[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 42 (Tuesday, March 30, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H1645-H1646]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CRANE-RANGEL PROVIDES INCENTIVES TO KEEP MANUFACTURING IN U.S.
Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, last week, Vice President Cheney was
in Dayton, Ohio, to try to argue for the President's economic budget
plan, to try to justify the economic devastation that his
administration's policies have wreaked on the American people. In Ohio
alone, one out of six manufacturing jobs has simply disappeared since
President Bush took office; 300,000 jobs have been lost in my home
State of Ohio. That is 2,000 jobs a week have vanished; that is 260
jobs every single day in Ohio, jobs that have been lost every single
day of the Bush administration.
Now, I wish that Vice President Cheney had been with me earlier this
month. I was speaking to the Akron machine shop owners and operators;
and before I spoke to this group, about 60 men and women who own small
tool and die, fabricating machine shops, companies of 5 to 200
employees, a gentleman walked forward and handed me this stack of
leaflets, pamphlets, and flyers. I did not initially know what they
were. He explained, these are auctions, going-out-of-business, fire-
sale equipment sales at plants all over the United States. For
instance, auction, family facility closed, Medina, Ohio. Absolute
auction, Cuyehoga Falls, no minimums, no reserves, high dollar buys
regardless of price. Another going out, complete shop closeout auction,
Marion, Ohio. High-tech manufacturing plant closing, Chicago, Illinois.
Large capacity fabricating machine shop closing, Hingham,
Massachusetts. Two complete stamping machine tool shops going out of
business, 2-day auction, Northbrook, Illinois. Precision CNC Job Shop,
Scottsboro, Alabama.
The problem is, Mr. Speaker, I do not think President Bush and Vice
President Cheney, I just do not think they see this. I think that the
people who run our government seem so out of touch with what is
happening to manufacturing in this country, what is happening to
employment in this country, what is happening to our economy. Every
time they hear bad economic news, they have two answers. One is tax
cuts for the most privileged in society with the hope that some of it
will trickle down to the rest of society, and the other answer is trade
agreements, more North American free trade agreements, NAFTA-like trade
agreements that continue to ship jobs overseas, that continue to
hemorrhage manufacturing jobs in this country.
From the President and Vice President, that is always the response.
It is tax cuts, trickle down economics, tax cuts for the most
privileged, and trade agreements that ship jobs overseas. But now there
seems to be a third answer that some Republican legislative leaders
have brought forth.
I would cite from CNN. Paula Zahn asked the question of one
Republican leader, saying, Why have 2.5 million jobs been lost during
the Bush administration; and this Republican leader said, Well, Paula,
in this 21st-century economy, jobs that are not reflected in the
establishment payroll survey take on different forms. Then he went on
to say, this is a leader in the Republican Party in the House, There
are 430,000 Americans who make their full-time living selling on eBay.
That is not in any way reflected in the numbers.
So the Bush administration's answer has been tax cuts for the most
privileged and trickle down economics, trade agreements, and now I
guess they are saying that jobs on eBay are making a difference. I do
not think those jobs are paying health care benefits. I do not think
those jobs are the kind of jobs that we want to build our economy on.
Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, the leaders in this government are so out
of touch with economic reality in this country, instead of tax cuts for
the most privileged and trickle down economics, instead of trade
agreements that ship jobs overseas, instead of relying on eBay as an
engine of economic growth, this Congress needs to pass the bipartisan
Crane-Rangel bill. It rewards those companies with tax incentives who
manufacture in the United States and, at the same time that, in
essence, penalizes those companies
[[Page H1646]]
that ship jobs overseas, those companies that move offshore to the
Bahamas, continue to get government contracts, and avoid taxes in the
United States; those companies like Halliburton, which get billions of
dollars in unbid contracts, yet end up oftentimes with their subsidiary
avoiding taxes, while continuing to pay the Vice President of the
United States $3,000 a week. That is not good economic policy. Our
incentives should be given to those companies that manufacture in the
United States, that provide jobs for American workers, not the kind of
plans that the President of the United States has thrust on the
American people.
Mr. Speaker, this job loss, this erosion of our manufacturing base
must be turned around, not with old tired solutions, but with
aggressive incentives to keep manufacturing in this country.
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