Political Quotes

“before he leaves, I simply want to say to the distinguished Senator from South Dakota, who is the ranking Republican on our subcommittee, that I very much enjoy working with him. I have listened carefully to his remarks, and it seems to me what we ought to be addressing in the Senate is our country's opportunities. This is about opportunities. Trade agreements present an opportunity for more exports, something--as the Senator from South Dakota touched on--that is particularly promising for areas such as agriculture. I know in South Dakota and Oregon these are huge opportunities. America is about exports, and free-trade agreements are about opportunities to export. The Trade Adjustment Assistance Program is about opportunities for our workers to update their skills. In a sense, American business is only as competitive as its workers. That is why, in my view, we have always had this tradition--a bipartisan tradition which I have tried to highlight this afternoon--of making sure we look at every possible opportunity to advance trade. Before the Senator came to the floor, I think I talked about--and he and I have talked about this--the fact that our tariffs have historically been low compared to the rest of the world; they have big tariffs. We have trade agreements that level the playing field, and our side gets more out of it than everybody else. It has been part of the bipartisan approach to trade.…”