Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise to discuss the nomination of Kevin Hassett to be Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. Dr. Hassett came through the Banking Committee with a mixed vote, not so much because of him and his qualifications but because of some of his past statements and because of the economic philosophy of the person who nominated Dr. Hassett. After meeting with him and being impressed with his integrity and openness, I hope he will not forget where he came from. I hope he will approach the job in a thoughtful way. I hope that he will stay grounded in sound research and that he will be transparent about his methods. I would caution him about embracing ideas about economic growth that are not supported by empirical evidence. I hope his new colleagues will listen to him. For too long, our trade policy and tax policy have encouraged a corporate business model that shuts down production in Hamilton or Middletown or Mansfield or Toledo or Youngstown, gets a tax break, cashes in a tax break, then moves production overseas and then to China or Mexico, and then ships production back into the United States. Fundamentally, that has become the business plan of far too many companies--that sort of outsourcing. I had a long discussion with Dr. Hassett about that. As I said, I hope he remembers where he came from.…”