Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2378, the Currency Reform Fair Trade Act. First, I want to thank Chairman Levin and his staff for crafting this responsible and much needed WTO compliant legislation. There is wide agreement that China is deliberately and illegally intervening in global currency markets to benefit its own economy. According to the Peterson Institute of International Economics, because of repeated Chinese government intervention, the RMB is unfairly undervalued by as much as 24 percent against the dollar. This practice is harming the U.S. economy and weakening our ability to promote economic growth and jobs. Again, according to the Peterson Institute, if the RMB was fairly valued, there would be 500,000 more Americans employed today in good paying manufacturing jobs. The President's strategy for boosting the economy includes a two year plan to increase manufacturing and expand exports--but increasing exports in a global economy where American goods are artificially more expensive than comparable Chinese goods, is like fighting an uphill battle. H.R. 2378 will help encourage the Chinese government to do the right thing and float its currency in a wider band. This will help to protect those American businesses and jobs that are being injured by the imbalance. Specifically, the bill requires the Department of Commerce to view deliberate currency undervaluation as an illegal export subsidy just as the World Trade Organization does.…”