[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 131 (Friday, September 26, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S10100]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         FAST-TRACK LEGISLATION

  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I have been so tempted today, I wanted 
very much to come and speak about fast track, which the President is 
asking with respect to trade authority, and I was intending to do that 
at time when it was appropriate today, but because of the debate on 
campaign finance reform time was not available for that. I thought 
about doing it at the end of my remarks on campaign finance reform, but 
I know that there are those who want to do other things and there is 
some sort of dispatch for the Senate to adjourn. I will respect that. 
But I want to say about two paragraphs as I conclude.
  I hope to come back on Monday and find some time to discuss President 
Clinton's proposal to provide fast-track trade authority so he can 
negotiate additional trade agreements. I am opposed to that, and I am 
going to resist vigorously trade authority that would provide the 
President, any President, the opportunity to negotiate new trade 
agreements until we fix the problems in the old agreement.
  Let me leave with a couple of statistics. We now have a pretty good 
economy, that is true. We tackled the fiscal policy budget deficit. But 
the other deficit, the trade deficit, is the highest in this country's 
history.
  Every time we negotiate a new trade agreement we seem to lose. We 
negotiated an agreement with Canada. Our deficit was $13 billion with 
Canada; now it is double. We negotiated a trade agreement with Mexico. 
We had a $2 billion surplus; now after the trade agreement we have a 
$14 billion deficit. We have a $50 to $60 billion trade deficit with 
Japan, a $40 to $50 billion trade deficit with China. We are up to our 
neck in trade problems and cannot resolve virtually any of those 
problems because our trade treaties, first of all, were negotiated 
inappropriately to provide the kind of sanctions they ought to for 
those that don't open their markets to American goods. And second, we 
don't enforce trade treaties that other countries have signed with us.
  I want to speak at some great length, I hope on Monday, on this 
subject. I am not speaking on trade because I am what is called a 
protectionist, xenophobe, or isolationist. I believe in trade. I 
believe in free trade. I demand fair trade, and I believe we ought to 
expand our trade opportunities. But I believe this country ought to, 
for a change, stand up for its own economic interests and demand that 
manufacturing and jobs and opportunity exist in this country's future 
and not trade away those opportunities so that corporations can access 
dime-an-hour labor by 14-year-old kids working 14 hours a day to ship 
products to Fargo, ND, or Pittsburgh. That is not free trade. I will 
talk at some length on Monday about that.
  I yield the floor.

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