Political Quotes

“Mr. President, my main purpose is to address the China currency bill, particularly in regards to the remarks of Speaker Boehner and Chairman Bernanke. But there are two other points I wish to make on previous speakers' comments. First, Senator Webb's amendment. It is a very important amendment. What it says, of course, is that in cases where commercial technologies are developed with the support of U.S. taxpayers, it prohibits companies from transferring the technology to countries that force proprietary transfers as a condition of doing business. We have seen this over and over. China, which does not play fair up and down the line, basically gets away with economic murder. One of their techniques is to say to a big American company: We will allow you to sell a ton of stuff to us. You will make lots of money. But in return you must give us your proprietary technology--basically your family jewels. It is outrageous, and in the long run it weakens America's ability to grow and create jobs. The companies do this because in the 5- or 10- year period in which they have signed the contract, they get a lot of revenue. But it certainly hurts American workers, and it certainly hurts these companies in the long run. But the CEOs probably figure they will be long gone before that money is made. So I want to support Senator Webb's amendment. In regards to my good friend from Utah who proposed an alternative, I would say this: We have tried for a decade to get multilateral action.…”