Political Quotes

“I have decided to support CAFTA. Because I know I will have a lot of welts on my back for it, I want to take a few minutes to describe how I arrived at my decision. A special concern to me is that if CAFTA is rejected, China will have yet another opportunity to grow its economy and strengthen its economic base at America's expense. Why Americans would want to do that defies logic. China is already an economic juggernaut. But as of now, they are not going to get duty-free exports to Central America. Only the United States has that prospect, and only with CAFTA-DR. If America walks away from this agreement, does anyone really think the Chinese will sit on the sidelines? As the kids say, ``hello!'' The Chinese would love the opportunity to get an economic toehold in our backyard. I, for one, don't think we ought to give them that opportunity. Personally, I believe we ought to be more vigilant in terms of watchdogging trade with China than we have been. That is why last week I pushed the Bush administration to immediately move to do a review of the proposed purchase of Unocal by China's state-run oil company under the Exon-Floria law, to examine the national security and economic implications of a deal that is essentially unprecedented. If you are a free trader--and I am willing to be called that--you ought to protect your interests.…”