[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 8633]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 THE DWINDLING MANUFACTURING BASE AND HIGH-TECH INDUSTRY IN U.S.: WHAT 
                          IT MEANS FOR AMERICA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Smith) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SMITH of Michigan. Madam Speaker, I want to relate to a problem 
that I see as real in this country, so I am going to talk for a couple 
of minutes about losing our manufacturing base. Now, it looks like we 
are losing our high-tech jobs in this country. Then, secondly, how 
serious a situation is it, and then maybe third, what are we going to 
do about it.
  Over the last 30 years, we have lost our manufacturing base as we 
have made the transition towards a service economy. A lot of that 
service economy has been in the area of high technology. I happen to be 
chairman of the Subcommittee on Research of the Committee on Science, 
and one of the concerns is what is happening to outsourcing as more and 
more American companies are sending their engineering work overseas.
  In the last 2 years, in the last 2 years, we have lost over 560,000 
high-tech jobs. Why is that?
  It is a situation where other countries are doing it cheaper. 
Companies have decided that they are going to outsource and put related 
factories and facilities in India, in the Pakistans, and any country 
where they can get these quality engineers to do the work cheaper; and 
of course, with our new technology and our ability to communicate so 
rapidly with the Internet, it does not make a great deal of difference 
whether one is down the hall or whether one is over in India or some 
other country.
  In relation to repairing automobiles, it is now suggested that within 
a few years, because of the computerization of those automobiles, a lot 
of the mechanical work is going to be done by computers, again 
remotely; so it is not going to make any difference if the local repair 
shop plugs in their computer or if it is done by some shop overseas.
  In the manufacturing industry, which I think we also have to be just 
as concerned with, we have, over the last 10 years, gone from almost 18 
percent of our total working population in manufacturing to a situation 
today that is a little over 12 percent. If we care about the future of 
jobs and good-paying jobs for our kids and our grandkids, then it is a 
situation that we need to consider.
  What are some of the possible ways that we can deal with this 
problem? One, of course, I think is taxation, and we are going to be 
discussing that for the next several weeks. Our taxes now on business 
are approximately 17 percent higher than if that business were in 
another country.

                              {time}  1930

  One of the keys that I see is doing a much better job with matching 
math and science education. This has to be a priority as we are 
starting to limit the number of foreign students that can come in and 
do our research work. On research, what do we think, I ask my 
colleagues, is the percentage of our research done at universities in 
this country that is done by foreign students? Over 50 percent. So 
science and math have to be a priority.
  We have had several hearings on science and math. The witnesses 
suggested that the learning in K through 12 is more a matter of 
excitement and enthusiasm and lighting a fire under people to be 
curious rather than filling a container with knowledge. I asked, when 
is this fire lit for science and math? And most of the witnesses said 
probably between 4 years old and 6 years old. So if we miss out on 
lighting the fire with parents that are interested, with communications 
that are going to stimulate the interest of those parents and those 
students and quality teachers, then it is going to be tough to light 
that fire in the future.
  In conclusion, Madam Speaker, I just suggest that it has to be a real 
concern for our future economy and for future jobs; and for the 
relative wealth and influence this country has, that we need to pay 
attention to losing our manufacturing base and now losing our high-tech 
base. Part of that solution has to be fair taxes, and part has to be a 
better job with math and science education.

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