Political Quotes

“It is time for us to move past the free versus fair trade debate that has dominated the considerations in this Chamber for most of the last five Congresses, where each side uses code words to ignore the inconvenient arguments of each other, or perhaps to not address them at all. It is time to deal with honest trade policy. We can start later this week with action on the Chile free trade agreement, a spirited open debate which should lead to a strong bipartisan vote for approval. I would urge my colleagues not to reflexively reject agreement because of either concerns about the previous trade promotion authority debate which, frankly, I had reservations about myself; or somehow get bogged down in debating what is not before us. The best way to help future debates is if we all deal meaningfully with what is before us in the context of this agreement. And the Chile free trade agreement offers much for the United States, make no mistake about it. We gain far more than we give up in terms of tariff protections.”