[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 12229-12232]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1615
 EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES REGARDING REBATE 
                                 CHECKS

  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree 
to the resolution (H. Res. 977) expressing the sense of the House of 
Representatives that rebate checks would better stimulate the economy 
if spent on American-made products and services from American-owned 
companies.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 977

       Whereas many economists believe the economy of the United 
     States is entering a recession;
       Whereas the economy lost 17,000 jobs in January 2008 and 
     191,000 in 2007;
       Whereas the manufacturing sector lost 269,000 jobs over the 
     past 12 months and 28,000 jobs in January 2008 alone;
       Whereas manufacturing employment now accounts for less than 
     10 percent of the job market for the first time since data 
     began being collected in the 1930s;
       Whereas in January 2008, 18.3 percent of those unemployed 
     had been out of work for 27 weeks or longer, up from 16.2 
     percent a year earlier;
       Whereas manufactured goods imported from developing 
     countries have grown from just 2.5 percent of the gross 
     domestic product in 1990 to 6 percent in 2006;
       Whereas annually, total housing starts decreased in 2007 to 
     1,353,700, which is a 24.8 percent decrease from the 2006 
     estimate of 1,800,900;
       Whereas Congress and the President responded to the 
     potential recession by passing into law a bipartisan stimulus 
     package that provides rebate checks of up to $600 per 
     individual and $1,200 per married couple, plus an additional 
     $300 per child;
       Whereas the stimulus legislation will put money back into 
     the hands of low-income and middle-income Americans, those 
     who need it most;
       Whereas the stimulus legislation will be most effective if 
     the rebate checks are spent on American-made goods and 
     services from American-owned companies;
       Whereas American-made goods are the best in the world;
       Whereas every dollar from the stimulus package spent on an 
     American-made good or service, rather than a foreign-made 
     good or service, will result in more than a dollar increase 
     in the short-term gross domestic product;
       Whereas if rebate checks are spent on American-made 
     products and services from American-owned companies, an 
     additional $10,000,000,000 will be infused into the economy;
       Whereas the annual trade deficit has grown to the 
     $700,000,000,000 range in the past decade, up from the 
     $100,000,000,000 range in the early 1990s;
       Whereas buying American-made goods would not add to the 
     size of the growing trade deficit, which many economists 
     contend is unreasonably large;
       Whereas there have been concerns about the safety of 
     imported goods, spurred by the fact that 60 percent of 
     product recalls in the past year involved Chinese-made toys, 
     food ingredients, and other products; and
       Whereas many countries do not follow the same 
     environmental, labor, and human rights standards of the 
     United States, putting American workers and companies at a 
     competitive disadvantage: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives encourages 
     Americans to use their rebate checks from the stimulus 
     package to purchase American-made goods and services from 
     American-owned companies.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. DeGette). Pursuant to the rule, the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Butterfield) and the gentleman from 
Nebraska (Mr. Terry) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from North Carolina.


                             General Leave

  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous materials.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from North Carolina?

[[Page 12230]]

