Political Quotes

“The amendment which is proposed by myself and the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters) states that none of the funds appropriated in this act under the heading of the Office of the United States Trade Representative Salaries and Expenses may be used to initiate a proceeding in the World Trade Organization pursuant to any provision of the agreement on trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights. It is really important for us to establish the context of why we are here. People are dying from AIDS all over the world; and we know that there are drugs, anti-retroviral drugs, which can be used to treat the people that can help save them. All over America, the people of America support the idea of helping others in need. The very thought that we can have these drugs in existence and have suffering people and them not being able to connect with suffering people has to cause everyone to be ashamed. Yet our own country has used the World Trade Organization as a vehicle to defeat the work of a nation that is trying to treat its own AIDS patients, saying it interferes with the intellectual property rights of pharmaceutical companies. Since when do intellectual property rights become more important than human life? Since when? We need to get this in perspective.…”