Kevin Roberts: “I share the Senator's views, and I am very hopeful this will not be the last trade agreement we see. I, again, thank him…”

“I share the Senator's views, and I am very hopeful this will not be the last trade agreement we see. I, again, thank him for his comments and his work. Madam President, some of my remarks will be duplicative of those of Senator Hatch and those of the Senator from Florida, as I have indicated, but on behalf of our Nation's farmers, ranchers, and manufacturers, service providers, I rise today to add my voice to the chorus of strong support for passing the pending trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and Korea. I will be candid with you. I am not trying to be a ``bad news bear'' here, but I was not all convinced this day would ever come. But after learning that the President was sending the trade agreements to Congress, I think the word I thought of in my head was ``finally,'' maybe five ``finallys,'' because it has been 5 years that the U.S. trade agenda has been put on hold and frankly was hostage to demands by certain environmental groups, labor groups, and a rewrite of the trade adjustment assistance. But yesterday under the perseverance of the chairman, Senator Baucus, and others on the committee, finally the Senate Finance Committee did pass the trade agreements. We had a markup. It was amidst protesters. It was not a unique situation, but one that the chairman handled very deftly.…”