For the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, no priority facing our Nation is more important than putting Americans back to work.

Historically, the only way the U.S. government has ever enticed a foreign government to open its market to American exports is by negotiating free trade agreements.

The chamber strongly supports allowing repatriation of those funds, which was done several years ago successfully and we think it should be done again.

The opportunities are immense. Already, more than 50 million Americans are employed by firms that engage in international trade.

My bottom line is, we need to create more American jobs, and if we can bring funds from abroad that will create more American jobs, that is what I favor.

In the end, we decided to leave the [Magnuson-Stevens Act's] definitions unchanged on this point while, at the same time, making clear the Act was intended to benefit the entire fishing industry.