Political Quotes

“I note, too, that we are going to be moving today, before we leave here, to what is the Omnibus resolution to keep the government open. I wanted to mention an important aspect of the legislation we are going to be voting on. Pursuant to provisions in the Customs bill, we are now going to put funding into trade enforcement--a very important aspect of our trade agenda. We know that more than 96 percent of the world's customers live outside the United States. By some estimates, at least 70 percent of the world's purchasing power is outside the United States. That means that we need to keep working hard to reach these new markets and these customers. The growing middle class has great purchasing power. In 2015, the global middle class spent $33 trillion. By some estimates, the middle class could surpass 4 billion people by the year 2021, making it a majority of the world's population. Approximately one in three jobs in the State of Washington are tied to international trade. Washington State exported approximately $80 billion in goods in 2016--from airplanes and coffee to apples and software. I know this about our State: we understand that we are in a global economy and that we have great products to sell in international markets. Agriculture exports are very important to our State. Agriculture adds about $51 billion a year to our State's GDP, and the agricultural sector makes up more than 13 percent of our State's economy.…”