  There was no objection.
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 977, which is 
sponsored by my friend and colleague, Representative Bruce Braley of 
the State of Iowa. This important resolution encourages Americans to 
spend their rebate checks on goods and services produced by American-
owned companies.
  I would note that Representative Braley cannot speak on behalf of his 
resolution today because he has returned to his district due to the 
widespread flooding there in the State of Iowa. I know that my 
colleagues join me in wishing Representative Braley and his 
constituents a swift recovery from this disaster.
  The economic stimulus package signed into law this past February by 
the President will put money back into the pockets of many hard-working 
Americans. If they spend their rebates on American-made goods and 
services, as this resolution would encourage them to do, they will 
inject an estimated $10 billion back into the U.S. economy at a time 
when it needs it the most. Moreover, by spending their money on 
domestic products, Americans will also help reduce our country's 
skyrocketing trade deficit.
  H. Res. 977, which has the support of more than 100 Members of this 
body, would augment the Federal economic stimulus package by reminding 
Americans of the importance of purchasing American-produced goods and 
services to help our flagging national economy. I urge the House to 
support passage of this noteworthy resolution.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. TERRY. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, we rise not in any opposition to this at all and in 
support. We thank Mr. Braley for bringing this made-in-America 
resolution to the floor today. We too on this side of the aisle want to 
reach out and give our condolences and our best wishes to his 
constituents in Iowa that are dealing with the flooding.
  Now, let's look at this resolution very quickly. It states some of 
the obvious things about our economy; that since the Democrats took 
over in 2007 that we have lost 17,000 jobs, and since that same time 
when the Democrats took over in Congress, we have lost another 269,000 
jobs over the past 12 months within manufacturing, making it the lowest 
time in our modern history, where only 10 percent of the jobs, or 
first-time jobs being created, are in the manufacturing business. That 
has always been kind of the backbone of America's economy, and those 
things have been changing.
  Then at the beginning of 2008, probably one of the more remarkable 
things and frankly what I think people look to Congress to actually do, 
you have the Republicans, Democrats and White House all working 
together, and within a couple of weeks had a pretty good stimulus bill. 
We knew that the economy was slowing down, that unemployment was 
increasing, and we did what the American public required of us and got 
a bill passed that stimulated the economy by helping small businesses 
with some accelerated depreciation. But the heart of it was getting 
money back out through what we call the stimulus checks to eligible 
families.
  Mr. Bruce Braley suggests in this resolution, that I think we are 
going to adopt today, certainly we are in support of it, says that it 
helps our economy more if we buy products that are made in America. Of 
course, those products are made by people employed in America, and it 
will have a cyclical turn of the dollar where it goes to not only that 
company, but those people working there, which then in turn they get to 
spend within their community and it turns over.
  But one of my fears, well, not fears, but let's just say concerns, is 
that now with the gas prices everywhere over $4, it hit $4 in almost 
every gas station back in Nebraska in my district yesterday, that the 
stimulus checks aren't going for what we thought they were going to go 
to, and that is for consumers to have a nice little chunk of change 
where they could go out and buy an appliance, something that they need 
in their home, something that they can reach out and really help with 
the bigger dollar item that helps to really stimulate the economy. Now 
it is probably going to go to just filling up the gas tank.
  We have got two cars in our family that are smaller cars. My Camry, I 
put over $70 in filling up in Omaha this weekend. I can't imagine what 
bigger families are doing to keep up with this. So, frankly, if we want 
to go even a step further and stimulate our economy more, what we 
should do in addition to these stimulus checks is adopt an energy plan 
that will actually increase supply and lower the price of gasoline at 
the pump.
  We can do this by embracing a very comprehensive approach to energy. 
We have got alternative fuels like coal-to-liquid. And, by the way, 
last week during the Department of Defense reauthorization, this 
Congress adopted a policy of banning the Air Force from engaging in 
contracts to buy coal-to-liquid as a synthetic aviation fuel.
  We can use cellulosic energy. We are going to have about 13 small 
micro-pilot plants come on within the next couple of years. We can do 
things to speed that up, by passing a tax credit that is more than 1 
year, like we did a couple of years ago, instead of adopting the 5-year 
plan that this side of the aisle was pushing.
  We can also not only use those types of alternatives that have such 
great promise that we can use in a mix, but we can also do 
conservation. We want to encourage people to conserve not only the 
electricity in their home, but we are talking about fuel here to create 
a supply that will lower the price at the gas pump, which is a not-so-
hidden tax on American families. We can do that by incenting, providing 
a tax credit for more than 1 year, for people to buy in plug-in 
electric hybrids. Some American manufacturers are going to start 
rolling those out next year, but they will be more expensive. So we 
want to incent people to buy those. If we can do a blend and conserve, 
we can take a large step towards energy independence.
  We can get fully independent of all OPEC oil if we add one more prong 
to this plan, and that is allow offshore drilling. Right now we have 
China working through Cuba that is getting to within about 60 miles of 
the Florida shore, but yet we can't have American companies do that.
  We can open up oil shale. Last year, about November, we had a vote on 
this floor that banned the ability to get oil from oil shale in 
Colorado and Wyoming. We just found another large pocket of oil from 
oil shale in North Dakota. I wonder when that is going to be banned to 
use.
  So if we bring our own resources together with all of the 
alternatives, we can bring the price of gas down rather dramatically 
and be independent. And if we can bring the price down, have a stable 
supply of energy under this type of a comprehensive plan, the American 
consumers, the families, can expect stable gas prices for a generation 
or more as we work towards completely going off of fossil fuels, to 
like a hydrogen economy.
  So while we stand on this side of the aisle in favor of this 
resolution to buy American, my fear is that the reality is most of this 
stimulus money is going to be going to the OPEC countries when we fill 
up our tax tanks.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to my friend and 
colleague the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur), who is the longest-
serving female currently in this body.
  Ms. KAPTUR. I thank Chairman Butterfield for yielding and for his 
kindness in allowing me to rise in support of H. Res. 977, encouraging 
Americans to expend their rebates to stimulate our economy the most by 
buying and investing in goods and products made right here in the good 
old USA.
  Congressman Bruce Braley of Iowa is to be commended for bringing such 
a sensible bill to the floor. The voters of Iowa were smart to send him 
here. He has obtained over 106 cosponsors on this bipartisan bill. We 
know as we debate this today, he is out in his district trying to help 
the families there who

