senator ron kirk from the state of texas. but like i say, we don't always get it right. as human beings we understand that they can make mistakes, but senator kirk should have been here with us. but thank heavens he's here with us in this capacity as trade ambassador. his tenure as a popular and successful mayor saw him lead a number of important development projects and increase dallas' reach to the world through several new trade programs. ambassador kirk's bringing to us a wealth of experience in local, state and federal government. ron kirk is an historic american. he is also an african-american. i think it's important for us to understand that he is an outstanding historic american. and he is a wonderful human being. and he has done wonders for his community, for his state and his nation. and we are so appreciative that he is here to bring us his perspective on the history of african-americans and his role in that history. ladies and gentlemen, ambassador ron kirk. [applause] >> let me begin by thanking congressman hoyer not only for the kind introduction, but for hi

today we are joined by investor ron kirk the trade representative and prior to his work work in the opponent administration ambassador kirk had a distinguished career both the private sector and government. notably he was the mayor of dallas from 1995 to 2001 at which time i should that he saw first-hand the benefits of trade agreements and was a strong proponent for nafta. ambassador kirk we welcome you and look forward to your testimony. i would ask that you keep her testimony to five minutes and mr. ambassador your full written statement will be made part of the record. you are recognized for five minutes. welcome. >> thank you mr. chairman and ranking member levin and members of the committee. it is indeed an honor for me to have an opportunity to visit with you today. in a state of the union address present obama told america the future is ours to win. if we rise to the challenge. to compete for and win the jobs and industries of the future, america must end of the -- out innovate out educated not build the rest of the world. ustr is doing our part to keep america globally competitive a

today we're joined by ambassador ron kirk, and prior to his work in the obama administration, ambassador kirk had a distinguished career in both the private sector and government, notably he was the mayor of dallas in which he was a strong proponent for nafta. ambassador kirk, we welcome you and look forward to your testimony. i would ask that you keep your testimony to five minutes and, mr. ambassador, your full written statement will be made part of the record, and you are recognized for five minutes. welcome. >> thank you, mr. chairman and ranking member levin, members of the committee. it is, indeed, an honor for me to have an opportunity to visit with you today. in his state of the union address, president obama told america that the future is ours to win. if we rise to the challenge. to compete for and win the jobs and industries of the future, america must outinnovate, outeducate and outbuild the rest of the world. ustr is doing our part to keep america globally competitive, and our work is producing results. u.s. goods and services, exports through the first 11 months of 2010 wer

today we are joined by investors ron kirk, the trade representative. his work in the obama administration he had a distinguished career in the private sector and government, notably he was the mayor of dallas from 1995 to 2001 at which time i should add he suffered first and the benefit of trade agreement and was a strong proponent for nafta. ambassador kirk, we welcome you and look forward to your testimony. i would ask you keep your testimony to five minutes. mr. ambassador, your full written statement will be made a part of the record and you are recognized for five minutes. welcome. >> thank you, mr. chairman and ranking member levin and members of the committee. it is indeed a and honor for me to have an opportunity to visit with you today. in a state of the union address, president obama told america that the future is ours to win. if we rise to the challenge. to compete for and when the jobs and industries of the future, america must now in ovate, elder educate and out build the rest of the world. ustr is doing our part to keep america globally

ron johnson. yea. illinois senator mark kirk. that's 13 new republican senators in this last election. we only need four more senators and we win the united states senate. [cheers and applause] and then harry reid will have the very rich opportunity to

. >> ron kirk announced this week that president obama plans to submit the free trade agreement to congress. these comments came before a house ways and means committee hearing which focused on pending agreements with colombia and panama. this portion is a little more than two hours. >> mr. ambassador, your full written statement will made -- will be made part of the record. you are recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. it is an honor for me to have an opportunity to visit with you today. president obama told americans in the state of the union address that the future is ours to win if we rise to the challenge to compete for and when the jobs in industries of the future, americans must out in the bay, out educate, and help build the rest of the world. we are doing our part to keep america globally competitive -- competitive and our work has produced results. u.s. goods and services, exports to the first 11 months of 2010 were up. we are on pace to reach or exceed president obama's national export initiative goal of doubling exports by the end of 2014. to ensure that ameri

ambassador ron kirk, working hard to get trade deals around the world. karen mills. my director of and the national economic council, gene sperling is here. our export-import bank chairman. elizabeth littlefield. and i want to acknowledge a good friend, paul volcker, the outgoing chairman of the economic advisory board. thank you all for being here. [applause] tom, it is good to be here today at the chamber of commerce. i am here in the interest of being more neighborly. [laughter] i strolled over from across the street. maybe if we have brought over preferred cake when i first moved in, would have gone off to a better start. i will make up for it. the truth is this isn't the first time i have been to the chamber, or the first, we have exchanged ideas. i have sought advice from many of you. the rescission led to some -- the recession led to many decisions. that meant to -- that led to layoffs and closings that were painful. it meant a series of emergency measures that i would not have undertaken under normal circumstances. but they were necessary to stop our economic

