Political Quotes

“I thank the Senator. Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I support ratification of the three free- trade agreements we are debating. They are long overdue, and they are important to job creation in this country. While we have waited around, these countries have concluded free-trade agreements with other countries, much to the detriment of American exports. The best example I can cite of that is several years ago, 40 percent of the imports of agricultural products into Colombia were from the United States of America, while today only 20 percent of their agricultural imports are from the United States because while we have been waiting, Colombia has concluded free-trade agreements with other nations which have given them access to their markets while we were not able to expand. One of the ironies of all this is, thanks to a rather complicated process that took place during President Clinton's administration, the results of the Andean trade preference agreements meant there were tariffs on U.S. goods going into Colombia but no tariff on Colombian goods coming into the United States. But why I am here this afternoon, Mr. President, is because what has been unremarked on--and which was outrageous about this whole process we have been through in these times of fiscal difficulties--is that roughly $1.3 billion is going to be spent on the so-called TAA, trade adjustment assistance.…”