[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 100 (Thursday, July 23, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H6189]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION AND AMERICAN SOVEREIGNTY

  (Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, we will soon be debating an 
amendment which will define what powers the World Trade Organization 
will have over the ability of the American people, through their 
elected representatives, to determine our own fate, to make our own 
laws, to decide our own policies.
  Should we sacrifice our sovereignty, our domestic interest in order 
to satisfy an international tribunal? I think not and I hope that our 
colleagues will agree. The WTO is selectively challenging our local, 
State and Federal laws, saying that they are infringements on free 
trade. No U.S. laws or regulations are safe from the reaches of the 
World Trade Organization. Even at risk are sanctions laws such as the 
ones passed by New York City and the States of California and New 
Jersey which protect Nazi Holocaust victims who had their assets stolen 
by Swiss banks. The Swiss have already said they want a WTO ruling on 
such sanctions. Is nothing sacred from the clutches of the WTO? 
Apparently not.
  So along with the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kucinich), the gentleman 
from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio) and 
the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Stearns), we will be offering an 
amendment to state that diplomacy does not mean surrender.

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