Political Quotes

“I rise today to introduce the U.S. Outdoor Act. In the Pacific Northwest, spending time in the great outdoors is a part of life. Our magnificent mountains, our clear rivers and streams, and our majestic forests provide for a quality of life that is, in my view, unparalleled. Unfortunately, the outerwear that enables us to enjoy these wonderful treasures is more expensive than it needs to be. This is because under current law, the United States imposes steep tariffs on outdoor performance outerwear like jackets and pants used for skiing and snowboarding, mountaineering, hunting, fishing and dozens of other outdoor activities. These high tariffs--and let us call them what they are, taxes--were originally implemented to promote an import substitution policy. They were imposed to discourage American consumers from buying outerwear that was manufactured overseas, even if those were superior products. Today, there is no domestic outerwear industry to really protect with these tariffs, yet consumers are still paying through the teeth for products like snow pants and rain jackets. These tariffs are hammering the pocketbooks of millions of American consumers, and they harm the businesses that are engaged in promoting enjoyment of the great outdoors. But we can fix this in a way that helps American producers better compete globally in an environmentally sustainable manner, and relieves consumers of artificially high costs.…”