NCGA Encouraged by Cheney Remarks on Trade and Energy (3-30-04)
In a speech attended by several National Corn Growers Association
(NCGA) staff members, Vice President Dick Cheney said Tuesday the
administration continues to pursue free trade opportunities and energy
legislation that promotes the use of new energy sources.
Cheney’s speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington,
D.C., focused heavily on taxes and the economy, but energy and trade – two
critical election-year issues – also were on the vice president’s
agenda. Because free trade is one of NCGA’s top priorities,
the association was encouraged by Cheney’s comments on expanding
markets for U.S. producers.
“Our government will continue working to break down trade
barriers so that high-quality American products can find markets
on every continent,” Cheney said. “America has 5 percent
of the world's population. That means 95 percent of our potential
customers are overseas. And we cannot expect to sell our goods and
services, and create jobs, if America and our trading partners start
erecting tariffs and other trade barriers and closing off markets.
Millions of American jobs are supported by exports (and) …the
surest way to threaten those jobs would be a policy of economic isolation.”
Cheney also mentioned
the ever-growing political debate on affordable energy and the
need of self-reliance in the energy market. He restated
the administration’s goal of enacting a new energy policy that
includes measures to protect the environment and bolster energy security.
“A healthy, growing economy also depends on affordable, reliable
supplies of energy,” Cheney said. “We need to pass sound
energy legislation that promotes new technology, conservation, and
new production, and makes our country less dependent on foreign sources
of energy.”
To read the full text
of Cheney’s speech, click here.