Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak today in support of H.R. 4979, a bill to extend the Generalized System of Preferences and to make technical changes to the competitive need limitations provision of the program. This bipartisan bill helps keep U.S. companies globally competitive by eliminating tariffs on certain imports from developing countries in a manner that does not hurt U.S. producers. GSP saved U.S. companies more than $865 million in import duties in 2017, providing benefits to thousands of companies and their employees as well as their customers. GSP also provides an important enforcement tool to require all 121 beneficiary developing countries to continue to make progress on eligibility criteria set by Congress. These include critical issues like intellectual property protection, market access for U.S. exporters, and elimination of the worst forms of child labor. In my home State of Washington, GSP saved companies about $11 million in import duties in 2017, and that is up 30 percent from 2016. As just one example, TRInternational, a small but quickly growing, veteran- owned chemical distributor in Seattle, relies on GSP to obtain certain chemical raw materials at globally competitive prices. Our last renewal of GSP in 2015 allowed TRI to hire more employees and invest in more equipment. Many of TRI's customers are U.S.…”