Political Quotes

“Mr. President, some in this body seem to be on the verge of approving the largest trade deal in our Nation's history with little debate, one rushed hearing, and barely any understanding of what we are signing on to. The last time Congress considered fast-track was 13 years ago; the Senate spent 3 weeks considering that bill. But some would like to condense consideration of the biggest trade deal we have ever debated--ever debated--and have it done in advance of Memorial Day; the reason--they know that the more we talk about U.S. trade policy, the more the American public does not like it. Trade promotion authority will give up Congress's authority to amend trade agreements. Not only will this affect the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement and so-called TTIP, the United States-European Union agreement, it will affect any trade deal until 2021. With TPP and TTIP, 60 percent of the world's GDP is at stake. Millions of American jobs are on the line. This is too important to rush through with little debate and little congressional input. With the Memorial Day recess approaching, there simply is not enough time to consider fast-track in a manner that allows full debate and consideration of amendments. We do not even know if the Senate will vote on all four bills as a package that we considered in the Finance Committee or just vote on fast-track or some combination of the four.…”