Political Quotes

“There may have been a time--yes, there was, in the era of a planned economy, in the era of the Soviet Union, in another era. Are we debating another era? We are going to ask the President, under one of these amendments--I have lost track which one--to negotiate 147 reciprocal trade treaties-- 147--and then, sir, in one of them--I will not say which, because I do not think it would be quite fair--but in one of them, for the third act of imported children's wear, that somehow involves textiles made in the Far East or wherever, the violation is punishable by a fine of $1 million and 5 years in prison. Do we send people to prison for the mislabeling of cotton goods? I mean, heavens, a little balance, a little perspective. We are talking about marginal producers on the margin of the world economy, trying to give them a hand. In the case of the Caribbean Basin Initiative, we are trying to do what President Reagan said was only fair and balanced: If we were going to have the North American Free Trade Agreement, it should not close out Central America and the Caribbean. I hope we will proceed as long as we have to with such amendments, but I hope some perspective will be in order.”