Slaughter says end era of giveaway trade

Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, ranking member of the House Rules Committee, on Tuesday spoke on the House floor in opposition to three so-called "free trade" agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama.

In part she said:

"This Congress needs to wake up, and fast. We are currently in a race with countries like Germany and China to see who will dominate green manufacturing for a generation to come. If we continue the era of giveaway trade, we will utterly lose this race with devastating effects across our economy. We can't win the race if we allow competitors to dump solar panels in our country while stopping our manufacturers from mass-producing wind turbines for sales overseas.

"The time is now. We won't maintain our superpower status by giving each other haircuts and serving each other dinner. We have to make things here at home, so that our businesses and our workers can finally benefit from fair free trade.

"I cannot state this strongly enough: I am vigorously opposed to the three free trade bills that we are considering today. On behalf of the businesses and workers of Western New York, I implore my colleagues to vote against today's free trade bills and put an end to the era of giveaway trade."