[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 113 (Thursday, July 29, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1472-E1473]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       ON THE INTRODUCTION OF THE BRING JOBS BACK TO AMERICA ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 29, 2010

  Mr. WOLF. Madam Speaker, I am introducing today the Bring Jobs Back 
to America Act, which would start the process of bringing real jobs 
back to America that have gone overseas during the last two decades.
  My legislation will build on language I included earlier this year in 
the fiscal year 2011 Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill 
directing the Commerce Department to launch a job repatriation 
initiative to bring those jobs back home.
  I believe that a strong manufacturing and technology development base 
is critical to job creation and the economic competitiveness of the 
United States.
  Something has happened in our country. We're making fewer and fewer 
things. Today, everything seems to be labeled: ``Made in China.''
  If you have ever taken the train from Washington, DC, to New York and 
looked out the window, you can see our empty factories. You pass 
through my old neighborhood in Philadelphia.
  GE's switchgear factory used to be one block from my home. Now 
there's nothing there but an empty, littered field.
  You pass through Trenton, New Jersey, and can see the famous bridge 
sign that reads: ``Trenton Makes, the World Takes.'' Trenton doesn't 
make anything anymore.
  Last year, General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt noted that in recent 
years in the United States, ``Real engineering was traded for financial 
engineering.'' Immelt called on the U.S. to grow manufacturing jobs to 
comprise at least 20 percent of American jobs--nearly double the 
current level.
  In this era of intense global competition, we must work aggressively 
to bring jobs that have gone overseas back home to the U.S. to 
immediately start growing the percentage of these jobs, as Immelt 
called for.
  It's not enough to talk about creating jobs. We have to take 
immediate steps to create jobs.
  I have been, and remain, a staunch supporter of free trade. Free 
trade has yielded benefits to the American people and our economy.
  However, we have been far too slow in responding to our international 
economic competitors in this era of global markets and competition.
  The irony is that as much as American firms have offshored 
manufacturing and development jobs, they remain reliant on America for 
support. And with American unemployment hovering around 10 percent, 
it's time for some of these American firms to come home.
  When an American plant manager in Mexico is kidnapped, the firm 
doesn't call the Mexican Federal Police, they call the FBI.
  When the Chinese steal an American firm's intellectual property, the 
firm calls the U.S. Commerce Department.
  It's time to bring some of these jobs home because America can be 
competitive in this global economy and it's the right thing to do. My 
legislation will start this process.
  Overall, I believe that my bill helps to re-focus the United States 
to be more proactive and a smarter competitor in the global economy--
both in the short term and long term.
  Specifically, this bill requires the Secretary of Commerce to set 
targets for job repatriation and creates multi-agency ``Repatriation 
Task Forces'' to identify American companies manufacturing abroad and 
work with states to bring jobs back to the U.S.
  The goal is to bring back real jobs from overseas to the United 
States--jobs that are already created and an American could immediately 
fill.
  This bill would require the Commerce Department to survey all 
American firms with significant manufacturing facilities in foreign 
countries, allowing the Repatriation Task Forces to proactively 
identify all firms interested in working with state and local 
governments to facilitate a mutually beneficial repatriation of jobs.
  The bill would also comprehensively align federal resources in 
support of repatriation efforts. It allows state and local governments 
to use a variety of federal funding--at no new cost--to support job 
repatriation initiatives by state and local governments.
  For example, my bill aligns Economic Development Agency (EDA) and 
National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) grants to allow 
state and local governments to use this funding for repatriation.
  It would also direct the Secretary of Commerce and the IRS to quickly 
study and report on the merits of a new federal tax incentive to 
encourage repatriation.
  In addition to repatriating jobs today, we must redouble our efforts 
to foster emerging technologies to create our manufacturing base of 
tomorrow.
  For too long, the U.S. has failed to strategically monitor emerging 
opportunities and threats in our competitive global economy. We are 
starting to see the ramifications of this failure in the rise of China 
as an economic power.
  My bill would reconstitute President Reagan's ``Project Socrates'' as 
an independent ``American Economic Security Commission'' to identify 
and monitor emerging technologies and global economic threats.
  Project Socrates was initiated during the Reagan Administration to 
address America's competitiveness challenge and determine the source of 
the nation's declining competitiveness and develop programs to address 
the source of the problem.
  Our Commission--composed of 12 business leaders and economists 
appointed by the majority and minority leaders--will similarly take a 
comprehensive and unbiased look at all of our global economic 
competitors--both strengths and weaknesses--and help inform the 
Congress on how to bolster American economic security.
  This will ensure that we have an independent mechanism to monitor new 
opportunities and threats to ensure that America can capitalize on 
revolutionary technologies and create new jobs in the U.S.
  The bill also provides stronger protections for American intellectual 
property and helps to expedite the patent process for cutting-edge new 
technologies developed by universities.
  The faster we can secure our innovations and move them to market, the 
more jobs we can create in this country.
  We can no longer afford to ride the coattails of yesterday's 
innovations; we have to identify and support the emerging technologies 
of tomorrow that will create American jobs.
  The Chinese, Indians and other international competitors are actively 
monitoring new technologies and trends to support their firms. To date, 
we have not.
  Are Americans willing to continue to sit idly by and allow the 
Chinese to dominate new industries at our expense?
  Norm Augustine, the former chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin, best 
captured the situation we now find ourselves in when he said:

       In the technology-driven economy in which we live, 
     Americans have come to accept leadership as the natural and 
     enduring state of affairs. But leadership is highly 
     perishable. It must be constantly re-earned.

[[Page E1473]]

       In the 16th century the citizens of Spain no doubt thought 
     they would remain the world leader. In the 17th century it 
     was France. In the 19th century, Great Britain. And in the 
     20th century it was the United States.
       Unless we do things dramatically different, including 
     strengthening our investments in research and education, the 
     21st century will belong to China and India.

  Author Richard McGregor wrote in his new book, The Party, that the 
Chinese government, ``still runs on Soviet hardware.'' It uses the full 
resources of the state to advance the interests of Chinese firms.
  The Chinese are spying on us. They are launching millions of cyber 
attacks against American companies and the federal government every 
day.
  The Chinese are funding the genocide in Darfur. They have Catholic 
bishops in jail, Protestant pastors in jail, and they have plundered 
Tibet.
  If the U.S. is to be truly competitive in the global economy, we must 
be vigilant and proactive--in a manner that is consistent with our 
national interest and international treaties.
  Madam Speaker, I urge swift passage of this legislation to help bring 
jobs back to the United States today and to lay the groundwork for 
tomorrow's manufacturing and technology base. We cannot afford to wait. 
Our international competitors aren't.

                          ____________________