[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 106 (Monday, June 25, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4376-S4377]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             GENERAL MOTORS

  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, last Friday was a dark day for American 
workers and a dark day for the American auto industry. On the very same 
day that General Motors laid off the entire

[[Page S4377]]

second shift at the historic Lordstown plant in the Mahoning Valley in 
Northeast Ohio, we got word that GM plans to build its new Chevy Blazer 
in Mexico. That is right--the company bypasses American workers, lays 
off an entire shift, and sends more jobs to Mexico. All this comes on 
the heels of the windfall GM got from the tax bill Congress passed last 
year.
  GM now can bring some $7 billion in overseas cash back to the United 
States at a dramatically lower tax rate, they can immediately deduct 
the cost of any new investments in plants and equipment, and their 
overall corporate tax rate dropped by about one-third. They could use 
that extra cash to invest in Lordstown, to build more cars in America, 
but what do they do instead? They lay off 1,500 workers--1,500 Ohio 
workers, 1,500 families affected--in Niles, Ravenna, Kent, 
Reminderville, Youngstown, Girard, Lordstown, and all over the Mahoney 
Valley and beyond. That is just a year after they laid off the third 
shift--more than 1,000 workers--at the same plant. They have some 
nerve.
  The workers at this plant are among the best in the world. The car 
they make, the Chevy Cruze, beat out the foreign competition in its 
class last year. For the 2018 models, J.D. Power and Associates named 
the Cruze among the top two cars in its class. They named the Lordstown 
plant among the six top plants in the Americas. Anyone who has been to 
Lordstown wouldn't be surprised.
  Ten years ago, the Federal Government rescued the auto industry.
  Eight years ago, I actually drove one of the first cars--with 
Governor Strickland and others--off the line, one of the first Chevy 
Cruzes coming out of the Lordstown plant.
  Two years ago, I stood in Lordstown for the plant's 50th anniversary, 
and I saw the pride the community takes in that plant. GM estimated 
that more than 10,000 people--young and old, families with children, 
workers who had been there almost the entire 50 years, vintage car 
buffs, former workers--turned out to watch the parade and to celebrate 
the plant. The line to get into the plant for a tour stretched down the 
street and around the block. That is what this plant means to the 
communities it serves. That is what the auto industry means to the 
communities it serves. It appears General Motors has forgotten some of 
that. That is why we worked so hard to save this industry, including 
General Motors, after the economic crisis.
  In addition to the Federal auto rescue, the State of Ohio gave GM 
more than $80 million in tax incentives. But now, after Ohio gave 
millions to this company, GM turns its back on Ohio--all while making 
record profits, all while reaping the rewards of the tax bill paid for 
by taxpayers.
  As a country, as a State, we are invested in this industry. GM needs 
to invest in America and in Ohio. It needs to invest in the workers and 
in the communities that built this company and made it great. Instead 
of making plans to invest in Mexico, GM should be working with workers, 
with the union, with local officials--with all of us--to invest, 
instead, in American workers. We have invested in GM; GM should invest 
in Ohio workers.
  I yield the floor.

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