This office would provide the Congress with additional independent, non-partisan, neutral trade expertise. The National Wildlife Federation and the Sierra Club have proposed such an office although the functions in my concept are quite different. I will be offering legislation on this later this year. One of the most difficult issues that has arisen in recent years has been the relationship between trade policy and environmental protection. The lack of consensus on this relationship has been one of the major reasons that we have not been able to proceed with fast track legislation in the Congress.
Paralysis helps no one.
I hope that the thoughts I have set out today for Seattle and for our own domestic agenda will help to begin a constructive and responsible dialogue between the trade and the environmental communities. We need trade. We need environmental protection. These goals are only incompatible when people are unwilling to talk about them together. I yield the floor.