Political Quotes

“I rise today with some concerns about the new trade representative, Charlene Barshefsky. But I also rise to support her nomination. She has proven herself to be a tough negotiator as the acting trade representative. She recently played a major role in the opening of foreign markets in telecommunications, an agreement which we hope will decrease the costs of international calls and likely to have similar impact on domestic rates as well as U.S. companies competing on a worldwide basis. But on the other hand, Ms. Barshefsky's bidding on the administration's behalf of NAFTA to expand into some South American countries has me somewhat concerned. We are now suffering that kind of a pain because of the border wars with Canada in the State of Montana. Whenever you start talking about fast tracking authority to expand NAFTA, and you understand the effect NAFTA has had on us in the beef industry and the grain industry--and that is what I am; I am not anything else fancy--then I say we have to approach that very cautiously, because I am not going to lower the living standards of my farmers for the sake of so-called free trade unless it is fair trade.”