Political Quotes

“I have been a long-time supporter of free trade. I believe it is always a good thing when American businesses, manufacturers, and farmers have more market access for their products. I have also been a longtime supporter of specific free trade agreements that are waiting to be acted on by the Congress: the South Korea, Colombia, and Panama agreements. We have had too many years of talking about being long-time supporters of free trade agreements. Yet we have not had an opportunity to back up our talk with votes because we can't vote until the President presents them to Congress. The time to present these free trade agreements is long overdue. The administration needs to stop moving the goal posts every time we are about to kick the ball through. Take the Panama agreement as an example. The United States and Panama reached an agreement in principle in December of 2006. However, congressional Democrats expressed concern regarding certain labor issues that existed in Panama at the time. The Bush administration negotiated a deal with the congressional Democrats who had newly taken over the Congress in an agreement that was announced on May 10, 2007. As a result, then-President Bush addressed the labor issues in the trade agreement that the United States signed with Panama in late June of 2007. If there were a big news conference on May 10, 2007 that there has been an agreement reached, wouldn't one think these agreements would be passed by now?…”