Political Quotes

“This amendment would provide an additional $4,476,000 to the Trade Representative's Office above the level that is provided for in the bill. That amount is fully offset. It would fund the USTR at $51,251,000 this year. That is the same level of funding that the President has in his budget request, and also the same level of funding that has been arrived at in the House Appropriations Committee in their legislation. Clearly, there is bipartisan support for this level of funding for the Trade Representative's office. Last week, as all of us will remember, we sent to the President three new free-trade agreements. I supported those free-trade agreements because they promised to open new markets for American businesses so we can sell more goods that are produced here in the United States. However, if American businesses and workers are to benefit from trade agreements, the United States needs to do more to ensure our trading partners are competing fairly. This means we have to enforce the trade agreements and the U.S. trade laws. Right now, in my view, we are not providing enough resources to the Trade Representative's Office for enforcement activities. The USTR's general counsel's office has 30 attorneys. Of that 30, 22 are staff attorneys actually involved in day-to-day litigation. These two dozen or so people are responsible for preparing and prosecuting trade dispute cases at the World Trade Organization or under the dispute resolution mechanisms in our free-trade agreements.…”