[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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