Political Quotes

“as we stand on the eve of the debate on fast track that is the giving of a major part of our constitutional power to the President and the Vice President and his negotiating team to negotiate trade arrangements with other nations, I think it is important for us to look at what the Founding Fathers said about the unfettered use of so-called free trade. In short, Mr. Speaker, they were not for it. I want to start with James Madison. James Madison said it should never be forgotten that the great object of the Convention was to provide by a new Constitution a remedy for the defects of the existing one and that among these defects was out of a power to regulate foreign commerce, that in all nations this regulating power embraced the protection of domestic manufacturers by duties and restrictions on imports. That means that James Madison believed that it was important for a nation, particularly the United States, to have the right to regulate goods coming into the United States and to establish tariffs so that American companies and American workers would not be hurt.”