Political Quotes

“Mr. President, while it is important to address the Federal budget deficit, too many Washington politicians have turned a blind eye to the U.S. trade deficit. Working families in Ohio and our Nation's manufacturers haven't forgotten about the devastating effects of our ballooning trade deficit. How much bigger does our trade deficit need to get before Washington wakes up and realizes we need a very different direction in trade? Let's put American workers and American businesses first for a change. Let's focus on enforcing existing trade laws and helping workers retrain for new jobs. Let's not pursue more of the same style of trade agreements that have wreaked havoc on our economy. That is really what the debate over the Korea trade agreement and the Panama and the Colombia Free Trade Agreements is all about. Two weeks ago, Senator Casey and I wrote a letter to the President, which 43 other Senators signed--in fact, it was signed by the Presiding Officer, the Senator from Rhode Island--affirming his decision to pass trade adjustment assistance for workers before proceeding to the trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea. Our position on TAA has been consistent since we asked unanimous consent to pass TAA in late 2010. We need a long-term reauthorization regardless of what we do on these free-trade agreements.…”