| A Resounding Aye for the New Way Forward on Trade
Congress, working together? It can happen when everyone agrees about what's best for the United States, as is the case with the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (PTPA).
With ''mock'' mark-ups yielding approval on a voice vote in the House Ways and Means Comittee and a 18-3 Senate Finance Committee vote, PTPA marks the begining of a new era for trade.
This fresh bipartisan attitude towards trade is best expressed by the members themselves:
''When we are talking about trade policy we are not just talking about words, but about a policy that every American should feel proud of.''
- House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY)
''With the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement, Congress can turn a new page on trade.''
- Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT)
''The Peru FTA represents a new day in US trade. With the leadership of Chairman Rangel and Chairman Levin, and unprecedented bipartisan cooperation, including from the Senate and the White House, this trade agreement includes everything we as democrats have been fighting years for - greater environmental standards, labor protections, and more.''
- Representative Ron Kind (D-WI)
''[The bipartisan May Agreement] represents the best thinking of Americans on how we proceed with expanding trade around the globe.''
- Representative Jim McCrery (R-LA)
''The Peru FTA signals a dramatic step in a new trade policy - one that takes on the essential need to expand the sharing of the benefits of expanded trade and addressing its downsides - by including for the first time enforceable worker rights and environmental standards.''
- House Trade Subcommittee Chairman Sander Levin (D-MI)
YES to the new way forward on trade. YES to PTPA.
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|  | |  | | Did you know?
| | | Colombia was praised in the World Bank's 2008 ''Doing Business'' report as one of the top 10 economic reformers in the world over the past two years - the only Latin American country to achieve such acclaim.
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| | | | Overheard
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''Whether you focus on the benefits of these agreements for our trading partners, or the benefits for the United States, the fact is, implementation [of PTPA] will advance our mutual interests.''
- Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
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