Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Connecticut. Ms. DeLAURO. Within the last week, Vietnam, one of the partners in this agreement, arrested labor activists. 118 Colombian trade unionists were murdered. Vietnam will not allow organized labor, and in the agreement they get a free pass for 5 years while our jobs are just being drained away. Now the Congress is reviewing the TPP, the largest free trade agreement of its kind in history. It does include countries like Vietnam and Malaysia, where labor and human rights abuses are rampant. My colleagues have talked about Malaysia and trafficking and forced labor. Where are the values of this Nation when we can take Malaysia that traffics in young girls and say that they have gotten better and they go from a tier 3 country to a tier 2 country just so that they can be part of this agreement? Where are the values of the United States of America? They are not present here. We can't afford more free trade agreements without adequate enforcement. Worst of all, this bill weakens protection in so many areas. We are dealing, as I said, in trafficking. It is modern slavery. That is what that is all about. Democrats have been clamoring for years and years for our government to include enforceable labor standards and enforceable environmental provisions, and it has fallen on deaf ears. This motion to instruct--and I say to my colleague thank you for doing this--should pass.…”