Political Quotes

“I want to respond very briefly to my friend from Missouri, and then I know the Senator from California is here, and she wishes to speak for about 10 minutes. I am going to be very brief. First, I want to thank Senator Blunt for working with us in a bipartisan way. He played a key role in trying to advance this issue and worked very closely with all of us in the Finance Committee, Chairman Baucus, myself, and others. The Senator from Missouri is absolutely right with respect to the tariff issue. The fact is, the American market is open. We essentially have some of the lowest tariffs around. In many of the markets around the world--and certainly in a number of areas with these three countries--we face much higher tariffs. So if we come up with an effort to, in effect, level the playing field, that means American companies, particularly American exporters, benefit more than do the folks around the world. So I think the point the Senator from Missouri has made is a very valid one. I also want to thank him for his comment with respect to the trade cheats. We are going to have further discussions with respect to TPA, and I see the distinguished ranking minority member. When we talked about this in committee, I made it very clear I intend to keep working with Senator Hatch and Senator Thune, who is the ranking member of the subcommittee. The challenge is to make sure TPA keeps up with the times.…”