Political Quotes

“Madam President, I know we are on the motion to proceed to legislation dealing with the Ex-Im Bank. I rise today to urge my colleagues to proceed to this bill and to move forward and pass H.R. 2072, which would reauthorize the Export-Import Bank. We have a lot of debate on this floor on how we can grow our economy and grow jobs. One of the areas where there is agreement is that if America is going to be truly competitive in the 21st century, we have got to grow our export market. Many American companies over the 20th century were blessed with the world's largest, most vibrant domestic market. But that market is maturing. On a going-forward basis, literally 95 percent of all the world's customer base lies outside the boundaries of the United States. So while maybe some of my colleagues may disagree with many of the President's goals, I think we would all agree that doubling of exports in a 5-year timeframe the President laid out at the beginning of his administration is an area where there is great agreement. If we are going to do that, we have to use all the tools we have available because, unfortunately, right now American exports as a percentage of GDP rank behind Germany, Canada, China, Italy, France, the UK, India, Brazil. We are way down in the middle of the pack.…”