[[Page 12231]]

have been hurt by the terrible, terrible flooding. We know he is not 
just working there, but he is working here as well, and has the deep 
respect of his colleagues.
  Rebate checks spent here in America on American goods will better 
stimulate our economy. Buying American products and American services 
from American-owned companies, purchasing U.S. farm products produced 
in this country or processed here, buying U.S. Savings Bonds, if you 
want to save, all keep jobs and income here. Indeed, buying fuel that 
contains ethanol or biodiesel from U.S. farmers helps America.
  With the U.S. trade deficit soaring towards $1 trillion in red ink, 
investing in America makes more sense today, and I spell that S-E-N-S-E 
and C-E-N-T-S, than ever before. Today we were reminded of the softness 
in our economy with the announcement that the Chrysler Building in New 
York City, one of America's historic landmarks, will be purchased by a 
Middle Eastern oil conglomerate from Abu Dubai, just another sign of 
America's shrinking independence here at home. Spending a stimulus 
check on foreign-made goods stimulates the Abu Dubai economy or the 
Chinese economy or the Mexican economy. Expending those precious 
dollars here at home or saving them in U.S. Savings Bonds strengthens 
communities across our country.
  So I would urge my colleagues and our fellow citizens to buy America, 
buy made-in-America, invest in jobs here. Use your stimulus check to 
build a stronger Nation. Now is the hour for all good men and women to 
use their rebate checks to come to the aid of their country.
  I thank the gentleman very much for yielding to me, and urge my 
colleagues to support H. Res. 977.
  Mr. TERRY. Madam Speaker, we have no further speakers, so I will just 
make a quick statement and close. I just once again thank Mr. Braley of 
Iowa for bringing this resolution to the floor and wish him and his 
constituents the best.
  We on this side of the aisle want these stimulus checks to be spent 
within America. Hopefully they can spend it on American-made energy.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back my time.
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Madam Speaker, it is true that I have no further 
speakers at this time. I am going to close and bring this to a vote in 
just a few minutes. But I want to thank not only Mr. Braley for 
bringing this resolution, but thank Mr. Terry for his support of the 
resolution and for his willingness to urge his colleagues to support it 
as well.

