Political Quotes

“this bill is brought up under suspension of the rules, and usually those measures are brought up when they are noncontroversial. Until about a month or two ago this issue was very controversial. In fact, a year ago there were probably some of us on both sides of the aisle that were ready to do battle, with swords. This has been a tough battle, and I want to particularly commend the thoughtfulness and the hard work of my colleague, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Smith). There were a number of us that were able to get together with the gentleman from Texas on both sides of the aisle. We had a number of associations across the country as well, whether they be the White House, whether they be the Governors Association, the Chamber of Commerce, or Republicans and Democrats. The gentleman from New York (Mr. LaFalce) and I headed up the charge, on our side. And I had the privilege over the last couple of years, with others in this body that are on the floor now, of participating jointly with our Canadian counterparts, our colleagues from Canada. This has been the number one issue the last number of years. Why is that? In my home State of Michigan, we have more than a billion and a half dollars of trade that literally goes across the bridge into Canada every day. Every day. We have thousands of Americans and Canadians that cross the border to work, whether it be at hospitals or other places.”