Bernie Sanders: “Let me congratulate Senator Murray, Senator Boxer, and Senator Isakson for their very important work on this asbestos…”

“Let me congratulate Senator Murray, Senator Boxer, and Senator Isakson for their very important work on this asbestos issue. What I wish to focus on is a front-page story that appeared in the Wall Street Journal. The headline reads: ``Republicans Grow Skeptical on Free Trade.'' What it says is: The new Wall Street Journal/NBC poll posed two statements to voters. The first was, ``Foreign trade has been good for the U.S. economy because demand for U.S. products abroad has resulted in economic growth and jobs for Americans here at home and provided more choices for consumers.'' The second statement was, ``Foreign trade has been bad for the U.S. economy because imports from abroad have reduced demand for American-made goods, cost jobs here at home, and produced potentially unsafe products.'' Asked which statement came closer to their own view, 59 percent of Republicans named the second statement, while 32 percent pointed to the first. Back to the headline, ``Republicans Grow Skeptical On Free Trade.'' That is the Republicans. In terms of the Democrats, earlier in the article: Other leading Democrats have been harshly critical of trade expansion, pleasing their party's labor union backers. In a March 2007 WSJ/NBC poll, before recent scandals involving tainted imports, 54 percent of Democratic voters said free-trade agreements have hurt the U.S., compared with 21 percent who said they have helped.”