We Need A Trade Agreement With Colombia

Dear U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk,

The other day, after finishing War and Peace, I started to flip through the Federal Register, the daily publication of Washington's massive bureaucracy.

Actually, that's not true. I haven't tried to read War and Peace. And nobody--absolutely nobody--can keep up with the Federal Register. Each day it spews forth hundreds of pages of proposed rules and regulations on everything from widget manufacturing to trinket production. It makes War and Peace, a doorstop at about 1,500 pages, look like a board book for toddlers.

But I did learn about what appears on pages 37,759 and 37,760 in this year's edition.

You have posted a "request for comments" on free trade with Colombia. I'd like to accept your offer. But rather than entomb my thoughts beneath the mountainous pile of paperwork that is the Federal Register, I thought I'd just send you a letter--an "open letter"--for all to see.

Let me be perfectly clear about one thing: American ranchers need the Obama administration and Congress to approve this trade agreement with Colombia. We also need you to push forward on pending deals with Panama and South Korea.
 
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