[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 50 (Wednesday, March 17, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S1598]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                    Confirmation of Katherine C. Tai

  Mr. BROWN. Madam President, for decades, Ohio workers have watched 
the spread of a corporate business model where companies shut down 
production in Toledo or Dayton or Gallipolis or Youngstown. They 
collected a tax break to move jobs to Mexico or China where they can 
exploit workers only to sell their products back into the United 
States. Ohioans live with those consequences every day.
  Last week, 81 workers in Bucyrus, OH, had their jobs outsourced to 
China, where GE-Savant moved production of its high-efficiency light 
bulbs overseas. Now, 81 union workers are facing tough conversations at 
the kitchen tables: How will their families survive; will they fall 
behind on their rent or their mortgage; do they move away with their 
kids; will their kids have to change schools--all those decisions that 
families have to make when workers or when plants shut down and move 
overseas.
  The Presiding Officer from Wisconsin has been involved in this fight 
ever since her career began in the House 20-plus years ago, and I have 
worked alongside with her to make sure that we have a different trade 
policy. But when one production line closes, the ripple effect extends, 
as we know, to the whole community, to other workers and communities in 
the supply chain.
  Yesterday, people in Northeast Ohio, in the Cleveland area, woke up 
to headlines about yet another American corporation deciding to build 
things in Mexico instead of Ohio with Ford breaking its promise to 
invest $900 million in Avon Lake.
  I got a call 2 days ago from a smalltown mayor, John Hunter, mayor of 
Sheffield Lake, OH, a longtime Ford--he was a Ford worker, retired, now 
mayor of Sheffield Village. He talked about how Ford had promised, at 
the bargaining table in 2019, that they would invest $900 million in 
this Avon Lake plant. Ohioans are tired of watching corporation after 
corporation abandon the workers and communities that have made their 
businesses successful.
  We are being told that production of cheap, simple products will be 
shipped overseas, while innovative, high-value products will be made in 
the United States by American workers. We see in Bucyrus, we see in 
Avon Lake that that is just not true, and we are sick of it. Our trade 
policy has to change.
  That is why today was a good day for this country. Katherine Tai was 
confirmed by this body 98 to nothing. She understands trade policy. She 
is the right leader to take us in a new direction on trade with 
American workers at the center. She is a serious expert. She is 
respected on both sides of the aisle. We saw that in that vote today. 
She has a proven track record of making progress for workers.
  Last year, I voted for a trade agreement for the first time ever in 
my career because of our work with Senator Wyden to fix the Trump 
administration's corporate trade agreement. He said it was a new NAFTA. 
It was really a tired, old, mostly the same NAFTA, rebranded as USMCA. 
We went to work. We secured groundbreaking new worker protections. 
Katherine Tai was one of the key policymakers who worked with us to 
make that happen. She was in the negotiations. She was in the 
discussions. She helped Senator Wyden and I make this a much better 
bill that people, like a whole lot of us, as progressives, pro-worker 
Senators, could vote for.
  Her work helped us make the first improvement to enforcing labor 
standards in our trade agreements enforceable, serious labor standards, 
since we have been negotiating them.
  We know why companies close factories in Ohio and open them in 
Mexico. They can pay lower wages. They can take advantage of workers 
who don't have rights. American workers can't compete. We get a race to 
the bottom on wages and benefits.
  The only way of stopping it is raising labor standards in every 
country we trade with and making sure those labor standards are 
enforced.
  That is what Katherine Tai will do. She will enforce the laws we 
already have. She will stand up for American workers. She will fight 
for American businesses when countries cheat the rules. She will work 
with us to level the playing field so steelworkers and autoworkers and 
communication workers in Ohio and Wisconsin and all over the country 
can compete.
  She won't allow corporate lobbyists to write trade agreements. We 
have seen it. Since I came to the Congress, we have seen it with NAFTA. 
We have seen it with CAFTA. We have seen it with PNTR. We have seen it 
with agreement after agreement after agreement: Corporate lobbyists 
write trade agreements. Workers are locked out of the room.
  Now, with U.S. Trade Rep Tai's confirmation--the nominee, of course--
I asked her what she will do to start to regain the trust of Americans 
in trade. She said:

       You start by listening.

  She then talked about the Mahoning Valley, Youngstown area in my 
State, listening to and understanding the concerns of communities that 
have gotten hurt over and over.
  The administration's outline for its 2021 agenda, trade agenda, which 
Miss Tai will be charged with carrying out, says that ``trade policy 
should respect the dignity of work.''

       Trade policy should respect the dignity of work and value 
     Americans as workers and wage earners.

  Imagine that; that our trade policy, never before have we seen this 
respecting the dignity of work and valuing Americans as workers and 
wage earners. That is the kind of thinking we need leading our trade 
policy.
  As the first woman of color to ever serve as the President's chief 
trade adviser, Katherine Tai knows how important it is for the people 
in the room making trade decisions to actually reflect, to actually 
reflect the diverse workforce that our trade policy affects.
  We know one good appointment and one good provision won't stop 
outsourcing, but I am always going to be straight with American 
workers. We have come a long, long way, but we have a long, long way to 
go to undo the damage our trade policies have done over the past three 
decades.
  As the Presiding Officer, I have stood up to Presidents of both 
parties on trade throughout my career. That is not going to change. One 
of my proudest votes was one of my first votes, and that was against 
the North American Free Trade Agreement.
  I will continue to watch closely what this administration does. If 
they show any hint of reverting back to the old way of doing things, of 
letting corporations dictate trade policy at the expense of workers, 
they will hear about it from me. This is going to be a constant effort 
over many years.
  As thrilled as I am with Katherine Tai, we know we still have a job 
to do to reorient trade agreements and trade laws that are a priority; 
that our emphasis no longer is corporations, but it is American 
workers. It has to be coupled with real investment in the communities 
that have been hollowed out because of Washington's and Wall Street's 
past mistakes. It has to be paired with an overhaul of our Tax Code to 
end, once and for all, the tax breaks paid for by Ohioans and others to 
send production overseas.
  Trade doesn't happen in a vacuum. Our policies must work together to 
create a global market where workers are treated with dignity; they are 
safe on the job; they are paid fair wages; they are able to bargain 
collectively; they are able to bargain collectively for better pay and 
benefits.
  When you love this country, you fight for the people who make it 
work. That is what Katherine Tai will do.
  I thank my colleagues for the strong vote in support of her 
confirmation.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The junior Senator from Maryland.