[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 18 (Thursday, February 17, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1607-S1608]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   THE ROLE OF CONGRESS IN SUPPORTING AMERICAN COMPANIES AND WORKERS

  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I have come to this floor repeatedly to 
talk about the ongoing crisis in our domestic manufacturing sector and 
about ways in which Congress should act to stem the loss of 
manufacturing jobs and the shuttering of domestic manufacturing 
companies.
  My State of Wisconsin has lost nearly 80,000 good-paying 
manufacturing jobs since 2000. The country has lost more than 2\1/2\ 
million manufacturing jobs since January 2001, including more than 
25,000 jobs last month alone. And this hemorrhaging of jobs shows no 
signs of stopping.
  Much of this job loss can be blamed on the dismal trade policies of 
recent years, which have contributed to many American companies--some 
of them household names--moving their operations overseas or shutting 
their doors entirely. These policies have a ripple effect in the 
communities that have lost manufacturing plants. The closure of the 
local plant is felt not only by those who worked there and their 
families, but by the community as a whole.
  Mr. President, Florence, WI is a town in the far northeastern corner 
of my home State, just a few miles from the border with the Upper 
Peninsula of Michigan. A few weeks ago, that small community got a 
sharp introduction to the realities of our country's trade policies. 
Pride Manufacturing, the world's largest maker of golf tees, announced 
that it would be closing down its plant in Florence and moving that 
operation and the hundred or so jobs that go with it to China.
  That announcement probably was not noticed by many people outside of 
my home State--one company in one small community in Wisconsin leaving 
for China does not raise many eyebrows in Washington or on Wall Street. 
But it is a serious matter for the families whose livelihood is 
directly affected by the move. And it will certainly have an impact on 
the community in which they live. Some families may try to stay, but 
some may be forced to look elsewhere for jobs. The local school 
district is already trying to cope with declining enrollment and the 
challenges of being a largely rural district. The prospect of losing 
additional families will only make matters worse. Local businesses that 
relied on the patronage of those families will be hit. Car dealers, 
grocery stores, hardware stores, clothing stores--everyone in that 
community will potentially be affected by the loss of Pride 
Manufacturing.
  There are too many stories like this taking place around my State and 
around our country. There are too many boarded-up factories and too

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many parents struggling to make ends meet and to provide for their 
children after the plant closes and the jobs go to other countries. 
Congress can and should do more to support these hard-working Americans 
and their employers. These are the people who are bearing the brunt of 
the bad trade agreements and other policies that have encouraged 
companies to close or to leave the United States.
  In response to this crisis, this week I am introducing a series of 
bills intended to support American companies and American workers. 
These measures alone will not solve this problem, but I believe that 
they represent a first step in helping to save a core sector of our 
economy.
  My first proposal would set some minimum standards for future trade 
agreements into which our country enters. It is a break with the so-
called NAFTA model and instead advocates the kinds of sound trade 
policies that will spur economic growth and sustainable development. 
The major trade agreements into which our country has entered in recent 
years have resulted in a race to the bottom in labor standards, 
environmental standards, health and safety standards, in nearly every 
aspect of our economy. A race to the bottom is a race in which even the 
winners lose. We should ensure that future trade agreements do not 
continue down this perilous road.
  The principles set forth in this resolution are straightforward and 
achievable. These principles include: calling for enforceable worker 
protections, preserving the ability of the United States to enact and 
enforce its own trade laws, ensuring that foreign investors are not 
provided with greater rights than those provided under U.S. law, 
providing that food entering into our country meets domestic food 
safety standards, and preserving the ability of Federal, State, and 
local governments to maintain essential public services and to regulate 
private sector services in the public interest.
  Mr. President, my second bill, the Buy American Improvement Act, 
focuses on the Federal Government's responsibility to support domestic 
manufacturers and workers. The Buy American Act of 1933 is supposed to 
ensure that the Federal Government supports domestic companies and 
workers by buying American-made goods. This is an important law, but it 
contains a number of loopholes that make it too easy for Government 
agencies to buy foreign-made goods.

  The Buy American Improvement Act would make it harder to waive the 
Buy American Act. We should ensure that the Federal Government makes 
every effort to give Federal contracts to companies that will perform 
the work domestically. We should also ensure that certain types of 
industries do not leave the United States completely, thus making the 
Federal Government dependent on foreign sources for goods, such as 
plane or ship parts, that our military may need to acquire on short 
notice.
  My bill would also, for the first time, make the Buy American 
requirement applicable to Congress. I believe that Congress should lead 
by example and comply with the Buy American Act. And, in an effort to 
bring transparency and accountability to the process, it would require 
agencies to report on their purchases of foreign-made goods.
  It is bad enough that our trade policies have encouraged companies to 
shut down or relocate overseas. Many of the same flawed trade 
agreements that have sent American jobs overseas have also weakened the 
Buy American Act.
  Last year, the ranking member of the Homeland Security and 
Governmental Affairs Committee, Mr. Lieberman and I asked the GAO to 
study the effect of trade agreements on domestic source requirements 
such as those contained in the Buy American Act. That study, which was 
released this week, found that the Government is required to give 
favorable treatment to certain goods from a total of 45 countries as a 
result of 7 trade agreements and 21 reciprocal defense procurement 
agreements.
  In other words, at the same time that Congress has been paying lip 
service to the Buy American Act, it has been carving out exceptions to 
that Act in our trade and defense procurement agreements. It is time 
for Congress to step up and support efforts to strengthen, not 
undermine, the Buy American Act.
  In addition, Congress must make every effort to help workers who have 
lost their jobs as a result of our trade policies. Many of these 
workers require retraining for new jobs that will enable them to 
support their families.
  My third bill, the Community-Based Health Care Retraining Act, would 
authorize a demonstration project to provide grants to community-based 
coalitions, led by local workforce development boards, to retrain 
unemployed workers who wish to obtain new jobs in the health care 
professions. The funds could be used for a variety of purposes--from 
increasing the capacity of our schools and training facilities, to 
providing financial and social support for workers who are in 
retraining programs. This bill allows for flexibility in the use of 
grant funds, because I believe that communities know best about the 
resources they need to run an efficient program.
  By providing targeted assistance to train laid-off workers who wish 
to obtain new jobs in the fast-growing health care sector, we can both 
help unemployed Americans and improve the availability and quality of 
health care in our communities.
  I hope that my colleagues will support each of my proposals, and I 
look forward to working with Senators on both sides of the aisle to 
find additional ways to support our domestic manufacturers and their 
employees. I know that there are towns like Florence, WI, all over the 
country, and I hope that we will finally act this Congress to support 
the jobs that are the bedrock of those communities.

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