[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 91 (Thursday, June 19, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8243-S8244]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. SNOWE (for herself and Ms. Murkowski):
  S. 1299. A bill to amend the Trade Act of 1974 to provide trade 
readjustment and development enhancement for America's communities, and 
for other purposes; to the Committee on Finance.
  Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, I rise to introduce the ``TRADE for 
America's Communities Act'' in recognition of the critical need to 
provide economic development assistance to communities, across this 
Nation, that have been negatively impacted by trade. I am pleased to be 
joined by Senator Murkowski in offering this critical legislation.
  We are faced with a challenge to a U.S. trade program from the 
international community and with communities that are being left behind 
in an era of global commerce. Congress must make the difficult 
decisions to turn these two challenges into opportunities for this 
Nation. In 1999, I supported the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset 
Act, authored by Senator DeWine, that used the revenue from 
countervailing and antidumping tariff duties to provide assistance to 
the firms that were affected by unfair trade. I supported that bill 
because it introduced an important policy principle: that the revenue 
from unfair trade should be used to help those hurt by trade.
  Unfortunately, that act ran afoul of our international commitments. 
In January, the World Trade Organization ruled that this program was in 
violation of our Antidumping Agreement, and the President requested 
Congress repeal that program in order to bring the United States into 
compliance. While I cannot support a full repeal of this program, I 
believe the bill we are introducing today will bring the United States 
into compliance with our international obligations, while maintaining 
the principle that this money be used to help those hurt by trade.
  In fact, the TRADE for America's Communities Act builds upon the 
strong foundation and principles of Senator DeWine's program and it is 
my hope that other proponents of the CDSOA will support our efforts to 
address the needs of these communities. While it is necessary to live 
up to our international agreements, it is just as imperative that we 
live up to our responsibilities to the fishing towns, mining towns and 
mill towns of America where jobs have been lost.
  With the momentum provided by the passage of Trade Promotion 
Authority, the President has put forth an agenda on a bilateral, 
regional and global basis that promotes the liberalization of trade. As 
the President has argued, this policy agenda creates new opportunities 
for prosperity and growth.
  At the same time, we must never forget that opportunities of market 
access, improved consumer choice, and availability of manufacturing 
inputs, come with the price of transitions, dislocations, and shifts in 
the U.S. economy. These dynamic changes that are outgrowths from trade 
are similar to technological advances in productivity that leave 
workers out of jobs, or plants out of operation. However, while 
technological advances are the initiative of private enterprise, trade 
liberalization is the chosen policy of government. Free trade creates 
opportunities, but it also creates responsibilities that this 
government must embrace just as firmly as it embraces free trade.
  The bill we are introducing today address these issues by giving the 
Department of Commerce the revenue from these tariffs, which currently 
goes to corporations, to provide technical assistance to communities 
that have been negatively impacted by trade, to develop strategic plans 
that would focus on creating and retaining jobs in a community and 
promote economic diversification. Once the strategic plans have been 
approved by the Department of Commerce, grants would be available, 
based on the needs of the community, to implement economic development 
projects, improve the local infrastructure, support the establishment 
of small businesses, and attract new businesses.
  In small towns, where the livelihood of the local economy depends on 
one industry, one plant, or one company, that is suffering under trade 
liberalization, it can cause devastation when that steel mill, paper 
mill, or textile mill shuts down. In towns like East Millinocket, ME, 
where Great Northern Paper went bankrupt, or in Waterville, Maine, 
where Hathaway shut down their plant and moved shirt production 
overseas, local economies were sent into disarray. That is just part of 
the reason I was so adamant in my support last year for improvements in 
Trade Adjustment Assistance.
  Congress did the right thing when we expanded TAA training and 
benefits in the Trade Act of 2002, but one of the complaints leveled 
against TAA was the concern over what these workers would be able to do 
with their new

[[Page S8244]]

training in small towns that had few jobs to offer. The ``TRADE for 
America's Communities Act'' seeks to answer those concerns by ensuring 
that in towns where there may be few opportunities left, this 
government takes the first step towards providing hope through economic 
adjustment assistance.
  The ``TRADE for America's Communities Act'' would lay the groundwork 
for an America where no community is left behind in the march towards a 
free and open global economy. As the Finance Committee continues its 
work on trade legislation and the numerous trade agreements being 
proposed by this Administration, I look forward to the opportunity to 
address the economic development needs of these communities.
                                 ______