[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 142 (Tuesday, September 9, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H7940-H7941]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         UNFAIR TRADE POLICIES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Kagen) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KAGEN. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to share with 
you some of the stories of people that live in northeast Wisconsin. 
Northeast Wisconsin is a hardworking area where people work hard and 
play by the rules, and we expect to get compensated with a living wage, 
a wage that's necessary not just to educate ourselves but also our 
families.
  In recent times, because of unfair trade policies and unfair trade 
agreements, particularly by the Asian corporate governments--let's just 
call it Communist China--we've witnessed the disappearance of many 
thousands of jobs, particularly in the paper industry.
  Now, Wisconsin is an agricultural State, and one of the things that 
we do manufacture is paper. We grow trees; and after a generation, we 
harvest these trees and process them into paper.
  You've heard about Kleenex. You've heard about Puffs, Huggies and 
many other paper products that have made your life much more valuable, 
much more convenient. But what's happened recently is a corporation has 
closed a paper mill in Niagara, taking away the livelihoods of hundreds 
and hundreds of workers who for over 100 years have worked in the 
Niagara Paper Mill to produce a valuable product.
  More recently, in Kimberly, several days ago in Kimberly as in 
Kimberly-Clark, as in Kleenex, the Kimberly Paper Mill was closed, and 
when it shut down, it turned away hundreds and hundreds of people. In 
Kimberly, Little Chute, Combined Locks, Kaukauna, Appleton and the 
surrounding area of Darboy, these people who had been working hard no 
longer had their jobs.

[[Page H7941]]

  So I wish to share with you tonight some of those families' stories 
and what this closure, what the stealing of American jobs means and 
also comes with a warning, a warning that I've been repeating for the 
last 6 months. As Niagara goes, so goes this Nation. And as Kimberly 
goes, so goes our country.
  This is a photo I'm showing you of the Wendel family. This is Don 
Wendel who worked for 30 years in the Kimberly mill. His wife is Ann on 
the far left of the picture; his daughter, Kathleen; and the son is 
Anthony. And he said, ``Our daughter is a junior in high school and the 
thought of paying for college with this uncertain future is daunting. 
We also need to move to a larger home or add on to ours, and this now 
needs to be postponed indefinitely. We may have to sell our car we 
bought in March.''
  To sum it up, ``It is shocking and disheartening that the owners, 
instead of researching options to make this mill profitable, made such 
a quick decision to shut it down. It is causing such great devastation 
to so many families, and the entire Kimberly community.''
  He's not alone. There are hundreds of others, like Jerry Jansen who 
worked there for 41 years. His wife is Donna; children, Craig, Scott 
and Matt; and many grandchildren. What does he say about this impact of 
the closing of the mill? ``Just over 2 years left until I can collect 
Social Security. I don't know what I'm going to do until then. Nobody 
is going to hire someone my age.''
  To sum it up, ``I feel like my life has been sucked out of me.''
  For generations, his family has worked at that mill, not just his 
family but his in-laws as well.
  Another family, Tom Kilsdonk has been there for 24 years. His wife, 
Jodi; his children, Karley, Camie, and Hannah. And he said, ``I have a 
major changes coming in a short period of time. Financial, emotional, 
social. My wife now works two jobs with no health care. It will not be 
enough.''
  To sum it up he said, ``I feel like someone blindfolded me, dropped 
me off in the middle of the forest and left me there. I am angry, 
frustrated and nervous.''
  Well, to Tom Kilsdonk, to the Jansen family, to the Wendel family, 
there's somebody listening, and I have the honor of representing you 
and coming here to Congress to share with my colleagues your story. 
Your story must be told not just across Wisconsin, the Midwest, but 
across the country. Your story is not alone.
  These unfair and unbalanced trade deals and the failure of this 
administration to administer justice, to apply the law equally, and to 
allow the illegal dumping of Chinese paper and South Korean paper into 
our domestic marketplace has damaged not only your lives but your 
entire city and entire region. This is a matter of national security. 
It's called job security. It's something that we have to fight for each 
and every day here in Congress.
  And, yes, it's true, there are three components to the cost of doing 
business in the paper industry: energy, raw materials, and labor. We 
have to work hard here in Congress together and join hands across the 
aisle to solve these complex problems of energy and the economy.

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