Jack Reed: “if I may briefly comment upon the amendment. First, I recognize certainly the strong commitment of the Senator from…”

“if I may briefly comment upon the amendment. First, I recognize certainly the strong commitment of the Senator from Delaware to environmental quality in the United States. Indeed, because of his commitment and the commitment of many of my colleagues, we have environmental laws which are significant, which provide for high quality in our country. But the problem is that our foreign competitors do not have anything close to these laws in many, many countries, particularly countries with which we are endeavoring to establish bilateral trade relationships. I agree with the Senator that the purpose of the fast-track procedure is to conform our laws to the negotiated results that the President achieves with our trading partners. I also believe and concur with the Senator that there is no attempt to lower or diminish our environmental laws. Simply stated, what my amendment would do is ask the President to go out and try to bring up, as best he can, foreign environmental laws to our laws.”