Political Quotes

“Last week in a speech before the Economic Club of Washington, Speaker Boehner used this tried and true Republican applause line: ``Excessive regulations are making it harder for our economy to create jobs.'' But then he followed up with a real- life example. ``Last month, Federal agents raided Gibson Guitar factories in Tennessee. Gibson is a well-respected American company that employs thousands of people. The company's costs were $2 million to $3 million. Why? Because Gibson bought wood overseas to make guitars in America. Seriously.'' Well, seriously, Mr. Speaker, you were seriously--well, not necessarily you, I know you can't write all of your speeches, but you were done a disservice by your speech writers who could have done a little more research about the background of what was happening there. The Federal Government was involved with enforcing the Lacey Act which actually makes it easier to protect American jobs and manufacture here at home. In 2008, I was pleased to be part of leading an effort working with the Bush administration in a bipartisan fashion to amend the Lacey Act, which bars trade in illegally harvested species to include trade in illegally harvested timber. Illegal logging threatens some of the world's richest and most vulnerable forests, but more important, it threatens tens of thousands of jobs right here in the United States. Over 50 trade associations, nonprofits, and unions representing the entire range of the U.S.…”