Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to this job-killing trade bill, and I would like to insert into the Record a letter from the International Federation for Professional and Technical Engineers in opposition to the Korea FTA. International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers, Washington, DC, February 7, 2011. Hon. Hilda L. Solis, U.S. Department of Labor, Washington, DC. Hon. Ron Kirk, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Washington, DC. Dear Secretary Solis and Ambassador Kirk: The International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) applauds the Obama Administration, most notably the Department of Labor (DOL) and the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) for your willingness to include labor in last year's discussions preceding the Administration's announced agreement on the US-South Korea (KORUS) Free Trade Agreement. That said, and after a long review and analysis of this FTA, I am writing to express IFPTE's concerns with the final proposal. While some improvements compared to the Bush Administration negotiated KORUS FTA were achieved, IFPTE continues to believe that the proposed agreement falls short in several key areas and fails to put US workers and businesses in a better position to compete. First and foremost, KORUS does not include enforceable labor protections.…”