Political Quotes

“I came from an informal hearing--not an official Senate hearing but a hearing downstairs called by Congressman Levin, who is the senior Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee. A number of other Members were there, including my colleague from Ohio, Representative Kaptur, and a number of people the Presiding Officer served with in the House--Congressmen Sarbanes, Rangel, Pascrell, Doggett, and Schiff. We discussed the Trans-Pacific Partnership. I spoke earlier on this today. I know Senator McConnell has said that he will not bring it up this year, I think in large part because of the opposition from the country. Senator Lott, the Republican leader, a decade or so ago said that you can't pass a trade agreement in an even- numbered year. He was a strong supporter of these trade agreements. I believe he and most in his party supported NAFTA and CAFTA. He wasn't here for CAFTA but he was for some of those other trade agreements. But he said that because he knows that politicians want to vote for these trade agreements in large part because of corporate lobbying. But the public doesn't want us to vote for these trade agreements. My first year in Congress, I spent much of the year working in opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement. I have seen a number of these: NAFTA, PNTR with China, CAFTA, the trade agreement with Korea, big promises about jobs, big claims about jobs, and exaggerated commitments about jobs.…”