Political Quotes

“For those who may not have been here back in 1993 when we were negotiating with each other as to whether or not we should pass the NAFTA agreement which was negotiated under fast track authority, I would remind my colleagues that in that year, we had a $1.7 billion trade surplus with Mexico. That has turned into a $17 billion trade deficit. The economists across this country tell us that each billion dollars represents between 116,000 jobs and 120,000 jobs. Do the mathematics and find out whether or not NAFTA negotiated under fast track authority has been good for us. In fact, now our trade deficit combined with our NAFTA trade partners, Canada and Mexico, is $31 billion. How many jobs would we be able to create if we had fair trade rather than fast track free trade? The point is that we here in Congress in 1993 knew there were things about the NAFTA agreement that we wanted to change. We wanted protection for labor. We wanted environmental riders. We were told, ``Well, you can get these side agreements.'' You can blow your nose with those side agreements. They do not carry the impact of law. They have not been enforced. What this argument is about today is whether or not we in Congress have the required amount of guts to say to the Administration, ``We as the elected Members of Congress, we as the elected representatives of the people want something to say.'' Fast track is the wrong track.”