Political Quotes

“I am coauthor of this legislation, and many of the provisions in this conference report have been in the works for several years. I also chaired the conference committee that was charged with reconciling the differences between the Senate-passed and House-passed versions of this bill. In my view, the committee was a huge success. I believe our report represents a strong bipartisan, bicameral agreement to address a number of trade policy priorities. I want to talk about some of the specifics of this legislation, which most of us generally refer to as the ``Customs bill.'' Once this bill is signed into law--and I hope it will be in short order--it will enact policies designed to achieve three main goals. The first goal is to facilitate and streamline the flow of legitimate trade into and out of the United States. The bill makes a number of changes to reduce bureaucracy and improve consultation among executive agencies, Congress, and the private sector. These changes will facilitate trade and improve our competitiveness by reducing unnecessary burdens and delays created by our overly bureaucratic system, which, in turn, will help create jobs and grow our economy. The second major goal of the Customs bill is to improve enforcement of our trade laws. It does so in a number of ways.…”