mr. dreier: mr. speaker, many of us have enjoyed saying over the past several years that if we don't shape the global economy, we will be shaped by it. and we also have as we all know so much attention focused on divisions that exist in this institution. we know that the media likes to cover pictures, mistakes, and conflict. and obviously conflict here is something that the media likes to focus attention on. here we are, democrats and republicans, coming together under the great leadership of my friend, dave camp, the chairman of the ways and means committee, we have the ranking member of the trade subcommittee, mr. brady, who was here earlier, chairman of the trade subcommittee working to focus on this notion of our shaping the global economy. as i look over and see my friend from new york, mr. rangel, i am reminded of december, 1999, he and i were with president clinton in seattle, washington, at the ministerial meeting of the world trade organization. that meeting itself was -- turned out to be an

mr. dreier: thank you very much, mr. speaker. i'd like to begin by extending congratulations and to associate myself with the very thoughtful remarks of my dear friend from rochester, the distinguished ranking minority member of the committee on rules, as she at the beginning said, the democrats and republicans alike agree on the need for comprehensive tax reform. she's right on target when she says that, mr. speaker. and that's exactly what wear doing. the problem that we have is -- what we're doing. the problem that we have is that the amendment she's proposing undermines the ability for us to get that done. now, as i think about this issue that is before us, we have virtually everyone talking about the need to get this done. we have democrats talk about it, we have republicans talking -- democrats talking about it, we have the republicans talking about it, we have the president of the united states talking about it. in fact, it's very interesting, as i heard my friend characterize the quote-unquote misguided principles set for