Political Quotes

“I support giving the President trade promotion authority, as the bill now before the Senate would do. It is essential that we work with President Bush to ensure that we break down barriers and promote the sale of U.S. goods and services and agricultural commodities in other countries. Export markets are absolutely necessary to assure the profitability of American agriculture. America's farmers are producing more but exporting less. Last year, exports of U.S. farm products amounted to just over $50 billion. That is a decrease from 5 years ago when we reached a high of $60 billion in foreign exports. For our country to prosper, we must have access to foreign markets. These markets not only help farmers; they help create jobs in processing industries, as well as transportation. Tariffs in other countries against our farm products are too high. They can be reduced through aggressive negotiation by our President. The tariff on U.S. agricultural products averages over 60 percent compared to under 5 percent on other domestic goods. If the President had the authority to negotiate international trade agreements, farm receipts would go up and not down as has been our recent experience. One out of every three acres planted by farmers across America is intended for export. But because we aren't selling all we produce, commodity prices are going down, and the agricultural sector is having a very hard time making ends meet.”