Marcy Kaptur: “the topic of my remarks tonight will be ``The Red Ink Keeps Getting Deeper.'' If we look at the trade procedure the Bush…”

“the topic of my remarks tonight will be ``The Red Ink Keeps Getting Deeper.'' If we look at the trade procedure the Bush administration wants Congress to pass called Fast Track, we should know that it is shorthand for Congress blindly signing away its constitutionally granted duty to regulate commerce with foreign nations. That is right in the Constitution. Under Fast Track procedure, Congress loses any opportunity to negotiate, amend, or improve the Bush administration's misguided trade policy. We have seen what happens when Congress hands the reins over to the executive branch. When we look at our soaring trade deficit and our ravaged middle-class communities, we see how Congress could have improved each one of the trade agreements we were forced to consider as a whole under what was called Fast Track. It is like a fast ball through here that you can't even amend. The Commerce Department just released an example of the Bush administration's horrendous leadership on this issue. The first quarter account for 2007 is another $193 billion deficit in the red, which totals 5.7 percent of GDP, a total drag on economic growth in this country. And, in fact, this quarter's debt is larger than the last quarter of 2006. The red ink keeps getting deeper every single quarter.”