Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to support the Cross-Border Trade Enhancement Act, a bipartisan bill introduced this week that will create jobs and facilitate trade at no cost to the Federal Government. Trade between the U.S. and Mexico has grown by 600 percent since 1990 and continues to increase each year; 100,000 jobs in El Paso, Texas, and 6 million nationwide depend on this trade. Unfortunately, capacity at our ports of entry has not kept pace. Despite increased staffing and use of technology, waits at our ports are unpredictable and unacceptably long. This bill will help us solve this problem. By authorizing public- private partnerships, this legislation would provide Customs and Border Patrol effective new tools to improve infrastructure, expand capacity, and increase staffing at our ports of entry without new costs for U.S. taxpayers. At a time of heightened partisanship, this legislation is proof that when Democrats and Republicans work together, we can advance commonsense ideas that can create jobs. ____________________”