[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 147 (Tuesday, October 4, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H6516-H6517]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          FREE TRADE AND JOBS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Dold) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DOLD. Mr. Speaker, just last week I had the opportunity to host a 
manufacturing roundtable to hear firsthand from job creators in the 
10th District of Illinois. These business leaders spoke about the 
challenges that they are facing and how decisions made right here in 
Washington, D.C. impact their ability to create jobs and put Illinois 
back to work.
  The entrepreneurs I met with expressed their concern with the 
uncertainty in the marketplace and spoke about the difficulties they 
face when competing in a global marketplace. From trade to excessive 
regulations, it is clear that much work needs to be done right here in 
Washington, D.C.
  Despite the problems that our country and businesses face, I am 
optimistic about the future. Just yesterday, the President sent long-
anticipated trade agreements to Congress for approval.
  We heard the President talk about his Jobs Act; and while there may 
be some disagreement about the Jobs Act, certainly I think that there 
are areas where we can agree, and I think that we ought to move those 
aspects forward. Certainly when we talk about the trade agreements, I 
would argue that's one of the areas that has broad bipartisan support, 
and we should move it forward for the American public.
  We have 650 manufacturers in Illinois' 10th Congressional District 
representing 80,000 jobs. Fifty thousand of those jobs rely upon 
exports, and I would argue that our ability to open and expand markets 
will create that demand.
  Seventy-three percent of the world's purchasing power is outside of 
the United States. Ninety-five percent of the consumers are outside of 
the United States' borders. We want to make sure that we have an 
agreement, an arrangement where we can knock down these barriers where 
we can allow the American worker to compete on a level playing field.
  If we are able to do that, the American worker will win. We know that 
for every billion dollars that we increase in trade, we create 6,250 
jobs right here at home.
  We know that it would add, just with South Korea alone, would add $10 
billion to our GDP. This is a step, certainly, in the right direction.
  In Illinois, manufacturing accounts for 93 percent of our exports, 
and these exports support 25 percent of the manufacturing jobs in our 
State, a State that's lost 750,000 manufacturing jobs over the last 
decade.
  Small businesses are also a big part of those exports. By ratifying 
the pending trade agreements, we are empowering manufacturers, small 
business owners, and entrepreneurs. This is exactly the type of 
bipartisan action we need to be taking in these tough economic times.
  While there is much more work that needs to be done, we should be 
encouraged by the movement on the trade agreements and use this as a 
stepping stone to continue working together and finding common ground. 
When we come together for the American public, we can create an 
economic certainty that allows small business owners all across the 
land to be able to forecast, have some more certainty, invest in their 
business and create jobs.
  There are 29 million small businesses in our Nation. If we can create 
an environment here in Washington, D.C.

[[Page H6517]]

where half of those businesses can create one job, think about where we 
would be then.
  I ask my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to come together to 
pass these pending trade agreements. Put the American worker first, and 
let's get America back to work.

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