[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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