[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 123 (Tuesday, September 9, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1738-E1739]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 CARE FOR VETERANS OR TAKE THEIR PLACE

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR.

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, September 9, 2003

  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, one of my leading constituents, former 
Blount County Executive Bob Davis, recently sent me an editorial from 
the Daily Times of Blount County, Tennessee.
  This editorial concerns the medical treatment given to our Nation's 
veterans who are not high profile celebrities.
  This editorial expresses my views 100 percent.
  Another Daily Times editorial concerning Free Trade and Fair Trade 
also expresses my views. I am sick and tired of seeing so many American 
jobs go to other countries.
  We need to start putting our own citizens first once again or we are 
going to have some real problems in this Nation.
  I want to commend the outstanding Editor of the Daily Times, Dean 
Stone, for these patriotic, common-sense, well-written editorials and 
would like to call them to the attention of my colleagues and other 
readers of the Record.

      Time for Congress To Care for Veterans or Take Their Place!

       If our nation expects its healthy citizens in military 
     service to serve and fight on the missions on which they are 
     sent around the world, it is high time we decide to support 
     these veterans who serve.
       There may be some question about providing health care for 
     health problems that are not service related but the least we 
     can do is provide prompt and adequate care for wounds and 
     injuries received on active duty.
       And this should not be reserved for military personnel such 
     as former prisoner of war Pfc. Jessica Lynch who because of 
     her high-profile situation was given all the medical care 
     anyone could use. And we don't need a double standard for 
     enlisted personnel or officers either. All who serve are 
     human beings, individuals created equal in God's sight and 
     deserving the same medical care for their wounds or injuries.
       Army Sgt. Vannessa Tuner, a six-year Army veteran who 
     survived a still-unknown illness doctors feared would kill 
     her, is finding it even tougher after a military flight 
     brought her to her mother's home in Boston's Roxbury 
     neighborhood last month. She had experienced hospital stays 
     in Germany and Washington, D.C.
       Despite severe nerve damage in her right leg, she was told 
     it would be mid-October before a doctor at the local Veterans 
     Affairs hospital could see her.
       She sought help from Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and 
     eventually got an appointment scheduled this week but the 
     experience has been frustrating.
       Veterans advocates said Turner's frustration is not 
     unusual. More than 100,000 veterans are waiting six months or 
     more for their initial visit with a VA doctor or to see a 
     specialist, the Veterans' Administration acknowledges.
       Our nation ignored the complaints of health damage from 
     Agent Orange in the Vietnam War for a couple of decades and 
     we waited almost a decade after Gulf War I to acknowledge 
     there might be something to the many health complaints 
     resulting from that war.
       There might be some excuse for those delays of what seemed 
     to be unusual illnesses. However, the majority of individuals 
     who have served in the armed forces are not deadbeats looking 
     for a handout in the form of health care. They have 
     illnesses. They have wounds.
       Many have delayed their civilian careers in order to serve 
     our nation. They have postponed their education and preparing 
     for their profession because they felt obligated to defend 
     our nation and the freedoms that all of us treasure.
       If you have not put your life on the line in behalf of your 
     country, it is difficult to fully appreciate the awesome 
     responsibility that it is for both you as an individual and 
     your family members. American lives are not trash to be 
     thrown away and should not be considered as such.
       Some of our members of Congress, such as Rep. John J. 
     ``Jimmy'' Duncan, have worked to help veterans and succeeded 
     in getting a new hospital to be built in this area. However, 
     many of these veterans could be treated by doctors as 
     outpatients while living at home if there were an adequate 
     number of doctors.
       It is time members of both the House and Senate decide to 
     provide reasonable medical care for members of the armed 
     forces injured or wounded while on duty or let all of our 
     people in service return to civilian life.
       But don't count on getting enough volunteers to replace 
     even a company of them from the House or Senate. Too many of 
     these folks are to busy running for the next higher office, 
     better paying job or feathering their nest to see that 
     veterans receive adequate health care.
                                  ____


      We Need To Forget ``Free'' Trade, Move Toward ``Fair'' Trade

       Jobs are going . . . going . . . gone--almost like the 
     chant of a tobacco auctioneer except it has a much more 
     devastating effect.

