[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 120 (Thursday, September 22, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1934]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY COMPETITIVENESS ACT 2005

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                               speech of

                         HON. JERRY F. COSTELLO

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 21, 2005

  Mr. COSTELLO. Madam Chairman, I rise today in opposition to the rule 
for H.R. 250, the Manufacturing Technology Competitiveness Act of 2005. 
We had an opportunity today to address key manufacturing 
competitiveness and innovation issues, but instead the bill before us 
is simply a narrow reauthorization bill that eliminates funding for the 
Advanced Technology Program, ATP. Democrats tried to broaden this 
narrow manufacturing bill by bringing eight manufacturing amendments to 
the Rules Committee. Unfortunately, the Republican-crafted rule blocks 
the four of the eight Democratic amendments. I am disappointed that 
this bill does so little to achieve its stated goal of addressing the 
long term problems facing our Nation's manufacturers.
  Congress must confront that we are in a manufacturing crisis. The 
U.S. manufacturing sector is facing a crisis--since 2001 we have lost 
2.8 million manufacturing jobs. In the first three months of this year, 
we have lost another 24,000 manufacturing jobs. I am very concerned 
about the issue of off-shoring of our professional manufacturing jobs. 
We have to get a handle on this problem and we need sufficient and 
accurate data to make sound policy decisions. Once we understand the 
problem, we can then develop policies to address it. An effective way 
to do that is, in fact, to mandate a study to report back to the 
Congress within a nine-month period so that we, in fact, can take a 
look at the number of jobs that have been lost and the ramifications as 
well as the other areas that the Secretary would be looking at. Given 
the crisis facing our manufacturing sector, I have asked Congress to 
work with the administration to address the issue of off-shoring, by 
studying its effects and implications. To date, Congress still does not 
have the data to do an analysis of off-shoring trends. If we are 
serious about making America more competitive and maintaining high-
skilled jobs in the U.S., we first have to understand the real impact 
of job outsourcing. Manufacturing plays a crucial role in the growth 
and health of the U.S. economy. It is an industry that helped build the 
great country we have today and we need to work together to get a 
handle on this serious problem facing our manufacturing base.

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