[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 23 (Monday, February 13, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S560-S561]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE AUTO INDUSTRY
Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Madam President, earlier today I toured Alcoa's
Cleveland Works plant. The plant houses an engineering and
manufacturing marvel of a 50,000-ton Mesta forging press. It stands 87
feet high; 36 feet below the surface, 51 feet above the surface. The
press has enough steel to lay 42 miles of railroad track. That is
roughly here to Baltimore or Akron to Cleveland. It is massive, and one
of only five heavy closed-die forging presses in the United States. It
is officially considered by the Mechanical Engineering Association a
national historic engineering landmark.
Its original purpose was to build components for large airplanes
during World War II. During the war, we discovered that German aircraft
were being built with structural elements that could only be made by
large forging processes that we thought had not yet been invented. So
only as it could do, our government, through the Air Force, initiated
the Heavy Press Program to compete with the Germans and to show that
advanced manufacturing matters to our country.
After the war, we brought the Mesta supergiant forging press to
America and to Cleveland, where it remains critical to the commercial
and defense aerospace industries. It formed the basis of a public-
private partnership, it stamps the ``Made in America'' label on some of
the world's most advanced technologies and products.
Today Alcoa is investing $100 million to complete and restart its
redesign of the massive press. Alcoa invested in America and it is an
investment in Ohio manufacturing. It shows the company's ability to
leverage public resources to meet industrial-based needs as well as
commercial demands of the market. It is for our national security, and
it is for our domestic security to build a middle class. It is an
example of how partnerships can still pay dividends six decades later
and will do so with continued investment for decades to come.
At the time it was about our national pride and need in times of war.
Today it is about creating and retaining jobs. It is about showing that
manufacturing is about building and it is about innovation.
Manufacturing is about high-tech production, it is sophisticated
engineering, it is advanced technologies, and it remains a ticket to
the middle-class.
We are finally seeing recognition in Washington that manufacturing is
critical to our economic recovery. For 12 years--from 1997 through the
8 Bush years into 2009--we had seen a decline every single year in Ohio
manufacturing and in American manufacturing, but for the last 21 months
we have seen an increase in manufacturing jobs in America and an
increase in manufacturing jobs in Ohio. It started, in part, with the
auto rescue where if some conservative politicians in Washington had
had their way, they would have allowed the auto industry simply to
declare bankruptcy with no ability to finance or restructure the auto
industry. Instead, the President, in working with the Senate and
working with the House, rescued that industry by investing in that
industry.
Today in my State we are seeing thousands of auto jobs in the auto
companies, in Chrysler and in GM, jobs that wouldn't have been there if
we had not done auto rescue, and we are seeing all kinds of auto supply
jobs. For instance, at the Chrysler Jeep plant in Toledo, where 3 years
ago only 50 percent of components came from domestic sources, today
more than 70 percent come from domestic sources.
Today plants in Toledo, in Lordstown, and in Defiance are hiring
workers. The Chevy Cruze--one of the hottest selling cars in America--
is as close to an all-Ohio car as you can get. The engine is made in
Defiance, the transmission is made in Toledo, the bumpers are made in
Northwood, the stamping is done in Parma, the steel comes out of
Cleveland, the aluminum comes out of Cleveland, part of the sound
system comes out of Springboro, and the assembly is in Lordstown--
thousands and thousands of autoworker jobs, tens of thousands of jobs
of auto suppliers supplying the Cruze, supplying Honda, supplying the
Jeep plant in Toledo, supplying the Ford plant in Avon Lake.
In the last year alone, Honda and Chrysler and Ford and GM announced
multimillion-dollar investments in Ohio alone and, in many cases,
around the country. Honda announced it would build and develop its most
state-of-the-art sports car ever right in Ohio. We see the same jobs
creating investments from Chrysler, its Toledo assembly complex, from
Ford at the Avon Lake plant, from GM at its Defiance powertrain plant.
As it did when the Nation needed the forging press for aerospace
manufacturing, our government did only as it could do; it stepped up to
invest in America and the American auto industry. So those who complain
about the auto rescue need to read a little history to understand that
so often American manufacturing partnered with U.S. taxpayers to make
sure these industries were strong and solid and created good-paying
jobs to build the middle-class. It is paying off dividends today. It
will continue to do so in the future.
I have a unanimous consent request after I speak, that the Senator
from Oregon is recognized.
[[Page S561]]
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. BROWN of Ohio. One more point I wish to make. We must remain
vigilant in enforcement of our trade laws. Our progress in autos is at
risk of being undercut if we allow China to continue to cheat on trade
rules, flaunt its predatory auto trade practices in our faces.
Only 10 years ago, our trade deficit in auto parts with China was
only about $1 billion. That has grown 800 percent to about $9 billion
to $10 billion. That means more than 1.6 million American jobs are at
risk. Our trade deficit with China is continuing to cause difficulty
for middle-class Americans. China has begun placing tariffs on
American-made automobiles. These massive illegal subsidies are worsened
by indirect predatory subsidies such as currency manipulation.
That is why I am encouraged by the President's announcement of a new
trade enforcement panel. It is borne of the realization that the stakes
are too high for our workers and our economy if we don't fight back. We
need an all-hands-on-deck approach among the USTR, the State
Department, and the Commerce Department to be involved, to be more
aggressive, especially by initiating more trade cases.
I know from representing Ohio in the Senate since 2007 what trade
enforcement laws do. Trade enforcement by the Commerce Department and
the International Trade Commission against China's cheating created
jobs in Lorain, OH, in the steel industry; created jobs in Findlay, OH,
in the tire industry; created jobs in paper and other industries around
the State and resulted in a new steel mill, V&M Star Steel, in
Youngstown, OH, where about 1,000 building trades people are building
that plant and 500 or 600 steelworkers will be working in that plant
that manufactures Oil Country Tubular steel--jobs that would have been
in China if the President of the United States and the Commerce
Department and the International Trade Commission did not enforce trade
laws.
That is why that matters. That is why the new trade enforcement panel
that the President is setting up as part of his budget is so very
important for the future of our national security and for the future of
the middle class and our great country.
I yield the floor.
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