Political Quotes

“I thank the chairman for yielding time. Mr. Speaker, there are hundreds of trade agreements being carried out all over the world today, and the United States--our country--is sitting on the sidelines. Ninety-five percent of the market is closed off in many respects because we don't have trade agreements; we don't have the market opening. We are an open economy. They are sending stuff here, but we don't have the opportunity to sell there. That is a problem. Let's talk about what trade promotion authority really is. At a very basic level, it is the catalyst for American economic engagement around the world. It is the catalyst for American leadership. I, for one--and, I think, for most of my friends here on this side of the aisle--am not ready to just step back and relinquish American leadership to others. That is just unacceptable. Trade promotion authority gets us started. We are on the verge of negotiating two very important trade agreements with growing areas around the world--the Asia-Pacific region and the European Union. This represents the lion's share of gross domestic product growth around the world. Why would we want to lock ourselves out of these markets? It is absolutely ridiculous. It is absurd. We want the American worker to have access to those markets. I want mothers around the world to buy goods off the shelves that read, ``Made in America.'' Those markets are closed. Let's open them. Let's get trade promotion authority in place. What is it?…”