[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 194 (Friday, December 16, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2289]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     JOBS ARE OUR HIGHEST PRIORITY

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                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS-

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, December 16, 2011

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call attention to incentives 
that add to unemployment and decrease tax revenues.
  Strong consumer protection laws are the responsibility of each State 
in our Union and I support efforts to enforce them to protect our 
constituents. However, no reasonable person would favor an approach so 
draconian in its effect that it makes innocent employees victims. The 
impact on our hard-working union members is unfair and unwarranted. 
Proportionality in these cases is critical. Perverse incentives can be 
seen when the settlements in these cases are used to pay operating 
budgets of the agencies that bring the charges, especially if it 
encourages the targeting of out of state companies for huge 
settlements. The payments should be enough to compensate for any harm 
and to push the company to act in an appropriate manner according to 
law. Only in egregious or criminal circumstances should companies be 
forced out of business.
  It is crucial to enforce strong consumer protection and deceptive 
advertising laws. In this economy, as we hasten to take measures to 
protect jobs, we have got to be mindful of incentives that put states 
revenue needs in competition with each other. Without question, the 
states must have the power to stop deceptive advertising and unfair 
competition, but they should not have the authority to abuse that power 
in ways that decrease other states tax revenues by forcing businesses 
to add thousands of Americans to the ranks of the unemployed. I would 
encourage those enforcing our laws to take this into account.

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