[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2303]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             JOBS RECESSION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, after 3 years in the White House, President 
Bush still has not figured out how to create jobs for Americans here in 
the United States. The economy has yet to grow to the point where 
companies feel confident in hiring new employees. Accordingly, millions 
of Americans remain unemployed, some for so long they have actually 
given up their job search. If the jobs recession does not end soon and 
the economy does not create 2.1 million jobs this year, then President 
Bush will be the first President since President Hoover to preside over 
an economy in which he did not create one net job.
  One of the major reasons for the current jobs recession is the 
increased exporting of high-paying white- and blue-collar jobs 
overseas. Fortunately, this phenomenon has not hit New Jersey as hard 
as States like Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, and Georgia. However, 
New Jersey has still suffered.
  I want Members to consider several examples from the township of 
Edison in my congressional district. This week a Ford plant is 
scheduled to close, leaving more than 900 New Jersey employees without 
jobs. Last year, the Frigidaire air conditioning plant closed in Edison 
and shifted production to Brazil, leaving 1,600 people unemployed.
  One would think that the Bush administration would be concerned about 
these job losses. Two weeks ago, however, we learned President Bush and 
his economic advisers view the movement of American factory jobs and 
white-collar work to other families as a positive transformation that 
will in the end enrich our economy.
  The President's chief economist, Gregory Mankiw, made national 
headlines earlier this month when he said, ``Outsourcing is just a new 
way of doing international trade. More things are tradeable than were 
tradeable in the past, and that is a good thing.'' President Bush 
supported this view in his annual economic report in which he wrote, 
``When a good or service is produced more cheaply abroad, it makes more 
sense to import it than make it or provide it domestically here in the 
United States.''
  It is no wonder the President thinks our economic forecast is so 
rosy. He is not concerned about creating jobs here in the United 
States; sending jobs overseas is fine with him. How can we have an 
economic success if we send jobs overseas, but do not create enough new 
jobs with comparable wages here in the United States? It is clear the 
President and his economic team are not concerned about that at all.
  These statements from President Bush and his economic advisers are 
particularly worrisome after Congress narrowly approved legislation 
last year that would give the President free rein to negotiate trade 
agreements with foreign governments without the ability of Congress to 
amend the agreements.
  I opposed the so-called fast track trading negotiation authority 
because I was concerned the Bush administration would use it to 
sacrifice American jobs for cheaper imports. In an attempt to further 
expand international free trade, the administration is now in the 
process of negotiating an agreement between the United States and 
Central America that could potentially begin another exodus of American 
jobs to the south.
  Mr. Speaker, I would say that such agreements will do nothing to 
create jobs here in the United States, and perhaps that is why 
President Bush and some of his leading economic advisers are backing 
away from another statement in that same annual economic report of the 
President in which the administration predicted 2.6 million jobs would 
be created this year. Just 1 week after the release of the report, both 
Treasury Secretary John Snow and Commerce Secretary Donald Evans 
refused to embrace President Bush's own economic projections because 
they know that is not going to happen.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time the Bush administration realizes shipping 
jobs overseas and cutting taxes for the wealthy elite in our country 
will not create jobs. President Bush and congressional Republicans have 
had 3 years to turn this jobs recession around. They have totally 
failed. It is time for Congress to pass measures that will encourage 
companies to keep jobs here in the United States. It is time we level 
the playing field and protect American jobs here, rather than 
continuing to export them overseas.

                          ____________________