[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 67 (Thursday, May 25, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E868]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  AUTHORIZING EXENSION OF NON-DISCRIMINATORY TREATMENT (NORMAL TRADE 
           RELATIONS TREATMENT) TO PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

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                               speech of

                          HON. MAJOR R. OWENS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 24, 2000

  Mr. OWENS. Mr Speaker, greed has rolled like a bulldozer over all of 
the numerous logical reasons supporting the denial of a permanent trade 
agreement with China. The mega-profits to be realized by the corporate 
elite are so overwhelming that this juggernaut cannot be halted. This 
act will have tornado-like devastation on the employment of ordinary 
men and women in this nation. Workers on both sides of the world will 
be the victims of this agreement. Chinese laborers paid twenty five 
cents per hour or less will fill the bank accounts of multi-national 
corporations. American workers will be forced to struggle harder and 
work more hours as industrial and manufacturing jobs are moved to 
China. Only lower paying service jobs or hi-tech positions requiring a 
college education will be left here on our shores.
  Trade agreements standing alone on the floor of the House should 
never be accepted in the future. We should be voting on a comprehensive 
bill which anticipates the consequences of this arrangement with a 
nation of 1.2 billion people. The legislation should cover provisions 
to compensate for the massive economic dislocations that will 
inevitably escalate over the next few years. A massive worker 
retraining is needed for adults who face the immediate loss of their 
livelihoods. We also need a thorough revamping of the nation's public 
school system, an institution which serves working families, to 
guarantee that the emerging work force will have the qualifications to 
fill the thousands of information technology and telecommunications 
vacancies.
  Mr. Speaker, if this risky agreement is passed today, we must 
immediately develop legislation to establish Worker Technology 
Retraining Centers to be operated by unions and other worker 
organizations in all parts of the nation where a loss of jobs will take 
place.
  We must also take advantage of the enormous 200 billion dollar 
surplus available this year and the anticipated two trillion dollar 
surplus over the next ten years to revamp our public school system. To 
cope with the massive transformations of the future work places in 
America we must mandate that no less than ten percent of the surplus 
must be allocated to education for the next ten years.
  We must vote no on this bill before us. At the same time, we must 
resolve not to desert our working families. Pledge now to adequately 
finance the world's greatest public education system.

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