Political Quotes

“I hope all the Members listened to what the gentlewoman from California said on the trade issue. We are losing big time. I thank the gentlewoman from California for her statement and letting the Members take a focus on that. As the gentlewoman said today, the President announced before the Pacific Basin Economic Council that he is going to extend most-favored-nation trading status to the butchers of Beijing, who have done so many things. We are not surprised that he made that announcement, because this administration has flip-flopped on this issue of human rights, but I want the American people, but more important, everyone, to focus as they are listening to the President and they talk about MFN on what they should think about when they hear the words 'MFN.' When we hear MFN, and we will hear the business community and the Clinton administration and we will hear others in certain Republican leadership positions say they want MFN, we have to think of the following: We have to think MFN, then think of the suffering evangelical Christians in China who, according to Freedom House, have said 'This is the most repressive period since the pre-Deng period in the late 1970's.' So when you think of MFN, think of the evangelical Christians that are being persecuted. Mr. Speaker, we should also remember that in 1995 the Chinese Government intensified its crackdown on religious believers by enacting strict new laws restricting religious worship.”