Political Quotes

“I would like to thank my colleague, Congressman Michaud, for his tireless work to promote responsible trade policy. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to the U.S.-South Korea free trade agreement. Nearly 14 million Americans remain out of work; and instead of considering a job creation bill, we are voting today on a trade bill that the Economic Policy Institute estimates will cause the loss of an additional 159,000 U.S. jobs. This trade deal will further devastate the American manufacturing sector which has already lost 6 million jobs since 1998; 55,000 factories have closed in the last decade. The three Bush-negotiated trade deals under consideration today are an expansion of the NAFTA trade model, which has decimated cities and towns across America. Agreements like the Korea FTA have accelerated the outsourcing and off- shoring, sending American jobs and plants overseas. This trade agreement is a bad deal for American workers. Trade can be a valuable tool to bolster the U.S. economy, but only if we utilize a trade model that promotes U.S. jobs. If we want to create jobs, we need to create jobs, not pass another trade agreement that will ship even more U.S. jobs abroad.”