[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 152 (Wednesday, October 12, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H6788-H6789]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   LIBERTY, JUSTICE, AND THE ECONOMY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk on two subjects: one, 
liberty and justice and, number two, our economy.
  On the first, as cochair of the House Ukrainian Caucus, I stand today 
and join my voice to the citizens of the free world who stand in 
solidarity with freedom lovers in Ukraine seeking liberty and justice 
for all. It is with the deepest concern that we raise strenuous 
objection to the political decision by Ukraine's Pechersk court that 
sentenced former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to prison 
this October 11. The court's ``guilty'' verdict sentences her to 7 
years in prison, bars her from holding office for 3 years, and 
effectively stops her from participating in Ukraine's upcoming 
elections.
  Ukraine's actions should also call into question Ukraine's accession 
to the European Union. I join with the members of the Ukrainian 
Congress of America in supporting immediate congressional hearings on 
what has transpired in Ukraine. I urge our leadership

[[Page H6789]]

to allow the passage of a resolution expressing U.S. objection to the 
actions of Ukraine's politically driven judicial system that seem to 
have more to do with politics than justice.
  In furtherance of these objectives, I place on record on behalf of 
the Ukrainian Caucus the official statement of the Ukrainian Congress 
Committee of America, which represents over 1 million Americans of 
Ukrainian descent, equally incensed at what has occurred. From their 
statement, the Ukrainian Congress states:
  They call upon the Government of the United States to take 
appropriate measures to support democracy and human rights in Ukraine. 
They urge the United States Government to restrict visas and freeze 
assets of the current antidemocratic regime and to hold congressional 
hearings on sanctions and future foreign assistance to the Government 
of Ukraine.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me, to join our caucus; to 
speak out and to act then on behalf of the advance of democracy and 
justice in post-Soviet Ukraine.
  I also wish to address today the U.S. economy. We've heard a lot 
about the trade agreements that are going to come before us today 
dealing with so-called ``free trade'' for South Korea, for Colombia and 
Panama. I wish to place some information on the record.
  I've served in Congress awhile now, and fought against the NAFTA 
trade model back in the nineties when they said it would create jobs 
that would result in trade surpluses. Advocates promised we would have 
all this extraordinary economic growth and new jobs in the United 
States. Then after NAFTA was passed, we saw the beginning of these 
hemorrhaging trade deficits with Mexico, with Canada and, indeed, with 
the world. In 1997 and '98, when the China permanent normal trade 
relations, which I might add are anything but normal, kicked in, 
America went into an even greater trade deficit. Each billion dollars 
of trade deficit represented a loss of thousands upon thousands of lost 
jobs.
  So, as we look at the period that we've been living through over the 
last 20 to 25 years as these so-called free trade agreements locked 
down, with every single one, America goes deeper and deeper into trade 
deficit, which kills the economic growth in our country. Now, today, 
we're being delivered three more: South Korea, Panama, and Colombia.
  When we look back at CAFTA, which was passed in the early 2000s, what 
happened? Did we get trade balances with those countries? No. We got 
more U.S. job loss.
  Sure, there were a few industries that made out like bandits. Okay. 
that's fine, I'm glad that some industries can export, and generally, 
agriculture is able to sell a little bit more, but the overal net is 
negative. The net is negative. That translates into lost jobs. We've 
lost over 7 million jobs in this country because these agreements are 
not fair trade agreements. They really don't result in trade balances 
for our country, nor job creation. They yield job losses--coast to 
coast.
  Let's just take a look at what happened with Mexico alone. Back when 
NAFTA was passed, we had a trade surplus with Mexico. The same people 
who are arguing for these agreements today said, Don't worry about 
NAFTA--jobs are going to be even better. We said, No, no. It's not 
going to be better because there's not a real rule of law. There is no 
respect for the peasant class in Mexico, and the agricultural 
adjustment there is going to be horrendous.
  In fact, it is at the basis of the exodus of Mexican farmers and 
peasants into our country. That is what is fueling illegal 
immigration--the lack of a resolution to what occurred during NAFTA 
when the agricultural adjustment was not allowed to occur in a humane 
way in Mexico. What a pity to go to the communities and to see how 
people are living there, disrupted from their land, and then in our 
country to see the jobs outsourced from the United States down there or 
from the United States to almost anywhere--China, et cetera--to the 
low-wage havens with no rule of law. Every year, the trade deficit with 
Mexico has grown greater and greater. Remember when we began with 
NAFTA, we had a trade surplus with Mexico. That has disappeared and 
gone very negative translating into lost jobs.
  Now just take a look at Korea. They say this deal is going to make 
trade better. Well, do you believe that? We already have a trade 
deficit with Korea, and this agreement isn't going to solve it because 
Korea already sells over a half a million cars in this country, but we 
only sell a few thousand cars there now. This agreement will not change 
these numbers and will result in more lost jobs in our country. This 
agreement contains no requirement for reciprocity.
  I ask the Members to vote ``no'' on the agreements dealing with 
Korea, Colombia, and Panama.

              UCCA Condemns Tymoshenko Show Trial Verdict

       New York, NY.--The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, 
     the representative organization of the over one million 
     Americans of Ukrainian descent, is outraged and strongly 
     condemns the Pechersk court's sentencing of Yulia Tymoshenko.
       The October 11th guilty verdict, which sentences the former 
     prime minister to 7 years in prison, and bans her from 
     holding office for three years, displays the selective and 
     political motivations of the current regime and leaves no 
     doubt that the court's decision was dictated by the 
     government to remove one of the top opposition leaders from 
     taking part in upcoming elections.
       From the start, the UCCA, along with the international 
     community, deemed the various court proceedings to be biased, 
     not meeting international standards and selective in 
     persecution of opposition leaders and former government 
     officials. Thus, today's guilty verdict not only demonstrates 
     the ongoing anti-democratic and authoritarian tendencies of 
     the regime, but also severely threatens the country's 
     European aspirations, specifically the expected ratification 
     of an association agreement with the European Union.
       President Yanukovych's use of criminal law to serve his own 
     political end, must not be tolerated! The UCCA calls upon the 
     government of the United States to take appropriate measures 
     to support democracy and human rights in Ukraine. We urge the 
     United States government to restrict visas and freeze assets 
     of the current anti-democratic regime and to hold 
     congressional hearings on sanctions and future foreign 
     assistance to the government of Ukraine.

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