Political Quotes

“one of the most fascinating aspects of this job in the Senate is the myriad of issues that come before us in the course of a day or week. If you followed over the last few moments the two speakers--one from Alabama and one from Iowa--they both were speaking about related issues. My friend from Iowa and I share an interest in agriculture. His State and mine lead the Nation in the production of corn and soybeans, and naturally we try to export our goods to expand our trade. And he is concerned--and I share his concern--about Mexico. We both voted for the North American Free Trade Agreement in the belief of opening up--and it has opened up--trade substantially between these two neighboring countries, the United States and Mexico. But we have run into some problems here, problems related to corn, as my colleague from Iowa noted, whether we can export white corn to Mexico, which, of course, is a major staple of their diet, being the basis for tortillas, part of the Mexican cuisine, and also whether we can export a product made from corn called high fructose sweetener. For people who may not be familiar with that term, trust me, virtually every soft drink that you consume in America has high fructose sweetener in it rather than sugar. We want to sell it in Mexico, and they do not want us to sell it there. Frankly, they want to export more sugar to the United States. So this trade battle is on.…”