                              {time}  1630

  Mr. Terry is a very capable member of the Energy and Commerce 
Committee. We have an excellent relationship with Mr. Terry and thank 
him for his leadership.
  I also want to thank Mr. Terry for his comments regarding energy 
independence. There is no question that Democrats are committed to 
energy independence. We are certainly painfully aware of the price that 
Americans are paying at the pump. The Democratic majority is working 
very hard to correct the problem and to find solutions for our people.
  Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Madam Speaker, today I encourage constituents to 
``Buy American.''
  Unfortunately, I am unable to speak on the floor today in support of 
H. Res. 977 because of a developing crisis in Iowa's 1st Congressional 
District. Massive flooding is leading to evacuations and it is only 
expected to get worse. Although I realize how important it is to cast 
votes in Washington, the well-being of my constituents comes first, and 
I need to be in the district to assist in any way I can.
  This January 29th Congress passed a bipartisan economic stimulus bill 
that provides rebate checks of up to $600 per individual and $1200 per 
married couple, plus an additional $300 per child. This stimulus 
package is temporary, timely, and targeted, and it will bring relief to 
working families. On February 13th President Bush signed this stimulus 
legislation into law.
  Just prior to that, on February 12th, I introduced H. Res. 977, a 
bipartisan Congressional resolution urging Americans receiving economic 
stimulus bill tax refund checks to buy American-made goods or services 
from American-owned companies with these rebates.
  Under the economic stimulus package passed by the House and Senate, 
1.2 million Iowa households--and 117 million American households--will 
receive a tax rebate. The average Iowa household will receive a rebate 
of $917.
  The purpose of the economic stimulus package is to provide a jump-
start to the American economy. The economic stimulus legislation will 
put money back into the hands of low-income and middle-income 
Americans--those who need it most.
  In 2007 the U.S. manufacturing sector lost 269,000 jobs. 
Manufacturing employment now accounts for less than 10 percent of the 
job market for the first time since data began being collected in the 
1930s. Buying American would help keep manufacturing jobs in the United 
States.
  The annual trade deficit has grown to the $700 billion range in the 
past decade, up from the $100 billion range in the early 1990s. If 
constituents use their rebate checks to ``Buy American,'' they will not 
be contributing to the size of the growing trade deficit, which many 
economists contend is unreasonably large.
  If the millions of American families receiving tax rebates from the 
stimulus spend their checks on American-made goods and services, the 
effect of the stimulus will be magnified. Buying American will infuse 
an additional $10 billion into the American economy, creating jobs here 
in America and helping to narrow our growing trade deficit.
  I am proud this bill has been endorsed by a long list of 
organizations, including the Communications Workers of America; United 
Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America; 
United Steelworkers; International Brotherhood of Boilermakers; 
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers; United 
American Nurses; United Mineworkers of America; Air Line Pilots 
Association; American Federation of Teachers; International Federation 
of Professional and Technical Engineers; National Association of Letter 
Carriers; Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO; and the 
United Association of Pipefitters and Plumbers.
  I want to thank Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell 
and Ranking Member Joe Barton, for their support in bringing this 
important legislation to the Floor.
  I'm pleased this bill has such strong bipartisan support, with 106 of 
my colleagues as cosponsors. I want to thank them for joining me today 
in letting the American people know we are behind them when it comes to 
doing everything we can to promote a strong U.S. economy and to ensure 
access to stable, good-paying jobs.
  Mr. DINGELL. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Res. 
977. This resolution, introduced by my friend and colleague 
Representative Braley of Iowa, encourages Americans to spend their 
stimulus payments on American-made goods and services.
  Our Nation's recent economic troubles have hit both American 
consumers and businesses hard. I believe that the bipartisan stimulus 
package passed by the Congress and signed into law by the President 
will help alleviate some of these troubles, provided that consumer 
spending is directed wisely. The Braley resolution is an important and 
quite necessary reminder of the billions of dollars that could uplift 
the National economy, provided Americans spend their rebate checks on 
goods and services produced by American-owned companies. Moreover, with 
import prices rising and the mammoth trade deficit of our country, it 
strikes me as eminently prudent to encourage citizens to ``buy 
American.''
  As one of the more than 100 cosponsors of H. Res. 977, I urge my 
colleagues in the House to adopt this sensible resolution, which raises 
the awareness of Americans about the vital role they play in the 
Nation's economic recovery.
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Butterfield) that the House suspend 
the rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 977.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

[[Page 12232]]



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