[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 30 (Wednesday, March 10, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H995-H996]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                  JOBS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, the President flew Air Force 1 to 
Cleveland today to campaign in my home State of Ohio, talking with 700 
or 800 female small business owners. While the President came and 
talked about small business and job creation and all that he wants to 
do in a State which has suffered the worst or second worse job loss in 
the country, the President, at the same time, and this Congress today, 
this House today considered this legislation, is slashing $94 million 
from a loan program essential to small business development. He has 
shrunk the size of the Small Business Administration.
  This President basically treats small business one way, with very 
little assistance, and large businesses, like the Halliburton 
Corporation, which still pays Vice President Cheney $3,000 a month from 
their payroll, the Halliburton Corporation, very differently.
  The President really does not get it when he comes to a State like 
Ohio, a State where we have lost 166,000 manufacturing jobs since he 
took office, 300,000 jobs overall since he took office; one out of six 
manufacturing jobs in the State of Ohio has simply disappeared in the 
last 3 years. The President's solution to all of this is continued tax 
cuts for the most privileged people, with the hope that some of that 
money will trickle down and create jobs.
  The other solution the President has is more trade agreements, NAFTA-
like trade agreements, that ship jobs overseas; that hemorrhage jobs to 
Mexico, to China, and all over the world. He continues, as he 
campaigned in Cleveland today to those small business owners, he 
continued to say more tax cuts for the most privileged and more trade 
agreements. And, clearly, for 3 years that has not worked. One-sixth of 
our manufacturing base is gone in Ohio and about one seventh of the 
manufacturing base around the country.
  That was really brought home to me last week. I was in Akron, Ohio, 
speaking to a group of owners of machine shops, about 60 people. And a 
gentleman came forward and he dropped a stack of brochures, leaflets 
like this. He dropped about four times this many, and he said this is 
what I get in about a month in the mail from companies around the 
country. And these stacks of brochures, these stacks of leaflets are 
auction notices for companies going out of business. Every one of these 
represents a company that is going out of business or is downsizing as 
a result of the Bush recession.
  Here is one plant. Closed, everything sells. Here is another one from 
Mansfield, Ohio. Two complete stamping

[[Page H996]]

and machine tool shops. They are closing and selling. From North 
Carolina, public auction. Plant closing. Everything must sell. From 
Marion, Ohio, complete shop close-out auction. From Cuyahoga Falls, 
Ohio, in my district, absolute auction. Everything is going. From 
Scottsboro, Alabama, precision job shop downsizing. Another one here 
for a CNC machining tool room and production machinery. Excess 
equipment due to corporate outsourcing.
  Excess equipment due to corporate outsourcing. President Bush's top 
economic adviser the other day said outsourcing is a good thing when 
these plants move overseas and they ship jobs overseas, because it 
makes our businesses more efficient. Tell that to the 50 or 60 workers 
that worked at this plant when the owners of this plant say excess 
equipment, we are selling due to corporate outsourcing.
  From Massachusetts, a large-capacity fabricating and machine shop 
closing. Another one from Chicago. Six CNC lathes, 12 chuckers, 22 bar 
machines sold. Surplus to the continuing operations. They have lost 
businesses and they are selling most of their equipment. Here is 
another one. Three days, two tremendous public auctions. Machinery, 
equipment, and real estate. Plant's closed, everything must go. Real 
estate for sale. Here is another one that says Dominion Castings 
Foundry, equipment machine facility. Plant closed, everything sells. 
Another one from Baltimore, Maryland. Complete facility selling. 
Another, 5-day public auction. Plant closing due to relocation. Another 
one, on and on and on. This company is closing for the same reasons.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, it is bad enough that these places are closing and 
the President's response is more tax cuts. That is not working. More 
trade agreements hemorrhaging jobs overseas. That is not working. That 
is bad enough, but there are 800,000 Americans whose unemployment 
compensation has expired in the last 3 months. That is 800,000 workers, 
800,000 families living in communities around this country; and the 
President and this Congress, the Republican leadership in this 
Congress, will not extend their unemployment compensation. That is 
morally wrong. It is bad for our country, it is bad for our 
communities, it is bad for our families, and it is bad for our workers.

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