Political Quotes

“Madam President, I thank the Senator. The last 2 years have seen the American economy on the brink of collapse, battered by an economic maelstrom not seen since the Great Depression and now slowly--too slowly--recovering its strength. President Obama's Recovery Act led the way, and we have seen its benefits over the last year with job losses slowing significantly. He inherited an economy losing, I think, 700,000 jobs a month, and it is now back to nearly break even. An essential element of this recovery has been encouraging thriving export markets. Last week, President Obama laid out his plan to double exports in 5 years, an initiative which could create up to 2 million jobs. As the President said: ``In a time when millions of Americans are out of work, boosting our exports is a short-term imperative.'' But for international trade to function, our government must participate fully in international trade negotiations, advocating fair and open trading rules that allow American businesses to compete and export. Yet a single Senator, the Republican Senator from Kentucky, has blocked the President's nominees for two key trade positions--nominees who cleared the committee with strong, positive votes. Michael Punke, nominated as Deputy Trade Representative to Geneva, and Islam Siddiqui, nominated to be Chief Agricultural Negotiator, deserve an up-or-down vote in the Senate.…”