Political Quotes

“Mr. President, let me say by way of response to our colleague from Alabama, I have great respect for and appreciate the sentiments he is expressing for workers and employers in his State, fighting hard for them, and the concern about jobs going overseas. I would say a couple things: No. 1, we did have an opportunity this fall to vote on legislation which would provide both incentives and disincentives to the shipment of jobs overseas by changing the Tax Code. We had a debate about it. One side voted for it--this side--and the other side did not. I just wanted to make that point. But the other point is that, look, we have a disagreement about this. What I would hope we could do is try to find a way to help firms such as the one that our colleague is trying to protect, and that is certainly understandable. But, at the same time, if we do not pass this bill in totality, we are going to shortchange the ability to impact not just the creation of 90,000 manufacturing jobs around the country, including in all of our States, but also trade adjustment assistance. So for the hundreds of thousands of people--tens of thousands in a State such as Pennsylvania, and potentially even more than that, and certainly in all of our States--we have to get this done even if we are trying to work on problems that arise that are specific to one employer or one portion of a particular community.”