Political Quotes

“I speak in favor of the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act, H.R. 2378. This day has been long in coming. In 2003, I was one of the first Members of Congress to introduce legislation to stop currency undervaluation, especially by China. There has been some modest progress taking place over the years, but the overall practice continues to the detriment of our manufacturers. Counties in northern Illinois have a real unemployment rate of somewhere between 18 and 25 percent. We can't wait any longer for more promises to solve this problem in the future. Just listen to one of my constituents, Jerry Busse from Rockford Toolcraft, who was quoted in the Rockford Register Star on August 30 of this year. Mr. Busse: `` `We have done work for a big manufacturer in Chicago for 20 years. All of a sudden, we lost a lot of their business because they decided to move the work to China,' Busse said. He asked the Chicago company what he had to do to get the work back. `` `The prices they were getting from China were close to what we had been getting. I said, I think I can do the work for that amount,' Busse said. But the company refused. `` `Their management said anyone in America has to be 30 percent under the Chinese price. And I can't do that.' '' Well, that's about the extent of the valuation of the Chinese RMB. I support the new version of the legislation to combat exchange rate undervaluation by China and other countries.”