On the recordJuly 20, 2010
As the American people ask where are the jobs, the President's economic advisers reply with weak statistics about the wasteful government stimulus program. All the while, we're losing billions of dollars to tariffs that could have been eliminated years ago. It has been 1,337 days since the U.S. and Colombia negotiated a free trade agreement. For over 3 years, the Democrat leadership in Congress has refused to consider the legislation to ratify that treaty. In that time, American businesses have paid an estimated $2.8 billion in tariffs. This is $2.8 billion that could have gone to good American jobs, and this number grows higher every day. You can see it on the Republican Ways and Means Committee Web site. We need to stop wasting our time, hoping that more government spending and borrowing will revive the economy. Instead, we need to unleash American businesses and entrepreneurs to expand into new markets. Passing the Colombia, South Korea, and Panama Free Trade Agreements would give real, tangible benefits to American workers and create jobs.
