[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2802]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                        LEARN FROM OUR MISTAKES

  (Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, some startling news: Last month the 
Commerce Department announced that the U.S. trade deficit surged to an 
all-time high in 1999. The trade deficit rose over 65 percent from 
1998, over 65 percent.
  Mr. Speaker, the U.S. economy is being shipped overseas and the 
American workers are being left behind unemployed and unable to reach 
the American dream. And in spite of this indisputable fact, the Clinton 
administration continues to encourage the expansion of current free 
trade policy, such as NAFTA, to other nations around the world.
  Sadly, the President has also failed to mention another fact that the 
Commerce Department also announced, and that is that the United States 
experienced record trade deficits with its NAFTA trade partners last 
year, as well. Seems obvious to me and many of my colleagues here that 
NAFTA and similar trade policies have caused more harm than good for 
our economy and for the American workers.
  Let us not make the same mistake twice.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back such ill-conceived trade policies that seem 
to only trade away American jobs for higher trade deficits.

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