Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. S. 2245, the Knowledgeable Innovators and Worthy Investors Act, or KIWI Act, is bipartisan legislation to allow citizens of New Zealand to participate, along with the people of more than 80 other countries, in the E-1 and E-2 visa programs for treaty traders and treaty investors, so long as New Zealand provides the same reciprocal treatment to citizens of the United States. I favor this commonsense bill that will facilitate trade by making it easier for New Zealanders to invest here and will lead to the creation of new jobs in the United States. The E-1 treaty trader program provides temporary visas to employees of firms engaged in substantial trade with our country. The E-2 treaty investor program provides temporary visas to foreign investors who make substantial investments in American enterprise. These visas help increase trade with and direct investments in the U.S. More than 80 countries already participate in the programs, including almost all of our democratic allies and trading partners. Yet New Zealand, one our closest and dearest allies, is not on the list. There are already many New Zealand companies in the U.S., just as there are many of our companies in New Zealand. In 2016, our two countries engaged in approximately $12 billion of bilateral trade in goods and services; and the U.S.…”