Political Quotes

“I want to thank Mr. Pocan for yielding and for his leadership for calling us together this evening to talk about what trade means to American paychecks. Thank you again because I was sitting in my office, and I was listening to my colleagues speak so eloquently about the need for Congress, for individual Members of Congress representing--those of us representing 725,000 Americans, to have a voice in a process that is so important to American paychecks. As I sat there, I thought I owed it to my constituents in the Fourth Congressional District of Maryland to come to this floor to stand on their side for their paychecks, so I thank you for that. As I listened to some of my colleagues, one of the things that I heard Ms. Kaptur say was to talk about the job loss in the manufacturing sector, in the clothing textile sector in the Carolinas. I represent a district in Maryland, but my family is from North Carolina. A lot of my family members had those good-paying jobs in the mills. They were making the sheets, pillowcases, T-shirts, and hats, and they all lost their jobs. All of those jobs went someplace else, but they didn't stay in North Carolina. That was a tragedy. It was a tragedy for my family, as it has been a tragedy for families all across this country. I remember the NAFTA debate, and so many Members of Congress--I wasn't in Congress at the time, Mr. Pocan wasn't in Congress at the time--but we remember the debate.…”