[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 15]
[House]
[Pages 21732-21733]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



      FAST TRACK IS THE WRONG ISSUE AT THE WRONG TIME FOR AMERICA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Bonior) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, I want to, first of all, commend my 
colleague, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) for arranging a 
discussion this evening of the fast track issue that is pending now 
before this body.
  For several months now, lawmakers and corporate executives have been 
pushing to grant President Bush fast track authority, which is 
basically the authority to negotiate trade deals and not have the 
Congress to any extent really participate in the decision-making 
process, taking away Article I, Section 8 of our constitutional 
responsibilities. This push has not been slowed by the attacks of 
September 11, and what we have seen is unemployment soaring, layoffs 
are multiplying, workers are hurting, and still, week in and week out, 
we hear that fast track is coming to the floor.
  Well, Mr. Speaker, right now this Nation needs to remain unified. We 
need to act with a common purpose. Fast track will only divide us. It 
is one of the most divisive issues that this Congress faces on a 
regular basis. It is a controversial issue at a time when we least can 
afford to be controversial.
  I have heard the arguments that fast track will stimulate our 
economy. Nothing, nothing could be further from the truth. The fast 
track bill at issue now is designed to speed complex trade agreements 
through Congress without a real debate in our country or a real debate 
and scrutiny in this institution. No one in this House could offer an 
amendment to improve the deal that is negotiated. And, making matters 
worse, this fast track bill includes no guarantees or provisions to 
ensure that the rights or jobs of American workers are protected.
  The reality is that fast track accelerates an already flawed trade 
policy through Congress. Once these deals are enacted, companies have 
greater leeway, even incentive, to relocate overseas, taking advantage 
of weak or nonexistent labor and environmental standards. That can only 
be demonstrated vividly by what we did in NAFTA and what happens when 
these

[[Page 21733]]

jobs in our country go to Mexico. They export their products back to 
our market is what happens.
  The upshot for our workers? Lost jobs, lower wages, and not only do 
we lose these great-paying jobs here in this country, and by the way, 
over the last 14 months, we have lost 1.2 million manufacturing jobs in 
this country. Hello. If anybody is listening, we are losing at an 
accelerated pace our whole manufacturing base in America. Not only do 
we lose those great-paying jobs, but once we lose those jobs, we 
cripple whole communities. We take away their tax base. They do not 
have the resources for fire and police and education and health care 
and all of the other pieces that make our communities work.
  A recent report underscores these points. Economic data show that 
NAFTA passed on a fast track, and WTO, World Trade Organization, 
policies have taken a devastating toll on American industry. We have 
lost 3 million jobs in this country as a result of these unfair trade 
deals. Many of those workers were in well-paying manufacturing sectors.
  In my own State of Michigan we have lost over 150 jobs. They have 
simply evaporated.
  So when fast track proponents argue that this fast track authority 
will boost the economy, we need to be clear. If we pass fast track, the 
only thing we will boost is the unemployment rate, and it is already 
going up too fast. Fast track is a divisive issue being pushed on 
American workers at a time when they can least afford it. While 
unemployment soars and more layoffs are in sight, we cannot put even 
more jobs in jeopardy and undermine an already weak economy.
  There are many ways that we can work together to help American 
workers and get our economy moving again. Fast track simply is not one 
of them. This is not the time to pull the rug out from underneath 
American workers just as they are struggling to get back on their feet.
  If we want to do something to help them, let us do a decent 
unemployment compensation benefit. Only 40 percent of the people who 
are laid off in our country get any unemployment compensation, and in 
many States like my State of Michigan, the payout has been frozen for 6 
or 7 years. It is pathetically low. People cannot make their mortgage 
payment. They cannot make their insurance premium. They cannot make 
their health care premium on what they are given through unemployment 
if they are lucky to be part of the 40 percent that gets something at 
all. Let us do something on unemployment compensation.
  Let us do something on health care, making sure that they get a 
benefit that will take care of their premium so that they can have 
health care for themselves and their families. Let us do something 
about retraining to make the transition.
  Mr. Speaker, fast track is the wrong issue at the wrong time for the 
American people, and I hope my colleagues will see to it, it never 
reaches this floor.

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                              {time}  1945