[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 26001]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       THE ECONOMY'S TRUE VICTIMS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Green) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to remind my 
colleagues of our most pressing domestic problem, the plight of our 
unemployed workers. I really should not have to offer this reminder to 
my colleagues. The recent newspaper headlines and the heart-wrenching 
stories from our unemployed constituents should be reminder enough. But 
it looks like this Chamber's leadership unfortunately needs to be 
reminded that the true victims of this recession are not corporations, 
but the millions of Americans who have lost their jobs over the last 3 
years.
  It is no secret that our manufacturing industry has been the hardest 
hit. Of the 3.2 million jobs lost over the past 3 years, 2.7 million of 
them were good-paying manufacturing jobs that provide a livable wage 
and sustain this country's middle class. These job losses were not the 
result of increased American productivity. They are the result of 
flawed American tax and trade policies that actually provide incentives 
for American companies to ship their jobs overseas. That is right, to 
ship these jobs overseas. In the name of free trade, we have forced our 
companies to compete against businesses in countries with no or little 
environmental standards and labor standards and that pay their workers 
low wages. And how do our companies react? They are forced to scour 
their books to find any and every cost to cut. They cannot disregard 
environmental regulations because that is the law. They cannot deny 
their American workers fair labor protections because that is the law. 
But what they can do is reduce labor costs by moving production to an 
overseas land without these worker or environmental protections.
  Despite all that this country has sacrificed for free trade, the 
World Trade Organization, the WTO, has now ruled that this country's 
foreign sales corporation and extraterritorial income laws are illegal 
tax subsidies. Considering that these tax provisions were enacted 
specifically to help our manufacturing sector, this ruling comes at an 
extremely difficult time for the manufacturing and other export 
industries. With a staggering trade deficit that seems only to rise, 
the last thing our export industry needs is to be slapped with $4 
billion in sanctions from the WTO.
  So the answer is clear. Congress must fix the problem to comply with 
international trade law. If only it were so easy. Our friends on the 
Committee on Ways and Means, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Crane) 
and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel), have recognized the 
burden that a solution would place on our manufacturers who receive 
billions of dollars annually from these laws. They also recognize the 
tremendous impact that the manufacturing sector has on our country, 
that manufacturing has long been the engine of economic growth in this 
country. Not only does the manufacturing industry drive our gross 
domestic product, our GDP; it drives our job growth. In fact, every 
million dollars in manufacturing sales creates 14 jobs, eight in 
manufacturing and six in our service sector. In contrast, every million 
dollars sold in the service sector only creates 3.5 jobs.
  So when faced with tight budgets and record unemployment, it does not 
take a genius to see that we get the most bang for our buck by shoring 
up our manufacturing sector. The gentleman from Illinois and the 
gentleman from New York have put forth a bill that would fix this tax 
provision while mitigating the negative effects on our manufacturing 
industry. Most important, however, the aptly titled Jobs Protection Act 
would provide the necessary incentives to keep these well-paying 
manufacturing jobs here in the United States. With this bill they hit 
the nail on the head. The AFL-CIO knows it, the National Association of 
Manufacturers knows it, and 149 of my colleagues know that this is the 
right direction to go.
  Unfortunately, it is becoming all too clear that the fix is on. Just 
this morning, the Committee on Ways and Means chairman rammed a 
competing bill through his committee. Sure this bill fixes our problem 
with the WTO, but it only exacerbates the problems experienced by our 
manufacturing sector. They will tell you that the Thomas bill cuts the 
tax rate for manufacturing and production income, and it does; but it 
also includes a package of international tax provisions that only 
encourages companies to send more of their production jobs overseas. 
Sure we want to increase our exports, but I want those exports to be 
American products, not American jobs. The Thomas bill's focus on 
multinational corporations at the expense of our manufacturing workers 
is no way to restore strength to our ailing manufacturing sector. And 
it is no way to alleviate this country's unemployment problems, either.
  When we consider these issues, let us remember that our unemployed 
workers are the true victims of our economic downturn. Let us keep in 
mind that they are desperately depending on us to help them. Let us not 
let them down.

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