Political Quotes

“I sit here a bit incredulously listening to my colleagues brag about U.S. trade policy. The reason CAFTA has not come for a vote, even though it has been promised to have been brought forward four times, is because Democrats and Republicans and small manufacturers and labor and small ranchers and family farmers and environmentalists and religious leaders in Central America and religious leaders in this country oppose the Central American Free Trade Agreement. Why? Because a dozen years ago we had a $38 billion trade deficit in this country. Last year we had a $618 billion trade deficit. That has translated into 3.5 million lost manufacturing jobs in the last 5 years alone. Our trade policy, Mr. Speaker, simply is not working. It may be working for investors, but it is not working for farmers, it is not working for small business. It is not working for consumers and environmentalists and workers and for our communities. ____________________”