[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 77 (Wednesday, June 6, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H2931]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    FREE TRADE COMMUNITY RELIEF ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Shows) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SHOWS. Mr. Speaker, recently I introduced H.R. 1819, the Free 
Trade Community Relief Act. The bill has 68 cosponsors, Democrats and 
Republicans; and we represent large cities, small towns and rural 
counties. Our districts are diverse, but we all have something in 
common: We have lost jobs because of the impact of NAFTA since it was 
implemented in 1994.
  Since then, factories have shut down across the country, including my 
district in Mississippi, and moved to Mexico, exploiting cheap labor 
and leaving thousands of dedicated American workers in trouble. Our 
once vibrant communities suffered immeasurably. Countless Main Street 
businesses have closed their doors.
  My own county which I represent in Jefferson Davis County, 
Mississippi, has nearly 11 percent unemployment. Virtually no 
manufacturing jobs are left.
  NAFTA included a job retraining program, that is what it is supposed 
to be called, to cope with the NAFTA-related job losses. However, not 
only has this program been underfunded, it completely misses the point 
that in many rural and inner-city areas, when a factory shuts down, 
there are no jobs to retrain the people for.
  People who live in these communities do not need to be retrained for 
jobs that do not exist, they need actual jobs. The Free Trade Community 
Relief Act tackles this problem. It authorizes the Secretary of 
Commerce to designate NAFTA-impacted communities, similar to enterprise 
zones. They will get business tax incentives to locate in each 
community and hire local workers.
  We have to give them a reason to want to go there. They need the tax 
incentives. These rural areas cannot survive like they are going right 
now.
  This is not an anti-trade measure or a statement against NAFTA. 
Indeed, NAFTA has earned at least passing grades for its overall impact 
on the American economy. But as we hear more and more about new trade 
agreements, such as the Free Trade Area of the Americas, we must be 
mindful of their potential and what they can do for jobs that leave our 
part of the country. We must protect the people and communities that 
might lose jobs if we do not build in protections for them.
  The Free Trade Community Relief Act acknowledges the damages done by 
NAFTA and will serve as a model for community protection provisions 
that must be included in any future free trade agreements. The Free 
Trade Community Relief Act bill is a win-win for business and labor. It 
needs to become law, because there are so many unemployed Americans who 
are counting on us to act quickly.
  If you look at the economies across not only Mississippi, but a lot 
of rural parts of the country, we find that jobs have left, and they 
are not being replaced. We need to act quickly, Mr. Speaker.

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