[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 148 (Wednesday, November 30, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: November 30, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
      CONSIDERATION OF LEGISLATION IMPLEMENTING THE GATT AGREEMENT

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                           HON. DAN GLICKMAN

                               of kansas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 29, 1994

  Mr. GLICKMAN. Mr. Speaker, during this year's campaign, I made a 
specific and unequivocal commitment to the people of the Fourth 
Congressional District of Kansas that I would not support the GATT 
agreement during the lame duck session of the 103d Congress. I intend 
to keep the commitment.
  Notwithstanding my defeat and, importantly, my support for the 
substance of the GATT agreement and the fair trade principles it 
embodies, if I renege on my commitment, I believe that act would deepen 
public cynicism towards government and further the 
debasement of contemporary political debate.
  GATT is critically important to our country's economic well being. 
The economic battlegrounds on which we will determine our and our 
children's prosperity are radically different from those of the past. 
This agreement which, deservedly, has strong bipartisan support, will 
enable the United States to get a fair deal on those new 
battlegrounds--the most important markets of the 21st century. It will 
take extraordinary steps towards leveling the global economic playing 
field. GATT will eliminate unfair barriers other countries have erected 
in the way of Americans and should be, for those reasons, implemented.
  During the campaign, I expressed reservations about the process by 
which this legislation is being considered, concerns about GATT's 
effect on agriculture, and the powers of the World Trade Organization 
[WTO]. I am satisfied these substantive concerns have been met. Senator 
Dole's efforts to strengthen the ability of the United States to remove 
itself from GATT have satisfied my concerns about the WTO and I commend 
him. But, my reservations about bringing the agreement before a lame 
duck session--populated by an unprecedented number of retiring and 
defeated Members, including myself--remain.
  Restoring public trust in government and elected officials is as 
critically important to strengthening our political future as GATT is 
to our economic well-being. Indeed, unless we rescue the political 
commerce of the Nation from the abyss into which it has slipped, 
securing our economic future will be next to impossible. In one of my 
last acts as a Member of the House, I will continue striving towards 
those goals--which I can do best by keeping my word, and I will.

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