trade representative ron kirk is testifying right now.ll keep are your to it. >> darya: 3 provisions of the patriot act republicans brought the bill yesterday on your procedure that would require two-thirds majority for passage. 26 republicans it did not happen here the measures which expire at the end of the month allow fbi to use roving wiretaps, the government to access items like library records and surveillance of people not connected to a unidentified terrorist organization. >> james: federal appeals court giving levi's and a chance at suing its abercrombie and fitch. on the left-hand side the levi's ditching, right hand side and abercrombie and finch. levi says their trademark urge pattern you see there that double arches, the power of that trademark has been diluted because in abercrombie and finch came out with something similar in nature. their on the right. if you talk day abercrombie and finch they say no weeping using it since 2006 they're not high arches, plus we have it did see doodled at the bottom, if anything resembles t

they may not have a ron kirk or a steny hoyer or some of you in their lives, but it doesn't matter. we as a community have to make those children our own, embrace them, and give them the tools that they need to succeed in life. mahatma gandhi wasn't said you must be the change that you wish to see in the world. that simple lesson inspired leaders like rosa parks and martin luther king to lead the greatest civil rights movement and transformation in the history of the world. it inspired people like john lewis to persevere in the struggle for civil rights. it motivated marion wright edelman to say, i'll take on the responsibility to make sure that we can improve the lives of poor children and empower them through equal opportunity and education. it inspired a skinny, young boy in chicago with a name none of us could pronounce six years ago if we're honest named barack obama to launch the most improbable campaign to be president of the united states. and it has to be the model that we all embrace to take on the responsibility to educate our children, to compete and win in an age that t

ambassador ron kirk, working hard to get trade deals around the world. our small business administrator. karen mills. my director of and the national economic council, gene sperling is here. elizabeth littlefield. the overseas private investment corp. president. and i want to acknowledge a good friend, paul volcker, the outgoing chairman of the president' economic advisory board. thank you all for being here. [applause] tom, it is good to be here today at the chamber of commerce. i am here in the interest of being more neighborly. [laughter] i strolled over from across the street. and, look. maybe if we have brought over preferred cake when i first moved in, would have gone off to a better start. i will make up for it. the truth is this isn't the first time i have been to the chamber, or the first, we have exchanged ideas. i have sought advice from many of you. as we were grappling with the worst recession most of us of ever known. there were very difficult decisions. for many of you, that meant restructuring. plant closings things and layoffs. it meant

ray lahood, our transportation secretary, that ambassador ron kirk, our small business administration administrator karen hills, my director of national economic council, and they also want to make mention our export import bank chairman, the overseas private investment corp. president, and i wanted knowledge a good friend paul volcker, the outgoing chairman of the economic recovery advisory board. thank you for being here. [applause] it is good to be here today. i am here in the interest of being more neighborly. i strolled over across the street -- if we had brought over a fruitcake when first moved in, we would've gotten off to a better start. i'm going to make up for a period -- up for it. this is not the first time i've been to the chamber or the first time we have exchanged ideas. over last two years, i have saw advice from many of you as we were grappling with the worst recession most of us a better known. it is a recession that led to some very difficult decisions. for many of view, that meant restructuring and branch closings and layoffs. i know they were very painful to make

trade representative ron kirk, his first testimony before the house ways and means committee. he was appointed in march of 2009. just gotten under way. they are talking about pending trade agreements. live here on c-span. >> when you say we, are you planning to go to colombia and panama as well? >> i don't know i'm going to go. ustr is sending a team. i may go and may wait and see what the plans are as they involve the president's visit to south america later this spring. >> i guess my point was the time for generalities is past. we need to look forward on these. we need specifics. we need an action plan of benchmarks that we can meet to move this forward. i think these have languished long enough. and really far too long. and to the extent you can shed light on any specific items, i think we would be all enlightened. >> i want to do that, mr. chairman, but we are using the same approach as we did example last year when i think it was in june that the g-20, president obama directed our office to negotiate with our partners in korea. we were able to do that. we want to take the

ron johnson. yea. illinois senator mark kirk. that's 13 new republican senators in this last election. need four more senators and we win the united states senate. [cheers and applause] and then harry reid will have the very rich opportunity to join speaker pelosi, now nancy pelosi, in the new minority. yea. [applause] and, more importantly, common sense and a new hopefully conservative majority will run the united states senate. and don't think a conservative senate wouldn't be a huge change from decades of leadership here in washington d.c. but it gets even better. take a look at the governor seats in this last election. after these governor seats, we have 29 out of the 50 seats are in republican hands. 29 governor seats. [applause] 20 are democrat and there's always an independent out there somewhere. so even more good news. and i think this actually might be some of the best news of all. in our state house seats, in our state senate seats, because of all the work that you did we flipped 680 seats in the same house and same senate in this country. that's a record number, by the way.