Political Quotes

“Madam President, let me start with a story. More than 15 years ago, a friend and I--I met with friends, and I flew to South Texas at my own expense. I wanted to see how the North American Free Trade Agreement was working. During my first year in Congress 20-plus years ago, in the House of Representatives, I helped to lead the opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement. I stood up to a President of my own party, President Clinton, who I think was wrong on the North American Free Trade Agreement. Since then, I disagreed with President Bush--a President not of my party--on his trade policy. I wanted to see, 4, 5 years after NAFTA was implemented, what it looked like, what went on along the U.S.-Mexican border. As I said, at my own expense I rented a car with a couple friends and went to Mexico. Here is what I found. I walked into a neighborhood where thousands of workers lived, workers who were working in formerly U.S. plants that, because of NAFTA, had crossed the river and were relocated in Mexico in some areas called maquiladoras. These were American plants that relocated to Mexico, producing with very low-income workers, no environmental labor standards, and selling those products back into the United States. It is a 20th-century, 21st-century way of doing business for far too many companies.…”