Ron Wyden

What the loophole said--that economics trumped human rights--is wrong and un-American.

Across the world, trade cheats are looking for any way they can to break our trade laws and rip off American jobs.

I have fought for years to stop trade in illegally harvested timber.

It is important both to get it done now, and to get it done right.

If trade cheats evade our laws, domestic businesses are harmed, making our trade remedy laws all but useless in protecting American jobs.

The Enforce provisions represent years of work by this committee, starting with a sting operation I undertook as chairman of the Trade Subcommittee to reveal the brazen evasion of U.S. trade laws by foreign, often Chinese, exporters.

I thought that the previous loophole was just offensive to all the values that the country stands for--this notion that somehow economics trumps human rights and concern for people who have been exploited in the past.

The point is to try to bring a handful of really well-targeted enforcement actions so that these rip-off artists say, it is a new day out there, that you cannot just brazenly violate the trade laws and expect to get away with it.

I have made it very clear, and it has been very clear from not only this committee, but also from the intent of Congress, that a much more aggressive and assertive enforcement posture is needed within Customs and Border Protection.

Basically, just scofflaws thumbing their nose at U.S. trade law enforcement.

This mission remains as critical as ever, even with CBP now under the Department of Homeland Security.

Blocking counterfeit products from creeping into our market used to mean stopping the right shipping container.

Customs and Border Protection is often our number-one defense against them.

It's about values, and that's why it's so important to get this right.

Our job is to protect these sacrosanct priorities and update these programs for unique times.

Today, millions of single, elderly women have to walk an economic tightrope each month, balancing the cost of food, health care, and covering the rest of the bills.

It is all about protecting the Medicare guarantee and updating the program.

The program needs to be updated. That is why we have been working in a bipartisan way.

I think public trustee oversight over the process is very important.

Protect the essential program. Business as usual is not good enough. We need fresh perspectives.

It is about ensuring that the material in those charts and graphs reflects our values and our priorities.

We need to protect these special programs and update them for the times.

These impoverished, single elderly women count on Social Security every single month to keep their heads above water.

The promise of Social Security was a godsend for millions of older people.

The longer some try to pretend that Social Security and Medicare are not quickly headed towards insolvency, the more painful the reforms will need to be.