[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 76 (Wednesday, May 19, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H3547]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1015
                       PASS AMERICA COMPETES ACT

  (Mr. EHLERS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. EHLERS. Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to be here today, and 
especially a pleasure to follow my good friend, the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Sam Johnson), who gave us an eloquent warning about what can 
happen in view of our mounting national debt and the countries that we 
owe the money to.
  If anyone wishes to know more about this, I recommend to you the 
writings of Mallory Factor, who has written several good pieces on that 
topic recently. I hope to organize a 1-hour discussion of his writings 
at some time.
  I also want to raise another issue which addresses this problem. One 
of the first bills to come up today is rewriting and revamping the 
America COMPETES Act. The original act was generated by President 
George W. Bush. I had the pleasure of working with the White House and 
the Office of Management and Budget on that bill, and I believe it is 
beginning to achieve its objectives, including strengthening American 
manufacturing. If we do not improve our manufacturing sector in the 
United States of America, we will continue to borrow more and more and 
more money from other countries. It is imperative that we pass the 
America COMPETES Act. If you don't like this bill for some reason, 
let's change it; but we must pass it, otherwise we will continue to be 
a debtor Nation over and over again.

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