Political Quotes

“Mr. President, in a moment I am going to put forward a unanimous consent request to pass a trade bill cosponsored by all the Democrats and Republicans on the relevant committee in the other body-- the Ways and Means Committee--and was ultimately passed by the other body--the House--by voice vote. So there was no opposition in the other body. In fact, it was put forward by the Republican Chair Jason Smith and the Democratic Ranking Member Richard Neal, as well as Senator Crapo and myself over here. I think it would be fair to say that this kind of unanimity over in the House, where sometimes they can't agree to order a 7-Up, is pretty amazing--that they passed a trade bill unanimously. Before I make the UC request on this bipartisan, bicameral bill called the United States-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade First Agreement Implementation, I am just going to talk briefly about why the bill is so important. The basic proposition is this: First and foremost, the U.S. Congress fully supports deepening our trading relationship with Taiwan and wants to ensure the recent agreement covering trade facilitation, anti- corruption, and small business is durable and legally sound. Not only is Taiwan a critical market for U.S. exporters, it is also a democracy that shares our values and has strong ties with Oregonians and Americans across the land. Next, this body wants to be clear that trade and trade agreements are within the constitutional authority of the Congress.…”