say one of the great challenges of this century will be to manage our relations with China in a way that is certainly beneficial and protective to the United States but, hopefully, to China, from its perspective, as well. I say this as background to what I want to say about China's currency policy. I am troubled by China's currency policy. China has obviously kept its currency too low. It is undervalued, and that has resulted in products being made in China selling elsewhere at a price that is lower than other manufacturers can compete with, including American manufacturers that are directly in conflict with China.…”