United States-Oman Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act

UNITED STATES-OMAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT IMPLEMENTATION ACT

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Mr. MEEKS of New York. I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, initially it was not my intent to come discuss this bill on the floor, but last night we were into a serious debate, a serious debate about Israel and its right to defend itself, and we talked about Hezbollah and Hamas and how they were not for peace and how they were for destruction.

I at that time took the floor, because I agreed with that significance of Israel defending itself, and here, on the very next day, as I was listening to the debate, we have a country that has come a mighty long way in a short period of time. We have a country that says they want peace, and they have exhibited the fact that they want to live in peace. They have been a strong ally to us. I have a letter from AIPAC indicating that they don't have any objection to this.

What kind of message are we sending to one of the most important areas, and volatile areas, in this world? Here we have an Arab country, a moderate Arab country, a country, as we say oftentimes, we are not against them, we are not against people who happen to be Muslim, et cetera, but they are doing everything we have asked of them.

The Sultan came in with a decree because he wanted to make sure we had a bipartisan debate. He didn't want anything to be divided Democrat or Republican. The Sultan said, I am going to live up to my word, giving us all of the indications that they are going to do the right thing.

I know I heard in this debate some say, well, there is no agreement that it happened where there is a promise before the vote on the bill. I just thought to myself, I said, that is not true. Because I know in this bill, as in other bills, IP protections, there is a lot that has to take place and laws that have to be changed after this bill has been passed.

We did it in Bahrain. I have a letter right here that was signed by Rob Portman at the time saying, basically, that we want to make sure that Bahrain, and this was a commitment letter and a clarification letter, saying that after the bill was passed that they would do certain things in their law. That is no different, no different, than what's in this bill.

So I say we have got to do what is right. If it was right, and we sent the right message to Bahrain, it has got to be right and we send the right message to Oman. This is a small country. It is not going to have a heavy impact on the United States of America. It is not going to make a difference to John Q. Public and the United States of America with reference to jobs, but it can make a difference with reference to the message that we are sending to the Arab world and to peace across this globe. It sends a huge message, and I will support this free trade agreement.

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