Political Quotes

“last week the Senate voted 97 to 1 to reauthorize the African Growth and Opportunity Act--AGOA--for 10 years. It was first enacted in 2000, so the 10 years were up and we had to get it reinstated. It provides the African countries with duty-free access on most of their exports to the United States. I have long been a supporter of AGOA. The program has done a lot to improve our trade relationship with the continent of Africa, primarily sub-Saharan Africa. Since 2002, annual trade between the United States and sub-Saharan Africa has increased by almost 50 percent. So it is very successful. It has also been estimated by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that it has had the effect of increasing 300,000 jobs in sub- Saharan Africa and 100,000 jobs here in the United States. Trade with Africa is important because many of the world's fastest growing economies are in Africa. According to an analysis that was done for The Economist magazine, six of the world's fastest growing economies were in sub-Saharan Africa in the 10 years it has been in effect. This is going to continue. I have seen it firsthand. Every time I go to Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania or many of the other countries in Africa, I see more and more cranes going up and bigger and better buildings. It is really a live spot in the world. The infrastructure in places like Rwanda and Tanzania is high quality.…”