Political Quotes

“Thank you, Madam Speaker. Ladies and gentlemen of the House, today I rise to urge the Speaker of the House to bring forward the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement. I also ask my colleagues to support this agreement. It's an agreement that's good for America, it's good for my State of Illinois, and it's good for Colombia. In fact, the State that I represent, Illinois, is a big winner under the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement. The International Trade Commission did an economic analysis. They said if you're an Illinois worker, an Illinois manufacturer, an Illinois farmer, you're a winner under this trade agreement. Corn, soybeans, pork, beef, manufactured metal products, chemicals, machinery, exports will go up. Why? Because right now Colombian products enter the United States duty-free, tariff-free, tax-free, but our products face tariffs. Caterpillar, the biggest employer in my district, 8,000 workers, their heavy construction equipment faces a 12 percent tariff. For a million-dollar piece of equipment, that's a $100,000 tax which would be eliminated immediately, day one, when this trade agreement would go into effect. The bottom line is Illinois will be a big winner. Now who is Colombia? To begin with, the democracy we know as Colombia, the oldest democracy in all Latin America, today is the United States' most reliable and trusted partner in Latin America. Its President, President Uribe, is the most popular elected official in the hemisphere.”