Max Baucus: “We have to pass this bill. We in America must show that we are not isolating ourselves from the world but, rather…”

“We have to pass this bill. We in America must show that we are not isolating ourselves from the world but, rather, moving forward; we are engaging the world in trade agreements. We must move forward. As the largest, strongest country in the world, we must not abdicate our leadership position in the world. The underlying bill, the fast-track bill before us, which includes trade adjustment assistance as well as the Andean Trade Preference Act, will help the United States regain some lost position in world leadership certainly with respect to trade, international affairs, and economic affairs, particularly. We can say no. We can say we are not going to pass this bill. One Senator said he is opposed to fast track. Frankly, if we as a body say no, we as a Congress say no, we are, as a country, like the ostrich with his head in the sand, isolating ourselves from the rest of the world. We cannot go backwards. We must embrace the future, embrace it, work with it, help it work to our advantage, work with other countries to our mutual advantage, but certainly not to the disadvantage of the United States. That is what we must do. The amendment offered by my friend from Illinois is a killer amendment. It is clearly a killer amendment. It is an amendment to totally undermine the provisions of this bill.”