Political Quotes

“I very much appreciate the good work of my friend, the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Sanders). Mr. Speaker, earlier this week the Committee on Appropriations passed an amendment to prevent the U.S. trade representative from using trade pacts as a tool to block prescription drug reimportation. The fact that appropriators in this body felt compelled to take this dramatic step points to a larger issue. Congress should not have to police the U.S. trade representative to make sure he or she is acting in the best interests of U.S. consumers. We should not have to instruct our trade representative to make sure that he is looking out for U.S. workers and U.S. manufacturers. We should not have to tell the trade representative to protect the environment and our food supply. Congress should not have to scour every trade pact to make sure that some patent extension or importation barrier or other Big Government crutch designed specifically for the drug industry has not been inserted into the trade agreement by the U.S. trade representative or by the President or by my friends on the other side of the aisle. Congress should not have to take the U.S. trade representative to task for trying to reverse the world's progress against the global AIDS epidemic, progress partially financed with U.S. tax dollars. Congress should not have to fight the U.S.…”