Chuck Hagel: “I rise to oppose my friend, the distinguished Senator from Colorado, regarding his amendment. I will explain why. Before…”

“I rise to oppose my friend, the distinguished Senator from Colorado, regarding his amendment. I will explain why. Before I came to this body, I was a businessman, a small businessman. Over the last 15 years, my partners and I founded a number of companies. A number of those companies were international companies. I have dealt with OPIC directly. I understand a little bit about, I think, the real world, how jobs are created, how you must market in the international community, what kind of competition is out there against a little company like mine that has to go toe to toe with foreign competitors all over the globe. One of the things I learned very quickly was when you go toe to toe with international competitors, whether it is telecommunications--which I know a little something about--or any other industry, the support that comes with your competitor, from his government, his country, is rather significant.”