[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 6232-6233]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              TRADE POLICY

  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, it is only Tuesday, and already we have a 
laundry list this week of reasons why we need a new direction for trade 
policy in our country.
  First, we learned that Halliburton, the beneficiary of more than $20 
billion in no-bid Government contracts, is going to, in a sense, take 
the money and run by moving its headquarters out of the United States 
and to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Then we learned the United 
States is again discussing trade deals with the United Arab Emirates. 
These trade talks first fell apart last year during the Dubai Ports 
World scandal.
  Because of our fundamentally flawed trade policy, our Government 
nearly sold our port security to state-owned companies in the Middle 
East, and because of our fundamentally flawed trade policy, our 
Government continued to award no-bid contracts to Halliburton despite 
the fact that its subsidiaries have come under fire for doing business 
with the Government of Iran and for potential contract fraud in Iraq. 
It is time for a trade policy that rewards good corporate citizens, not 
one that allows our Nation's security assets to be sold to the highest 
bidder.
  Last November, in my home State of Ohio, voters from Toledo to 
Steubenville, from Chillicothe to Lorain, from Dayton to Youngstown 
spoke out for change in our Nation's trade policy.
  For too long, our Government has stood idly by as U.S. companies that 
benefit from our tax policy, that get Government contracts, that 
benefit from community support move their operations overseas. For too 
long, our Government has pursued fundamentally flawed trade agreements 
that fail to secure labor and other standards, fail to establish a 
policy to support business development at home, and fail to provide for 
national security reviews.
  But in this Congress, a new direction has begun. Thirty Members, last 
week, of a fair trade coalition, that began

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with the Central American Free Trade Agreement, gathered on Capitol 
Hill to reaffirm that we need a new direction for trade. Senator 
Dorgan, Senator Graham, and I have introduced legislation that would 
ban sweatshop imports and address concerns with China.
  What is more distressing than Halliburton's news to abandon the 
United States for the Mideast is that it owes the Government at least 
$2.7 billion as a result of bad, possibly even illegal business 
practices in Iraq--practices which allowed for contaminated water to be 
served to our troops, which hired unauthorized security forces, and 
which shamelessly overcharged our Government. Will Halliburton pay 
their debt before leaving town or will they try to leave American 
taxpayers--who have already afforded them billions in profits--holding 
the bag? Congress must do all it can to assess the debt and ensure that 
Halliburton, before they leave town, pays their debt to our country.
  It is unclear whether the administration will take any action to 
safeguard our Nation's interests when it comes to Halliburton, but it 
is clear they are not yet ready for a new direction on trade. The 
latest attempt at another flawed trade agreement is not even inked, and 
the first corporation is moving offshore.
  That is why we need a new direction for trade. That is why we need a 
trade policy that rewards companies that keep production, and 
headquarters, in the United States, investing at home as well as in 
opportunities abroad. That is why, as we learned during the Dubai Ports 
scandal, we need a national security review of all future trade 
agreements.
  Halliburton's decision to relocate its headquarters also underscores 
the critical importance of freeing our Nation from its addiction to 
oil.
  Government should foster a climate where companies are rewarded for 
being good patriot corporations. It is time our Government stop 
rewarding the Halliburtons of the world and start investing in those 
businesses that want to help build our Nation, not cheat us and then 
leave us.

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