Secretary Gutierrez: "Without This Agreement, American Businesses, Workers And Farmers Will Lose"
Cabinet Secretaries Discuss U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, Say "The House Unilaterally Changing The Rules … Is Upending Decades Of U.S. Trade Policy And U.S. Trade Law"
"Today's announcement shows that any sense of good faith in our process of negotiating trade has evaporated. … We think this is an awful precedent. We think it's a terrible thing for this administration, but it's also terrible for all future administrations, both Republicans and Democrats, because countries will not be able to have faith in our word when we're negotiating trade deals. … It is clear that there are many in the Democratic Party who would like to kill this deal, and they want to do so without having to have their fingerprints on it, and they want to do it in a way where they don't have to take a vote. And we think that it is extremely unfortunate."
– White House Press Secretary Dana Perino, 4/9/08
Secretary Rice: "There Is Perhaps No More Important Free Trade Agreement In Recent Memory"
Secretary Of State Condoleezza Rice: "[T]he failure of the United States to pass this free trade agreement would have very serious consequences, do very serious harm to America's interest and to America's credibility in this region." "What will it say if this strong friend of America, who has done all the right things to try to bring his country to stability, democracy and prosperity – and has done so as an avowed friend of America, fighting terrorists on one side, trying to demobilize paramilitaries on another, and standing strong against very hostile anti-American states and forces in Latin America – what will it say if the United States turns its back now on Colombia?" (Secretary of State Rice, Secretary of Treasury Paulson, USTR Schwab, Secretary of Commerce Gutierrez, Secretary of Labor Chao, Secretary of Agriculture Schafer, and Small Business Administration Administrator Preston, Press Briefing, The White House, 4/9/08)
· "I can't think of a more important element of our policy in Latin America than to pass this free trade agreement." "[A]ll of the things that we've done, the doubling of foreign assistance in Latin America, the working with the countries across the political spectrum will be seriously harmed if this free trade agreement does not pass."
Secretary Paulson: Failure To Pass U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Will "Isolate U.S. Workers From Jobs And Opportunities … Around The World."
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson: "I can't recall a time when trade has played such an important role in our economic growth and in creating jobs for Americans." "These are tough times and the brightest spot by far is trade."
Ambassador Schwab: "The Procedural Maneuvering That We Are Seeing Is Both Unprecedented And Unfair."
U.S. Trade Ambassador Susan Schwab: "By the house unilaterally changing the rules … it is upending decades of U.S. trade policy and U.S. trade law." "[W]e would hope that they would not do that, both in terms of the broader implications of U.S. trade policy, but also because the Colombia FTA really does deserve a vote on its merits, and deserves to be enacted into law."
· "Up until this point, Congress should have held hearings, should have held mock markups, should have complied with its obligations under trade promotion authority, and now to change the rules in the middle of the game is … both unprecedented and unfair."
· "[T]his procedural, basically, process foul is undermining the credibility of U.S. trade negotiations." "[T]he administration operated specifically under the authority of Trade Promotion Authority, authority that has been given to every President since 1974."
· "[T]he Administration clearly followed … every obligation that we had." "We achieved all congressional objectives under the congressional mandate. We consulted extensively, and in fact, since September there have been more than 400 individual consultations by members of the President's Cabinet with members of Congress on this."
Secretary Gutierrez: "American Workers, Farmers And Manufacturers Deserve A Vote In Support Of Exports."
Gutierrez: "We need to stand up for American interest rather than special interest." "Without this agreement, American businesses, workers and farmers will lose. … It's been more than 500 days … since the FTA was signed. And in that time, in those 500 days, American exporters have paid more than $1 billion in tariffs. In the meantime, Colombian exports have come into the U.S. duty-free."
· "If we want to help the American economy, we should approve this agreement now." "If Colombians don't buy our tractors, they'll buy them from Japan. If they don't buy our wheat, they'll buy it from Canada. And if they don't buy our high-tech equipment, they'll buy it from China."
· "It is profoundly disappointing that Democratic congressional leadership is choosing to change the rules in the middle of the game."
Secretary Chao: "We Want To Come To A Bipartisan Understanding And Agreement On Helping Workers Who Are Displaced By Trade."
Labor Secretary Elaine Chao: "The Administration has been working very diligently on a bipartisan basis with both the House and the Senate, particularly its leadership" on Trade Adjustment Authority (TAA). "There is currently a robust system already – we want to enhance that system, make it better; and it is our intent that we want to craft a bipartisan bill that the President can sign."
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