[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 16176-16177]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    THE RED INK KEEPS GETTING DEEPER

  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 topic of my remarks tonight will be 
``The Red Ink Keeps Getting Deeper.''
  If we look at the trade procedure the Bush administration wants 
Congress to pass called Fast Track, we should know that it is shorthand 
for Congress blindly signing away its constitutionally granted duty to 
regulate commerce with foreign nations. That is right in the 
Constitution. Under Fast Track procedure, Congress loses any 
opportunity to negotiate, amend, or improve the Bush administration's 
misguided trade policy.
  We have seen what happens when Congress hands the reins over to the 
executive branch. When we look at our soaring trade deficit and our 
ravaged middle-class communities, we see how Congress could have 
improved each one of the trade agreements we were forced to consider as 
a whole under what was called Fast Track. It is like a fast ball 
through here that you can't even amend.
  The Commerce Department just released an example of the Bush 
administration's horrendous leadership on this issue. The first quarter 
account for 2007 is another $193 billion deficit in the red, which 
totals 5.7 percent of GDP, a total drag on economic growth in this 
country. And, in fact, this quarter's debt is larger than the last 
quarter of 2006. The red ink keeps getting deeper every single quarter.
  Our national security is forced to take a back seat to foreign 
investment while workers lose their pensions and their health benefits 
or their jobs, and illegal immigrants scramble across our borders 
attempting to flee the destruction caused by our failed trade policies 
in those countries. This should not be happening.
  When Congress reclaims our power to amend trade agreements, we can 
use trade policy in a manner to level the playing field, to help people 
and not just fan the flames of more corporate greed in the global 
marketplace.
  Congress cannot accept Fast Track in any form. We must demand and 
create a new model for trade that has not just a logic but also an 
ethic. We must bring people back into the trade equation, not just 
investors.
  Our trade policy touches people around the world, from middle-class 
Americans in the heart of this country to Mexican corn and bean farmers 
facing extinction come next January as some of NAFTA's provisions phase 
out for them. Our trade policy touches factory workers in China toiling 
for starvation wages.
  We, as most powerful Nation in the world, must accept our 
responsibility to protect people from corporate greed and our own 
people from security risks. We cannot trust President Bush to defend 
our jobs. We have seen he has not been able to do that. And we cannot 
watch him dictate trade policies that Congress is blocked from 
amending. We have to take the responsibility given to us in our 
Constitution.
  Instead of approving more lopsided trade agreements, Congress should 
fix our current situation. Trade should

[[Page 16177]]

create jobs in America. It should not exploit Third World workers. It 
should elevate, not reduce, America's image abroad. Congress should 
fund the North American Development Bank to support job creation in 
communities where jobs have been offshored and outsourced. And we 
should require our trade competitors to adhere to environmental 
standards. We should abolish child labor worldwide. We should stop 
labor trafficking. And we should fix our broken immigration system that 
is so tied to failed trade policies. A new trade model must be created 
that meets America's most principled values, democratic rights and 
justice for all.
  Under Fast Track authority, however, Congress cannot even control our 
own floor schedule. President Bush will decide what policy we consider 
and when we vote on it. We simply can't accept that. Congress must 
reclaim its own power. Democrats must lead the way to a more sensible 
and ethical trade policy that brings prosperity to people here at home 
as well as around the world, restores our reputation abroad, and 
advances democratic principles, that's with a small ``d,'' respect for 
people.
  The world has suffered at the hands of Bush administration trade 
policies for too long. I urge my colleagues to join me in opposing any 
more blank checks for this President or any President who tries to move 
a trade agreement through here on renewing Fast Track. Congress ought 
to reject Fast Track and we should stop making the red ink deeper.

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