Congress Returns

Congress returns from their summer recess this week, and they had better hit the ground running. And for the sake of the sagging American economy they had better learn to put aside their political party differences and play nice with each other. At the top of their to do list is of course that four letter word - jobs. Spurring job creation will be more than tricky however with all the budget and program cuts that Congress has on the agenda. It will certainly be interesting to see if the Democrats and Republicans can overcome their tendency towards decision gridlocks and reach a compromise on any one of the numerous important issues facing our nation right now. In line with creating jobs for the staggering number of unemployed would be ratification of the three long delayed Free Trade Agreements with South Korea, Panama, and Columbia. As Keith Miller, chairman of the U.S.Meat Export Federation states, “The jobs it can create across the U.S.is no small amount - these countries are getting a better lifestyle and asking for better quality foods, we have that product that we can sell them if we can just get through these free trade agreements”.