Byron Dorgan: “To give you an example of that, they negotiated a trade agreement with Canada under fast track. I was then serving in…”

“To give you an example of that, they negotiated a trade agreement with Canada under fast track. I was then serving in the other body on the House Ways and Means Committee, which has 35 votes. They brought that trade agreement to the Ways and Means Committee. The vote was 34-1 to approve it. I was the only one to vote to disapprove it. We weren't able to offer any amendments. It went to the floor of the House, and I led the opposition to it. I lost by 20 or 30 votes. No amendments. Now, what happened in the last 4 or 5 years with Canada? The deficit has doubled. We have a flood of this unfairly subsidized grain coming in, undercutting our producers. Everybody understands it is unfair trade, and you can't do a thing about it. We have folks that crow about it from time to time, but they don't lift a finger to do anything about it. That is what is wrong with these kinds of procedures. We should have been able to amend that treaty to make sure that if a trade agreement with Canada is contemplated, we have the ability to solve a problem if a problem exists. But they have pulled all the teeth now, so there are no teeth in this ability to reconcile and deal with problems. Now we have these trade agreements where the deficits keep ratcheting up. We have unfair competition for our producers, and jobs are leaving our country. As I said 395,000 jobs left our country to Mexico and Canada. It doesn't make any sense for us to tie our hands in this way.”