Political Quotes

“Madam President, colleagues, I want to hearken back to last November's election. I thought for some time--and the Presiding Officer has heard me say this once or twice--that for this Senator there are three takeaways from that election. No. 1, the American people want us to work together in the Senate here in Washington; the American people want us to get things done; and most especially, the American people want us to get things done that actually strengthen our economic recovery. My own view is that one of the things we can do to strengthen our economic recovery is to increase exports. We work very hard in this Chamber, in the Senate and with the House and the President, to try to pave the way to create a large new trading block consisting of the United States and 11 other countries which, when put together, comprise about 40 percent of the world's customers. This is the trading block we call the Trans-Pacific Partnership. It is something that is sought by the President and is supported by myself, by Democrats, and by Republicans, and it is still being negotiated. But it is an important part in growing and strengthening our economic recovery. One of the other related areas is how do we finance exports. One of the ways we have done that for years in this country is through the Export-Import Bank. We have reached a point where the authorization of the Export-Import Bank has expired.…”