[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 12336-12337]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     SUPPORT THE DECENT WORKING CONDITIONS AND FAIR COMPETITION ACT

  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to replace 
Mr. Pallone.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentleman from Ohio 
is recognized for 5 minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, if you live in Toledo or Dayton or 
Youngstown, or if you live in Mansfield, Ohio, or Hamilton, Ohio, or 
Lima, Ohio, you know that the Federal Government's trade policies are 
undermining American manufacturers. And if you live in Marion or 
Portsmouth or Springfield, Ohio, you know that our trade policies are 
encouraging the spread of abusive sweatshop practices.
  China is the world's sweatshop leader, with repressive labor policies 
resulting in wage suppression of as much as 85 percent. We all know 
that American workers can compete in a global economy on a level 
playing field, but no one can compete with prison labor, child labor or 
sweatshop labor. The result, a U.S. trade deficit with China that 
breaks records year after year, an increasing loss of U.S. 
manufacturing jobs to China. In my State alone, in Ohio, 42,000 jobs 
have been lost to China since the year 2001. Much of that job loss has 
been as a result of China's unfair trade practices. Yet America's trade 
agreements are actually encouraging the development of new sweatshops.
  All of us in this body supported the U.S.-Jordan Free Trade Agreement 
because Jordan's labor protections were seen as meeting international 
standards. But the New York Times reported just last month that in the 
few years since the Jordan Free Trade Agreement took effect, lax 
enforcement and an abusive guest worker system have made Jordan the new 
haven for some of the world's most brutal sweatshops.
  Senator Byron Dorgan and I have introduced the Decent Working 
Conditions and Fair Competition Act to end sweatshop profiteering. The 
bill bars the importation, the exportation or the sale of goods made 
with prisoner sweatshop labor. In other words, if a product is made by 
child labor or by forced prison camp labor, you can't import it into 
the United States, you can't sell it in the United States.
  The bill charges the Federal Trade Commission with enforcement, and 
gives manufacturers, competitors, retailers and shareholders a right to 
hold violators accountable. The bill prohibits Federal Government 
agencies from buying goods made with prison or sweatshop labor.

[[Page 12337]]

  We cannot afford to continue to turn a blind eye to these abuses. 
Sweatshop imports are a moral crime. They violate the values of our 
families, of our faith and of the history of this country. They are a 
moral crime against the working men and women, and, I am afraid, 
working children of the developing nations.
  Sweatshop imports are economic suicide for our country. As we import 
sweatshop goods, we export American jobs, we weaken the bargaining 
position of U.S. workers fighting for wages with which they can 
actually support their families.
  The heart of America's economy has always been a vigorous middle-
income consumer class. Henry Ford knew that. That is why he paid his 
workers a wage that would allow them to buy the cars that they made, to 
share the wealth they create, to buy the cars that they made.
  By driving U.S. wages down, we weaken the American consumer market, 
we undercut our greatest economic power, and we lose jobs in so many of 
our communities. And when we lose jobs in places like Marion, Ohio, and 
Zanesville, Ohio, we hurt our communities, we hurt our families, we lay 
off police officers, we cut back on the fire department, our classrooms 
get larger as teachers get laid off. It hurts our communities, and it 
is wrong for our country.
  I ask my fellow Members of the House to please support the 
legislation that I mentioned tonight, the Decent Working Conditions and 
Fair Competition Act.

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