[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 32 (Tuesday, February 21, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H1955]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                                 TRADE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Molinari). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentlewoman from Ohio [Mr. Kaptur] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Speaker, the U.S. merchandise trade deficit widened 
last year to $166 billion, the worst performance in the history of the 
United States. What does that $166 billion deficit mean? It means $166 
billion worth of U.S.-made goods were lost to import sales in our own 
marketplace. It means jobs lost here in America. And it means in order 
for us to pay the bills, more foreign investment here in the United 
States on which our people end up owing principal and dividends to 
others off shore, not ourselves.
  Incredible as it may seem, what does the executive branch's Trade 
Ambassador say about all of this? Well, he just turns his back. He 
said, ``It is not the worst.'' He says he is happy as a clam that 
exports rose 12 percent last year.
  But, my friends, that is only half the ledger, because imports rose 
even more, nearly 16 percent. The flow is heavier and heavier in the 
wrong direction. If you are $166 billion more in the hole, how can it 
be a good outcome?
  In fact, the trade numbers for last year were worse than they were in 
1993 and worse than in 1992 and worse than in 1991. If this 
administration's trade policies are so good, why are the numbers worse 
than even in the Bush years which, by the way, back then were the worst 
ever in the history of the United States? Remember, each lost billion 
represents 20,000 jobs the United States shuttled out to somewhere 
else.
  Think about this. Last year the United States sucked in a staggering 
$800 billion worth of foreign-made goods, much of the goods we used to 
make here. And have you noticed prices have not gone down?
  We sucked in $66 billion more from Japan than we exported from them. 
That has been a continuing hemorrhage through our adult lifetimes. We 
sucked in $26 billion more from China than we exported there, a nation 
not known to respect political freedoms for a free market or the rule 
of law. And this year it is anybody's guess how many billions more we 
will suck in from Mexico that we export down there. Our former trade 
surplus with Mexico bit the dust late last year, even before the peso 
devaluation.
  So, when you look at your paycheck and wonder why you have not been 
keeping pace with price increases, ask yourself what would happen if 
the United States and your community made $800 billion more of goods 
right here in the U.S.A.? Think about it. For those of us old enough to 
remember, we would be in Ozziet and Harriet land once again.


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