[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 99 (Thursday, June 28, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H4159-H4160]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            GLOBALLY ENGAGED

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Dreier) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I know that what I'm about to say may be 
seen as heresy by many--or at least counterintuitive--but, Mr. Speaker, 
this statement is based in fact: outsourcing is not decimating our 
economy. If we take a step back and look at the big picture, setting 
aside demagoguery and knee-jerk reactions, we see that engagement with 
the worldwide marketplace is a positive thing for our economy and our 
shared quest to create good American jobs.
  Being globally engaged takes many forms. It includes exporting our 
goods overseas. It includes imports. It includes complex supply chains 
that allow us to maximize comparative advantage and productivity on a 
global scale. It demands innovation, creativity, and adaptability. This 
is all part of the dynamic worldwide marketplace, and it does not 
constitute a zero sum game.
  If a U.S. manufacturer can lower costs by importing some of their raw 
materials, increasing their competitiveness and hiring more U.S. 
workers as a result, our job market improves. American workers benefit. 
By the same token, if a company can tap into other labor markets, 
becoming more competitive in the process and then hiring more U.S. 
workers as a result, we can all benefit.
  This is not a hypothetical scenario. We have the data that 
demonstrates the clear benefits of engaging in the worldwide 
marketplace. The last time the issue of outsourcing became a political 
flash point was in 2004. We often heard this term, ``Benedict Arnold 
CEOs'' who were sending good U.S. jobs overseas.
  The McKinsey Global Institute did an in-depth analysis of the effect 
of outsourcing to see what impact it was actually having on our 
economy. What they found was very interesting. They found that 
companies that utilize outsourcing as a component of their business 
plans enjoy new export opportunities, increased productivity, and 
significant cost savings, all of which support new investment in the 
United States and greater job creation right here at home. Furthermore, 
the jobs that are created by globally engaged companies tend to be 
higher-skill, higher-waged jobs than those created by their nonglobally 
engaged counterparts.
  Mr. Speaker, the findings of the McKinsey report are only buttressed 
by my own firsthand experience. I'll never forget, several years ago I 
was in Kathmandu visiting one of those call centers. Now, many would 
have viewed that call center as a symbol of outsourced jobs, and yet 
when I looked around, I found U.S. companies right there. I'm not 
claiming that all of these products were manufactured right here in the 
United States, but many were manufactured here in this hemisphere. They 
had names on them like Carrier air conditioners. There was a 
Westinghouse refrigerator there, Dell computers, and AT&T telephones. 
Rather than stealing jobs from Americans and this hemisphere, this call 
center epitomized the very way that global engagement benefits us all.
  It is simply inaccurate to claim that every job created overseas 
destroys a job here in the United States, and it completely misses the 
point. Rather than demonizing those who are trying to build competitive 
companies that grow our economy and create opportunity for Americans, 
we should be looking at what we can do to attract

[[Page H4160]]

investment here to the United States. We should be looking at what we 
can do to empower entrepreneurs to revitalize our economy and restore 
our job market.
  Mr. Speaker, attacking private enterprise won't create a single job 
here or elsewhere. In fact, the danger of isolationist, mercantilist 
rhetoric is that it can spawn bad policy that further stifles 
innovation and economic growth.
  If we want to have a constructive debate that leads to policies that 
will encourage growth and job creation, we need to look at the facts, 
and the facts are very simple. Engaging globally through exports, 
imports, outsourcing, in-sourcing, and all the many ways of tapping 
into the dynamic, competitive worldwide marketplace is the best way to 
get Americans back to work.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues not to succumb to the politically 
expedient but economically damaging rhetoric of isolationism.

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