[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 87 (Monday, June 11, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3892-S3893]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Auto Manufacturing

  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. President, people in my home State of Ohio 
know how to make things. We know how to make big things. For decades, 
Ohio has been a national leader in auto production, in chemicals, in 
steel, in concrete, in aluminum, and in the aerospace industry and food 
processing. Now we are a leader in solar power, in wind turbine 
components and batteries and all the kinds of things that really create 
middle-class jobs and help us lead the world in manufacturing 
production. Ohio is the third leading manufacturing State in the 
country. We make more in Ohio than any State but California, three 
times our population, and Texas, twice our population.
  What Ohio perhaps is best known for in production is the auto 
industry. The auto rescue did not just save the U.S. auto industry 3, 
3\1/2\, 4 years ago, it saved thousands of auto-related jobs in Ohio. 
Estimates are that some 850,000 jobs in Ohio--a State of 11 million 
people, only smaller than the Presiding Officer's home State of 
Pennsylvania--that 800-plus thousand jobs in Ohio are related to the 
auto industry. It is clear from the auto rescue that the President, the 
Senate, and the House supported that it saved tens of thousands and 
created tens of thousands of those jobs.
  New data shows manufacturing is at the forefront of the economic 
recovery, with factories adding 250,000 jobs since early 2010--the 
first sustained increase in manufacturing employment since 1997.
  From 1965 until the late 1990s, America had about the same number of 
manufacturing jobs in the late nineties as it did in the midsixties--a 
smaller percent of the workforce, a smaller percent of GDP, but a 
pretty constant number of manufacturing jobs, with some ups and downs, 
obviously, during that period. But from 2000 to 2010, during that 
philosophy of trade agreements that ultimately cost us jobs, tax cuts 
and tax policy that contributed to outsourcing jobs, and an economic 
policy of ``trickle down'' during the Bush years--from 2000 to 2010, 
America lost one-third, more than 5 million manufacturing jobs. One out 
of three manufacturing jobs disappeared during those 10 years from 2000 
to 2010.
  Thousands of factories closed, never to be reopened, as jobs were 
outsourced, as jobs left our country. But since 2010, almost every 
single month in Ohio and across the country we see manufacturing jobs 
increasing. The auto industry has led the rebound, with more than 
20,000 jobs at General Motors and Chrysler saved or created thanks to 
the 2009 auto rescue, and thousands more were saved or created in the 
auto supply chain.
  Too many Ohioans are struggling. Many are still looking for work, 
while others have seen their wages cut or their hours reduced.
  There are also important signs of recovery at our manufacturers, auto 
suppliers, and small businesses. Just 4 years ago the auto industry, 
many people thought, was faltering and imploding. But look where we are 
today. As a result of the auto rescue, we are seeing a healthy 
turnaround. The Toledo Supplier Park employs 1900 people. The GM 
assembly and stamping plant in Lordstown employs some 4,500 Ohioans. GM 
Powertrain in Defiance is home to some 1,200 workers. Following the 
auto rescue, these facilities all created new jobs due to increased 
demand.
  Some Members of Congress were willing to bail out Wall Street without 
so much as asking for reasonable executive compensation restrictions on

[[Page S3893]]

banks that received taxpayer help but then attacked middle-class auto 
workers. Bonuses and huge salaries have continued unabated for far too 
many Wall Street executives. Yet some of my colleagues have said that 
auto workers' retirement--union and nonunion retirement--and health 
care and wages were simply too much. Let's be clear. Ohio would be in a 
depression if these naysayers had their way and let the auto industry 
collapse or let it ``go bankrupt.'' It was about rescuing middle-class 
workers, and it was about fueling the next generation of U.S. 
automakers and auto manufacturing.
  Ohio is home to an almost completely Ohio-made automobile, the Chevy 
Cruze. Its engine was made in Defiance, the transmission in Toledo, the 
sound system in Springboro, the steel in Middletown, the underpinning 
steel in Cleveland, and the aluminum wheels in Cleveland. The car is 
stamped in Parma, OH. The Chevy Cruze is assembled in Youngstown, OH. 
The Jeep Wrangler had only 50 percent America-made components 4 years 
ago. The Jeep Wrangler and the Jeep Liberty are assembled in Toledo, 
now made with more than 70 percent U.S.-made parts.
  When things looked bleak and when nobody wanted to stand with workers 
or auto companies, we didn't give up on American auto companies or 
American manufacturing. The decision wasn't popular, and there were 
clearly some naysayers. But it was the right thing to do.
  Our work is far from over. In particular, we have to keep our foot on 
the gas pedal and fight back against China's unfair trade practices and 
other new threats to our auto industry. Our trade deficit in auto parts 
with China--the parts that are obviously used, that you buy at various 
retail operations to fix your car when something goes wrong--grew from 
about $1 billion 10 years ago to about $10 billion today, fed by unfair 
subsidies, currency manipulation, and illegal dumping of Chinese 
products. This is an unlevel, tilted playing field that will cost 
hundreds of thousands of jobs.
  My China currency manipulation bill--the biggest bipartisan jobs bill 
to have passed the Senate this session--costing taxpayers zero, would 
level the playing field for American manufacturers when China tries to 
cheat by manipulating its currency. A recently released report shows 
that addressing Chinese currency manipulation could support the 
creation of hundreds of thousands of American jobs--without adding a 
dime to the deficit. It is time to take bold action and stand up to 
China, and it is time to put American workers and businesses first. We 
did it in 2008 and 2009. The Presiding Officer played a role in that, 
as did so many in this body. We can do it again if our colleagues in 
the other Chamber take up this currency bill.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I may speak 
as in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.