Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I think it is important, at this point in time, for us to be reminded of the concerns of working people across our Nation. This has been an intense debate, because so often, in the course of the trade agreements we have pursued, the balance on the other end has been simply that millions of jobs have left this Nation. We have lost 5 million jobs and 50,000 factories. That is a tremendous loss for workers across the States seeking for the foundation of successful families because there is no government program that can compare to the value of a living-wage job. What we have seen in the wake of NAFTA and the free-trade agreements that have followed is not only a tremendous loss of jobs but a tremendous increase in inequality in this Nation. Now, we have heard the opinion of some that this is a completely different structure and that we should not be concerned about this being the result of this particular agreement, this particular set of standards, that are going to be brought back to us in the Trans-Pacific Partnership. I disagree, and I disagree deeply, and I am going to tell you why. Let's start with the most fundamental issue on level playing field, which is wages that are roughly comparable. The old agreements have no minimum wage. This agreement has no minimum wage. We are creating a structure of a group of seven very poor nations with very low wages, five affluent nations with higher wages.…”