Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I thank the Ways and Means Committee for their excellent work on the trade agreements and, most importantly, on Trade Adjustment Assistance; and I agree with the comments of my colleague from Wisconsin about why this program is so important. I mean the bottom line is the TAA and the trade agreements themselves are part of figuring out how to help American workers and the American economy compete in a very, very difficult global economic situation. The amount of skills that our workers need now are vastly beyond what they needed in previous generations, and the need to update them constantly in order to continue to be competitive, to continue to be employable are a significant challenge for American workers. This program is one way to give them help, to help give them the training and the skills that they need to continue to be employable. It is incredibly important for our workers, and we have heard the statistics about the number of workers in our country who have benefited from these programs. But I also submit to you that it is critically important to our economy. Our economy needs a skilled workforce in order to compete. Trade Adjustment Assistance is one way to help our workers get those skills that they need. Certainly it helps them, but it also helps our businesses and our overall economy. I, along with my colleague from Wisconsin, support all three trade agreements.…”