Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, in response to our distinguished minority leader on the Subcommittee on Trade, I would remind him that there are important contents in the Archer amendment to H.R. 2621. They deal not just with agriculture. There is one, for example, that insists that the President, with respect to any trade agreement implemented under trade authorities procedures, submit to Congress a report describing the extent to which the parties to that trade agreement have in effect laws governing exploitative child labor. There is a new provision on agriculture, a special 301 procedure for identifying in a report trade barriers and countries that deny fair and equitable market access, and that impose unjustified sanitary and phytosanitary standards against U.S. agricultural products. One month after the report is issued, USTR would be required to identify priority foreign countries against which it would initiate section 301 unfair trade practice investigations, resulting in possible trade sanctions against the offending country. It also requires that the President establish a task force to review conditions along the U.S.-Mexico border relating to housing, labor, the environment, and other relevant issues.”