Political Quotes

“I rise to strongly support American jobs and employment here at home, economic development; and because of those values and because of that focus, I strongly support the Jefferson resolution and active consideration and debate of it. U.S. port authorities, port terminal operators, longshore labor unions, other U.S. port and transportation industry organizations all have opposed President Bush's decision to impose tariffs and quotas on fairly traded steel products imported into the United States, and all of those entities are home to good, viable, important, well-paying American jobs. This is not a one-sided debate about American jobs. I am very sympathetic to U.S. steel producers and their employees, but that is not the only place jobs are impacted in terms of this action. They are impacted even more on the negative side by President Bush's decision with regard to ports and other maritime-related commerce. I know that very well from my home, the New Orleans area. Forty percent of the revenue from the port of New Orleans is directly tied to steel imports. That supports more than 8,600 jobs just within the Greater New Orleans area, and if we look at Louisiana as a whole, there are thousands more, and if we look at the Nation, there are tens of thousands more.”