[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 39 (Thursday, March 25, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H1573-H1574]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1900
                      CREATING JOBS FOR AMERICANS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Ginny Brown-Waite of Florida.) Under a 
previous order of the House, the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier) 
is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, in response to growing concern that many 
of our good jobs are being sent overseas, a number of our colleagues 
have offered proposals to restrict the practice of offshoring. The 
idea, I suppose, is that by restricting the ability of Americans to 
freely invest and compete in the worldwide markets, we can somehow save 
jobs here at home.
  One of these proposals, offered by the senior Senator from 
Connecticut, was recently adopted in the other body in the form of an 
amendment to the international corporate tax reform bill. This proposal 
would permanently prohibit American companies that off-shore any of 
their work from ever doing business with the Federal Government. This 
restriction would also extend State projects that use any Federal 
dollars.
  Another example is the Senate minority leader's Jobs For Americans 
Act, which is cosponsored by Senator and presumed Democratic 
Presidential nominee John Kerry. 
  Before off-shoring any work that was previously done in the United 
States, this legislation would require companies, big and small, to 
disclose how many jobs would be affected, where those jobs would be 
going, and why they were being off-shored. Companies would also be 
required to give employees 3 months' advance notice, as well as notify 
all Federal and State agencies responsible for helping laid-off 
workers.
  Now, Madam Speaker, we are all concerned about jobs for Americans. We 
are very concerned about jobs for Americans. And since these anti-
offshoring initiatives are clearly intended to save jobs, I believe we 
should take a careful, serious look at their potential impact on the 
health of our economy, an economy that is currently growing, and we 
just got the news today, at a rate of 4.1 percent, creating hundreds of 
thousands of new jobs in recent months, and witnessing nearly 1 million 
new business start-ups every single year.
  The good news is that we do not have to try to calculate what would 
happen if we were to adopt any of these measures. We can benefit from 
the wisdom of French and German policymakers, who adopted well-meaning 
job preservation techniques long ago. All we have to do is take a look 
at their economies and determine if we want similar results.
  Let us look at France first. Under French labor law, employers must 
notify workers of impending layoffs at least 6 weeks in advance. Under 
certain circumstances, this notification period must be much longer, as 
much as 9 months in some cases. Other employee rights include a hearing 
in order to fight the layoff and a substantial severance package.
  So with all these regulations and so-called worker protections, 
France must be a worker's paradise. French jobs must be eminently 
secure, right?
  Well, it is obviously not the case. For years, French unemployment 
has persistently hung around the 10 percent level. In 2002, it dipped 
as low as 9.2 percent, but it has since crawled back up to 9.5 percent, 
and it continues to climb. And the French economy overall is not faring 
much better than French workers are. Last year, GDP growth was a paltry 
1.8 percent, and French Government analysts are predicting even weaker 
growth for this year, 2004.
  Germany has labor laws that are very similar to France's. Employers 
must give workers notice of layoffs between 1 and 7 months in advance, 
depending on how long a worker has been with a company. Employees can 
challenge any layoff in court and obtain preliminary injunctions, 
allowing them to remain on the job until their cases are decided.
  But despite these job preservation regulations, German unemployment, 
just like in France, is frighteningly high. Since the late 1990s, 
unemployment in Germany has hovered just above 8 percent and has 
steadily climbed over the past year. In 2003, it inched up from 9 
percent to 9.2 percent and continues to climb. Growth is also very 
weak, hovering below 2 percent for the past several years.

[[Page H1574]]

  Madam Speaker, American workers deserve better than this. We owe them 
more than the empty promise that tried and failed tactics will somehow 
save jobs.
  Rather than go the French and German way of stagnation and stifling 
regulation, I say let us create good jobs right here the American way, 
by continuing to innovate and grow and produce new opportunities for 
workers. That has been our recipe for global economic leadership for 
years; and if we continue to allow Americans to freely invest at home 
and abroad, we will continue to create more good jobs right here in the 
United States of America.

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