Political Quotes

“I would like to shift focus. I rise in this Congress reflecting on the state of the U.S. industrial base, reflecting as a Member of Congress from Michigan, as a Member of Congress who represents Oakland County, as a Member of Congress who lives in Oakland County, as a Member of Congress who represents Automation Alley, as someone who represents the largest concentration of automotive suppliers and, certainly, some of our automotive manufacturers, our original equipment manufacturers, as we like to call them. Nearly every week since I got elected to Congress, I participate in a program. I call it ``Manufacturing Monday,'' and I visit our small businesses, our small manufacturers, our mom-and-pop shops, often passed down from parent to child; manufacturers who have been through a whole lot; manufacturers who guided the passage of the USMCA, which was done before COVID ever entered our lexicon, to give the North American Continent a fair shot at competing, a framework to compete, a framework to sell our goods internationally. Export channels are phenomenal. They lead to revenues. They lead to productivity. People want to buy American products throughout the world. They recognize our flag. They recognize our craftsmanship. Then, in no short order, after we passed USMCA, renegotiating NAFTA, giving our manufacturers and our workers a leg up, of course, we were disrupted. We were disrupted by a global pandemic.…”