House Democrats Snub Key Ally, Endanger American Jobs
April 10, 2008
The Speaker of the House is setting a dangerous and indefensible precedent for future negotiations, McConnell says; Unprecedented action will likely ‘give aid and comfort to the corrosive anti-American regime of Hugo Chavez’
Washington, D.C.—U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following statement Thursday regarding the House Democrats unilateral and unprecedented rule change to avoid a vote on a bipartisan trade agreement with a key Latin American ally:
“By taking the unprecedented step of changing the law protecting our trade agreements, the Speaker of the House is setting a dangerous and indefensible precedent for future negotiations. This disregard for the statutory requirements governing negotiated trade agreements is an affront to our strongest ally in South America, endangers Colombia’s stability, and likely will give aid and comfort to the corrosive anti-American regime of Hugo Chavez.
“In this time of economic uncertainty, we should be embracing policies which expand markets for American-made products while creating jobs here at home. It makes no sense to allow goods from other countries to come into the U.S. with low tariffs, while the goods of American farmers and manufacturers are subject to high tariffs which make them too expensive for overseas consumers. We are hurting American workers by not immediately ratifying this trade agreement.
“This blatant circumvention of U.S. law has been rightly and universally criticized because of the harm it will do to our relationship with Colombia and the damage it will do to our relationship with other nations who may now question whether they can trust the United States to stand by its agreements.”
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Washington, D.C.—U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following statement Thursday regarding the House Democrats unilateral and unprecedented rule change to avoid a vote on a bipartisan trade agreement with a key Latin American ally:
“By taking the unprecedented step of changing the law protecting our trade agreements, the Speaker of the House is setting a dangerous and indefensible precedent for future negotiations. This disregard for the statutory requirements governing negotiated trade agreements is an affront to our strongest ally in South America, endangers Colombia’s stability, and likely will give aid and comfort to the corrosive anti-American regime of Hugo Chavez.
“In this time of economic uncertainty, we should be embracing policies which expand markets for American-made products while creating jobs here at home. It makes no sense to allow goods from other countries to come into the U.S. with low tariffs, while the goods of American farmers and manufacturers are subject to high tariffs which make them too expensive for overseas consumers. We are hurting American workers by not immediately ratifying this trade agreement.
“This blatant circumvention of U.S. law has been rightly and universally criticized because of the harm it will do to our relationship with Colombia and the damage it will do to our relationship with other nations who may now question whether they can trust the United States to stand by its agreements.”
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