Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding, and I want to thank him for the honor of being a part of this group today that is talking about TPP and the importance of trade in the region. I did have a chance to get back this morning from a weeklong trip in Asia discussing trade and the importance of the TPP--Trans-Pacific Partnership--the European Union trade negotiations, and the ways that we can expand trade that would benefit our economy. The first step to seeing these benefits in these agreements is renewing trade promotion authority, and then we set our goals and our priorities in these agreements. This was a big topic of conversation throughout the week as we met with leaders from Japan--including Prime Minister Abe--South Korea, and then also with the leaders in China and the People's Congress. Time and time again, America has reaped the benefits of completed trade agreements in our country. For me, the profound impacts that we have seen in agriculture are particularly interesting. We have seen an 18 percent increase in ag exports since we have signed the agreement with Panama. There has been a 68 percent increase in agriculture exports to Colombia since passing trade agreements with those countries. We have also generated new business in other sectors of the economy, like manufacturing and the service industry.…”