[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 11444-11445]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        AMERICA'S TRADE DEFICIT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, the Commerce Department has just reported 
the latest economic news and the trade deficit figures, and the story 
is not good. America's trade deficit in March surged sharply, reaching 
the second

[[Page 11445]]

highest monthly deficit in history. This means thousands more lost 
jobs. This chart illustrates the increasing number of jobs we are 
losing every year due to the imbalance of our trade accounts.
  In March, exports exceeded imports by over $43.5 billion, just that 
month, and the main culprit was oil. To feed our addiction to oil, 
American consumers paid out in March $9.1 billion alone for imported 
petroleum. Do people really understand what is happening? We are 
transferring wealth out of the United States and into foreign hands. 
For every dollar of imported petroleum, we are giving Saudi Arabia, 
7\1/2\ cents; Mexico, 6\1/2\ cents; Canada, 6\1/2\ cents; Venezuela, 
6\1/2\ cents; and Nigeria, 2\1/2\ cents for every single gallon of 
gasoline we use. In a year, this results in billions of our dollars 
being transferred in income to dictatorships. Over a decade we are 
talking about trillions of dollars of wealth transferred abroad.
  As my colleagues can see, much of this money is going to prop up 
corrupt oil regimes, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Nigeria, Colombia. Just 
imagine if America achieved energy independence here at home instead of 
sending $9.1 billion more out of America in March. We would be 
investing $9.1 billion in the economic future of our own communities, 
every single month, in new jobs, new fuels, new energy technologies 
right here at home.
  Again, in this Congress I am the sponsor of the Bioenergy 
Independence Act, which currently has 16 cosponsors representing 10 
different States. Despite all the events of recent months, the Bush 
administration has no policy for weaning America from its dangerous and 
growing dependence on foreign oil. Quite the opposite. The Bush-Cheney 
administration is of the oil companies, by the oil companies and for 
the oil companies. The oil companies have eliminated the middleman and 
put their own people in the Department of the Interior, in the 
Department of Energy, and, indeed, in the Vice President's residence 
and the White House.
  The Biofuels Energy Independence Act of 2003 would authorize the 
Secretary of Agriculture to make and guarantee loans for biofuel 
production, distribution, development and storage. The goal of my 
legislation is energy independence for America. Energy independence is 
essential for our economic future and our national security.
  I do not want to depend on unstable foreign sources of energy. We 
should use our own domestic sources. The power is growing in the fields 
of Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, coast to coast, and farmers need income from 
the market, not from the government.
  I do not want to support dictatorships, and I know the American 
people do not either. No longer will we depend on corrupt foreign 
powers such as the House of Saud or the Obasanjo administration in 
Nigeria or Chavez in Venezuela. Instead, we will empower our own local 
communities and revitalize our agriculture economy, which is on life 
support now in the form of government subsidies.
  At the same time, we will build a stronger economy. From coast to 
coast, we will create American jobs and American businesses for 
American companies, used by American consumers, and we will lower this 
job-killing trade deficit which gets worse every month and the job 
deficit it is creating coast to coast.

                              {time}  1745

  After the trade numbers came out yesterday, the chief economist at 
Wells Fargo said this: ``I don't know how long we can maintain this 
type of red ink year after year decade after decade without causing 
substantial damage to the dollar and our economy.'' Many of us in the 
House have been talking for years about the dangers of this growing 
trade deficit.
  We are quickly approaching the moment in history when foreign 
interests own half the outstanding debt of our country, and we now pay 
them over $400 billion a year in interest: the leading country, China, 
followed by Japan, followed by Saudi Arabia. $400 billion a year in 
interest to them every year is as much as we spend on the Department of 
Defense. It is huge. Imagine if we could help give that money to the 
State of California, which is in bankruptcy, the State of Ohio, all the 
States in our Union that are so short on funds.
  Achieving energy independence by relying on homegrown sources of 
energy will help America avoid the danger that an ever-increasing trade 
deficit poses to America's economy and our future.

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