Political Quotes

“I appreciate the gentleman's courtesy. We have been involved with a long struggle in this Congress and Congresses before, dating back some 13 years, and even before that, about country of origin labeling. Do people have the right to know where their food comes from? As the gentleman from Massachusetts pointed out, the American public supports this. We have had a ruling from the WTO that does not prohibit country of origin labeling. To the contrary, the case upheld the country's right to require food labeling when it serves a broad public interest that does not lead to treatment of a foreign product in a less favorable way than a domestic one. We are rushing in a repeal that goes beyond just the disputed elements, adding poultry, and raising questions, I think, about our commitment to being able to give consumers what they want. There are those that would attach cost to this, but it also is in terms of what people want. And I think, we ought to take a deep breath. There is not going to be any retaliatory tariffs that are going to be actually inflicted quickly. This is a process that is going to take months. The Brazilian cotton subsidies, about which I personally think Brazil was right--we had inappropriate cotton subsidies, and we are paying Brazilian cotton interests now because of our refusal to make our own cotton policies WTO-compliant.…”