Political Quotes

“I thank my friend from Michigan. I thank him for his very genuine concern over the jobs and labor rights for American workers and for his support of this legislation. Madam Speaker, today, countries all over the world are enjoying preferential treatment versus the United States with Russia. They have better intellect property protections; they have lower tariff barriers; they have other open-market concessions. And many of them are our allies, but all of them are our competitors. Now, clearly, parts of Russia's economy is little better than a kleptocracy--with serious violations of human and political rights. Yet the Jackson-Vanik bill is in place today. This would repeal it, which needs to be done, and it would impose the Magnitsky bill, which would support human rights and political rights in Russia. I should share with my colleagues that Charlie Vanik, after he retired, became a constituent of mine. He wrote a letter to me, saying that the time for the Jackson- Vanik bill has passed and that, in fact, in many areas it's counterproductive. We are doing the right thing--the right thing for America's workers and the right thing for America's economy in supporting this legislation today.”