[[Page E1739]]

       From January to June this year the unemployment in 
     Tennessee rose from 5.4 percent to 5.6 percent. That is a 
     loss of 10,900 jobs. This has occurred despite the 4,000 new 
     jobs that have occurred since Gov. Phil Bredesen took office. 
     Of course, some of these new jobs were the result of the 
     administration of Gov. Don Sundquist.
       Tennessee Commissioner of the Department of Economic and 
     Community Development Matt Kisber said that economic 
     development has continued as a seamless transition between 
     the two administrations. That included landing the $124 
     million Toyota plant at Jackson.
       Unemployment in Blount County and Tennessee has remained 
     below the national average. But still many local families 
     tell of their sons and daughters with 20 years seniority 
     losing their jobs in other states as major corporations moves 
     their manufacturing plants to Mexico or China.
       We need to tell you that we do not think the problem with 
     the economy is the fault of action or inaction by any 
     administration, state or national.
       We think the whole problem with the economy lies with the 
     nation's free trade--global economy--approach approved by 
     Congress. And we have to tell you that we have supported the 
     free trade policy. It sounds good on paper but it doesn't 
     work for several reasons.
       We were wrong!
       It is time for the United States to abandon a free trade 
     policy and adopt a fair trade policy.
       In a free trade policy, the nations remove tariffs that 
     protect manufacturing businesses in our country.
       A fair trade policy would permit tariffs that would result 
     in selling goods for prices that would be fair considering 
     the differences in the manufacturing costs--things such as 
     wages, working conditions and materials.
       National governments have the authority to set tariffs and 
     quota unless they agree not to do so.
       Of course, what has happened is that many major U.S. 
     companies have moved their manufacturing operations to China, 
     or are in the process of doing so, to take advantage of the 
     lower wages. That permits them to make bigger profit.
       If they were to pay that profit to stockholders that would 
     be fine, the stock market would rebound strongly and help a 
     lot of people, especially those with 401-Ks and IRAs, but 
     that is not going to happen. They will continue to waste much 
     of it on overpaid, greedy executives. Most items can be 
     manufactured for far less in countries where there are no 
     labor standards and the pay scale is very low.
       We will probably pay the same price for the manufactured 
     items but we will not have the jobs that will enable our 
     people to purchase the items.
       Today, Americans are having to train some of their 
     replacements in countries such as China and India, 
     individuals who will do their job when the companies move 
     overseas.
       Think about it!
       Our nation cannot maintain its standard of living with all 
     of the manufacturing jobs going overseas.
       If allowed to continue unabated, the free trade market 
     would result in our nation sharing its wealth with poor 
     nations. In other words, our standard of living will be 
     greatly reduced.
       The difference between most rich and poor nations is farm 
     subsidies and import duties, a form of tariff.
       It seems to us that it would be far better to maintain our 
     standard of living and as a nation and provide more foreign 
     aid support to needy nations. That doesn't mean money to 
     provide arms for Israel or its opponents but perhaps food to 
     the starving.
       Textiles are having the most tribulations, jobwise. The 
     U.S. lost 8.,00 textile jobs in July. And that doesn't count 
     the 7,600 likely to be lost by the July 30 bankruptcy of 
     Pillowtex Corp., a 106-year-old textile manufacturer.
       Since April, the United States has lost 26,000 jobs in 
     textiles and 21,000 jobs in apparel.
       Next year's deadline is the end of a decade-long phase-out 
     for quotas used by the United States and other wealthy 
     countries to limit imports from developing countries. That is 
     expected to accelerate China's growing market dominance. The 
     American Textile Manufacturers Institute predicts that 
     630,000 jobs in textiles, apparel and related industries 
     could be lost by 2006. The impact could be felt as early as 
     next spring as material orders are placed.
       North Carolina would be the biggest loser with about 85,000 
     more losing their lobs in the next three years. That is two 
     out of every three jobs remaining in this field. South 
     Carolina would have 42,000 layoffs.
       Quotas slow the drain of U.S. jobs but are estimated to 
     cost an average family of four $300 to $750 a year more for 
     clothes. That is a small price to pay for a job though.
       Of course, developing nations have something to say about 
     this too. Many of them have tariffs on industrial goods which 
     they must import from richer nations.
       Hopefully, we as a nation could be smarter at the 
     bargaining table in adjusting quotas and tariffs in a fair 
     trade market. It appears to us that if we lose the majority 
     of our manufacturing jobs there will not be anything left to 
     negotiate!

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