[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 137 (Monday, October 5, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H9348-H9349]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           AMERICA'S ROLE AS THE LEADER IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 21, 1997, the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, at a time when the eyes of the capital 
and the news media are focused on the Judiciary deliberations and the 
scope and authority of impeachment inquiry, when others are struggling 
to deal with the slaughter in Kosovo, it is hard perhaps for us to give 
attention to the

[[Page H9349]]

mounting global economic crisis and the role that United States 
leadership will play. Yet I sincerely believe that world peace, 
alleviating human suffering and poverty, and averting environmental 
disaster are all tied in the long run to the United States economic 
leadership far more than military might.
  Ten days ago we suffered a setback on the floor of the House of 
Representatives with the rejection of the fast track authority, not 
just the rejection of that authority itself, but how and why it was 
done. I do believe that America's Presidents need the ability to 
negotiate some treaties that Congress votes on on an up-or-down basis. 
Every President since Richard Nixon has had that power. Recently the 
authority for the Clinton administration expired, and it has been 
unable to be renewed. Last year we were close to a vote, but because it 
was deemed that we were short of the votes and we could not afford a 
defeat, the matter was withdrawn.
  This year with the world economy in turmoil, Asia in crisis and the 
United States stock market on a volatile roller coaster, a vote was 
scheduled and forced through without bipartisan leadership, without the 
discussion of the areas of concern, without administration backing. The 
result was to lose at least 20 Republicans from last year's tally, over 
a third of the Democrats, either changed their vote to no or present, 
and it froze a number of sympathetic lawmakers who had legitimate 
concerns into a no column without working either to accommodate or even 
to listen to their concerns. This will have consequences far beyond the 
fast track authority.
  At a time when over half the world's people are under some threat of 
sanction from the United States, we do not know how to evaluate them, 
how to stop them. For example, with the Pakistan-India situation, 
United States sanctions simply penalized American farmers and we 
quickly backtracked. The United States has more difficulty with its 
China relationship than any other country in the world, and we have 
significant global environmental concerns to be worked out with the 
World Bank, with the IMF.
  Mr. Speaker, these are not simple items, they are not items that we 
can ignore, and reckless partisan behavior, for example, as we had on 
fast track gets us nowhere. We need to start now to repair the damage 
in the remaining days of this session, and even more important, we need 
to be clear-eyed, cooperative and thoughtful in our approach to 
America's role as a leader in the global economy for the next Congress. 
The stakes are simply too high for us to be diverted by the media issue 
du jour or attempts to gain partisan advantage.

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