John Thune

This hearing gives our committee the opportunity to perform one of the most important constitutional responsibilities provided to members of the United States Senate, the power to give advice and consent on the president's executive and…

First, the bill includes a provision designed to stop the evasion of anti-dumping duties by importers of Chinese honey.

This is legislation that is designed to expedite trade flows, while also improving enforcement of our trade laws.

Today, this is a hearing that recognizes that trade is not only about bilateral and multi-lateral agreements, it is also about ensuring that our laws allow for the easiest possible movement of goods and agricultural products, while at the…

Our bill also includes a sense of Congress calling on USTR to encourage other nations to follow our example by also improving their de minimis thresholds.

I think the American people believe that this is a very serious matter for both those reasons.

And so the reporting about the giving of this information to ProPublica, release of confidential information, could very well be a violation of law?

Don't you think that you should have had an obligation to correct that statement that you had made in front of the House Committee?

Well, there was a statement made over the weekend that whether the laws were broken was irrelevant.

I do not think there is any way you can deny that.

I hope that we continue to get more facts out about this and that corrective actions are taken.

I think one of the purposes of this hearing is to find out who was targeting conservative groups, otherwise you cannot explain the fact that you had all these conservative groups, whether it was 'Patriot,' 'Tea Party,' or '9/12' in their…

We needed to focus on establishing a 21st century legal and regulatory structure that meets the realities of our 21st century economy.

I support Senator McCain's bill because it is aimed at giving consumers a lot more choice and flexibility.

Is anybody aware of examples where you have foreign workers, H-1B workers being paid less than U.S. workers would be?

But nobody wants to say exactly what that number should be today?

I agree with Mr. Bussgang that things are getting competitive. A lot of people come here to get educated, and it is going to be up to America to figure out a way to keep them here.

Nearly every restrictive measure ever conceived

Without having access to the right talent around the world, we will not be able to remain competitive around the world.

To have your customer have to make a legally binding attestation about their future workplace practices... just doesn't seem to have any relationship to how the real world works.

It would be hard to imagine modern American life without these innovative companies.

Immigrants have been an undeniably important part of our nation's economic success story, especially in the technology industry.

I know the I-Squared bill addresses it through a market-based escalator, and I am interested if that is an approach that you think makes sense.

I think that if we can convince the American people that we are taking measures to ensure that this never happens again, we will have immigration reform this year.

According to a study by the Kauffman Foundation, over 20 percent of high-tech companies in the United States have been founded by immigrants.