Political Quotes

“the reason we are debating these amendments to this trade agreement today is that we are seeking at least some element of fairness to our shipbuilders. The reason we are debating these amendments is that we believe it is important to maintain these critical manufacturing jobs that shipbuilding and the supplier base provides. The reason we are debating these amendments is that many of us fear this trade agreement will be like so many before it--one that is unfair to the United States and that will send these jobs to other countries. But let us not lose sight of the most important reason we are debating these amendments: and that is, that we are concerned about the national security of this country. You see, we have gotten to the point where the shipbuilding industrial base that embodies the critical skills and facilities needed to produce our Navy's ships has shrunken to just six shipyards and 70,000 employees. These same shipyards are the ones that have historically produced most of the large, oceangoing ships built in this country for both our domestic and international trades. Commercial shipbuilding has always been essential to helping level out the valleys when the government's purchase of ships has declined. We are at this very moment considering Navy shipbuilding budgets that are the lowest in over 40 years!”