mr. speaker , i yield myself the balance of my time . 
to begin with , at a time when there is so much animosity and partisanship in this body , i am very pleased that what we have brought forth together is a true tripartisan effort . 
i want to thank the gentleman from texas ( mr. paul ) xz4003110 , the gentleman from oregon ( mr. defazio ) xz4001000 , the gentleman from tennessee ( mr. duncan ) xz4001160 , the gentleman from arizona ( mr. grijalva ) xz4001620 , the gentleman from indiana ( mr. hostettler ) xz4001870 , the gentleman from north carolina ( mr. jones ) xz4002091 , the gentleman from ohio ( mr. kucinich ) xz4002270 , the gentleman from wisconsin ( mr. sensenbrenner ) xz4003650 , the gentleman from michigan ( mr. stupak ) xz4003910 , and the gentleman from colorado ( mr. tancredo ) xz4003940 for cosponsoring this amendment and , as i think most people know , that covers a very , very broad spectrum of political thought . 
mr. speaker , some have argued against this resolution by saying it would be a disaster if it were passed , that we would be withdrawing from the international economy , but the reality is that what we are trying to do here is not to withdraw from international trade . 
trade is a good thing . 
what we are saying is let us send a message to the president of the united states to wake up and to fully recognize that our current trade policies are an unmitigated failure and that we have got to renegotiate them . 
we can not continue on the policy of the race to the bottom . 
that has got to change . 
some of my friends say what we are talking about is international rules , and of course we are talking about international rules . 
the problem is that the rules within this wto are rigged against the middle class of america . 
if the united states congress said , wait a second , we are going to pass a law because we think it is unfair that slave labor in china is producing a product that is exported to the united states , or that child labor around the world is competing against american workers , we will be ruled incorrect by the wto . 
a complaint will be waged against us saying , gee , why are you protesting slave labor or child labor ? 
you are violating international free trade . 
another issue that has not been touched on today , a moral issue , which is very important , when i was mayor of the city of burlington in the 1980s , we passed , as did cities throughout the country , as did the united states congress , legislation which said to the apartheid regime which had then imprisoned nelson mandela , we are going to impose trade restrictions against an apartheid regime . 
mr. speaker , if that occurred today , if the city of burlington , vermont , the state of vermont , the united states congress , said we want to bring down economically some type of fascistic government running the country , that country would go to the wto and the wto would say , gee , you are in violation of free trade agreements . 
it does not matter the morality of the issue . 
the only thing that matters is unfettered free trade . 
mr. speaker , what my friends on the other side of this debate have really failed to discuss is the impact of the unfettered trade policies that we have been developing over the last 30 years . 
you have not heard them say really one word about that . 
yes , they have talked about economic growth that is taking place in america , but they forgot to tell you who was benefiting from that economic growth . 
they have forgotten to tell you that for the average american worker his or her wages have gone down significantly in the last 30 years . 
yes , the wealthiest people in this country are making out like bandits . 
yes , there has been a doubling in the gap between the rich and the poor . 
that is true . 
yes , ceos of large corporations make 400 times what their workers make . 
is that the free trade agreement that we are fighting for ? 
the reality is , and they know it , republicans know it , democrats , conservatives , progressives , when going back to their district . 
in my state in the last couple of months , i had to talk to workers whose jobs are gone because those companies could not compete against imports coming in from china where workers are paid 30 cents an hour . 
i would yield a moment to my friends on the other side if they want to tell the american people that they think it is fair that our working people should have to compete against desperate people working for pennies an hour who go to jail when they stand up for their rights . 
i would yield to the gentleman from florida , the gentleman from maryland , or anyone else who wants to tell me now that that is fair . 
i do not hear anybody saying that it is fair . 
