[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 42 (Tuesday, March 7, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H2787]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                    TIME TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT TRADE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Oregon [Mr. DeFazio] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Madam Speaker, the gentleman who proceeded me talked 
about a looming crisis, and I am in agreement with him regarding the 
implications of our continuing deficit and mounting debt, but there is 
a more immediate economic crisis confronting this country and we are 
hearing little of it, little discussion of it here on the floor of the 
House of Representatives or in the other body or downtown at the White 
House.
  Why might that be? Because too many people are implicated in the 
policies that led up to that crisis and they don't want to talk about 
it.
  The dollar today for the third day in a row hit a postwar low. Here 
is what the dollar's decline looks like over the last 10 years. The 
dollar has fallen to just about a third of its value compared to the 
Japanese yen in a mere 10 years.
  A few days ago, we announced that we had the largest trade deficit in 
the history of the United States: $160 billion. We borrow $160 billion 
from foreign nations so that we could buy their goods when they were 
not buying ours. And when Mickey Kantor, or the Special Trade 
Representative, was discussing this he said, You might ask if your 
trade policy is working, and he said, Yes, it is right on track. A $160 
billion trade deficit, 3.2 million lost jobs in manufacturing to 
overseas competition, and it is working just fine?
  That underlies to a tremendous extent this crash in the dollar. And 
the other part is our linkage to Mexico. The peso has reached a new low 
today, and despite our promise of a $50 billion bailout, Mexico is in a 
tailspin like you would not believe.
  About a month ago an analyst, a financial analyst named Christopher 
Whalen sat in my office and he said, If the United States is going to 
put up $40 billion to bail out Mexico, they better be willing to put up 
$150 to bail out Mexico because it will trigger a run on the United 
States dollar. And that has come to pass.
  The people downtown and the apologists on that side of the aisle for 
these trade policies and for the Mexico bailout, and the Speaker who 
would not lift a hand and would not allow us to bring a bill to the 
floor to stop the Mexico bailout, those people have nothing to say. 
They would say there is no linkage.
  Read today's New York Times. The administration's biggest problem may 
be that the world is believing the rhetoric it employed to win support 
for its $20 billion aid package for Mexico's troubled economy. 
Especially Mr. Clinton's insistence that the Mexican and American 
economies are intertwined. Today with the Mexican Government racing to 
take over failing banks, stabilize a tumultuous political situation, 
the peso dropped to a new low. And despite the bailout, the peso is now 
weaker than it was when we announced the $50 billion package.
  The speculation in the markets is now that the package may not be 
enough to do the job. $50 billion to export jobs to Mexico to run a $12 
billion trade deficit with Mexico next year and it is not enough? How 
much is enough for these apologists, for a failed trade policy? Some 
people are going to have to admit that they were wrong.
  NAFTA is not working the way they told us it would. It has put the 
United States into an international tailspin. We have linked ourselves 
to a collapsing Third World economy and there is no end in sight.
  And what are we doing on the floor of the House of Representatives? 
Are we considering legislation that would address this? Are there 
emergency hearings going on here in the Congress to deal with the 
crashing dollar and our alliance with Mexico and the $50 billion trade 
bailout? No, in fact, ironically today and tomorrow on the floor of the 
House we are considering special legislation to give special privileges 
to poor beleaguered Wall Street stockholders who have lost their money 
or people who have lost their pension funds.
  We are giving Wall Street a special little gift. They have done such 
a great job in leading us into these trade policies and forcing us into 
these trade policies. Not me--I didn't vote for it--but forcing others 
who felt they must follow the lead of Wall Street. Those people are now 
being given special privileges by the House of Representatives so they 
will be immune from stockholder lawsuits and they will be immune from 
forgetting to tell you something. That is their reward.
  It is time to get serious about trade and turn these issues and say 
no to Wall Street and get America back on track.


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