Political Quotes

“my first concern in evaluating this agreement has been deciding what course would be most supportive of the interests of central Texas families. I believe that more trade will mean more good, high-wage, technology jobs not only for central Texas but for all of America. A vote against normal trade with China will only deny American firms the access to Chinese markets that will now be open to all of our competitors around the world. This would likely disrupt commerce without resolving any of our human rights, worker rights or environmental concerns. I applaud the successful effort of the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin) and the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Bereuter) to amend this bill to create a commission to monitor human rights and trade policy in China. To be sure, this is an imperfect answer, but so is the way we have conducted our annual review process for the last 20 years. That unusual existing process does not appear to have been particularly effective over in the last two decades in securing improvement in these areas either. I believe that this Commission represents a better alternative. We will not gain leverage over the Chinese by voting against continuing our commercial relationship. Rather, engagement and continual annual reminders through this commission of the need to have a more open Chinese society are more likely to produce that result.”