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Mike Gravel on Trade and Economics
This candidate has withdrawn from the election
Gravel has called NAFTA "a disaster for the working class of both the U.S. and Mexico" and has said that it should be either changed significantly or repealed altogether. Gravel has called for an increased focus on fair trade "if we are to rebuild the American middle class."
Q: "If you agree outsourcing is a problem, what is your solution?" GRAVEL: "Outsourcing is not the problem. What the problem is is our trade agreements that benefit the management and the shareholders and has neglected on either side of the issue, whether its in Mexico or in other countries than the United States, that's the problem that must be addressed."
"We don't need a minimum wage, we need to have a living wage."
Mike Gravel has not taken a public position on the Employee Free Choice Act but does have a record of supporting workers' collective bargaining rights in the Senate. In 1978, he voted multiple times to keep alive the Labor Law Reform Bill, which would have expedited the prcedures of the National Labor Relations Act and increased penalties against labor law violators (6/8/1978, 6/14/1978).
Six months before Henry Kissinger's secret mission to the People's Republic of China (PRC), Senator Gravel introduced unpopular legislation to recognize and normalize relations with the PRC, in the hope of bringing about a re-examination of our outdated policy towards the Chinese people.