Marcy Kaptur: “While the gentleman was talking about democracy and about trying to have a trade regime that uses the power of the…”

“While the gentleman was talking about democracy and about trying to have a trade regime that uses the power of the democratic republics of the world and the free enterprise systems with the rule of law that have developed over two centuries, and then invite in the nations that would wish to advance, to have a system that would use the strength of the democratic republics and bring the others forward rather than pit them against one another, which is what is happening now, I could not help but think of one of the opponents who often comes to the floor and speaks against the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) and myself, who usually says, well, we have got to trade because trade brings freedom. Trade brings freedom. They use that phony argument. And I say, yes, we can have free trade among free people, but if we look at what is happening in the Middle East right now, there is not any set of nations that we have traded more with as a country than Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates. Why? Because we are totally and stupidly dependent on imported petroleum. Now, if trade had brought freedom, they would have the most lively democracies in the world. But trillions and trillions of our oil dollars, every time we go to the gas pump and we buy petroleum, we buy gasoline, half of the money we spend goes offshore to places like Saudi Arabia and Nigeria. And now they are drilling in Sudan.”