Louise Slaughter: “Mr. Speaker, an important part of our job is to encourage the purchase of U.S. goods and services by others in the…”

“Mr. Speaker, an important part of our job is to encourage the purchase of U.S. goods and services by others in the international community, especially now when the economy is limping along and failing to replace the 1.1 million jobs lost since the Bush administration took office. Hopefully opening up foreign markets for American products will lead to the creation of good, high-paying jobs here in the United States. However, we must be mindful of the consequences of free trade agreements such as the U.S.-Morocco Free Trade Agreement. Serious questions were raised about the impact patent protection language might have on the ability of the United States to reimport lower cost drugs from other countries and the impact on the Australian government's low-cost pharmaceutical drug program. According to the Wall Street Journal, urged by the drug industry, the U.S. Trade Representative is seeking to strengthen protections for costlier brand-name drugs, defending the U.S. companies from foreign competition of foreign producers of generic drugs.”