Political Quotes

“I thank my revered chairman for this opportunity to discuss the most important issue we will deal with in this portion of this session of Congress. At the Finance Committee's final hearing on China this spring, on April 6, our last witness, Ira Shapiro, who was formerly the chief negotiator for Japan and Canada at the U.S. Trade Representative's office, closed his testimony with these words. . . . [this vote] is one of an historic handful of Congressional votes since the end of World War II. Nothing that Members of Congress do this year--or any other year-- could be more important. I rise to suggest, sir, that he is not wrong, and to explain at some length, if I may be indulged, the reasons therefor. The United States has a long history of commercial ties with China, beginning at a time when we exported raw materials, medicinal herbs and such like products, in return for sophisticated manufactures. The first American ship to visit China, the Empress of China, cleared New York harbor more than 216 years ago on February 22, 1784. It carried a cargo of 300 tons of ginseng, a wild root found in the uplands of States such as New York, where it is gathered to this day and is known as shang. The cargo included wool, cloth, lead, cotton, and pepper--pepper, I take it, to be a transshipment of pepper received from South Asia.…”