[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 16]
[Senate]
[Pages 21481-21482]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        MANUFACTURING AND TRADE

  Mr. BROWN. Madam President, last week in Cincinnati, President Obama 
joined thousands of Ohioans at the Nation's largest Labor Day picnic. 
Ohioans gathered together to celebrate our history of workers who 
transitioned our Nation from one industry to the next, sustaining our 
economy, creating the middle class, and strengthening the middle class.
  It is time once again to invest in our workers. It is time to invest 
in a national manufacturing policy.
  As Ohioans understand, manufacturing for so many is a ticket to the 
middle class, and Ohioans understand that a strong middle class makes a 
strong nation. That is why American workers deserves a manufacturing 
strategy that works for them.
  First, we must invest in manufacturing innovation. We should make 
research and development tax credits permanent to incentivize 
investment in emerging manufacturing industries, such as clean energy, 
so that the tax system is predictable so investors will bring money 
forward, especially for capital-intensive industries that create jobs 
such as wind and solar manufacturing.
  Second, a national manufacturing strategy must strengthen our 
component supply chain. Companies that make the parts for cars and 
trucks should be able to expand to make component parts for other 
industries, such as clean energy, aerospace, and biotechnology. If a 
company can make glass for a truck, they can make glass for solar 
panels. If a company can make gears for a car, they can make gear boxes 
for wind turbines.
  The Investments for Manufacturing Progress and Clean Technology Act, 
the IMPACT Act, I introduced 4 months ago, would provide a $30 billion 
revolving loan fund to help component part manufacturers transition to 
the clean energy economy.
  Third, we must better connect workers with jobs in emerging 
industries. Earlier this year, I introduced the Strengthening 
Employment Clusters to Organize Regional Success Act which will allow 
local communities to determine their workforce needs from the bottom 
up. Workforce investment boards working with local businesses, working 
with local community colleges, working with local organized labor could 
determine what they want to specialize in region by region, even within 
a State. That way workers will be retrained for jobs that actually 
exist, that are productive, and that build the middle class.
  Fourth, there must be improved Federal assistance for economically 
distressed communities. When a major plant closing results in massive 
job loss and economic decline, there must be a coordinated Federal 
response such as we are trying to do in Wilmington, OH, in response to 
the closing of DHL, the same way the Federal Government responds to 
disastrous base closings--disastrous in terms of what it does to local 
communities--and the same way the Federal Government responds to help a 
community to recover from a devastating flood or tornado.
  Fifth, a national manufacturing strategy must revamp how our Nation 
does trade. It must include fair trade policies that promote American 
manufacturing and level the playing field for workers and products 
alike.
  I applaud the President's decision Friday night to stand up and 
enforce fair trade rules that will save jobs, that will help our 
communities, that will strengthen the middle class.

[[Page 21482]]

  Since China joined the World Trade Organization, American workers 
have not been assured that the government would defend them against 
unfair trade. With this section 421 decision--a section of trade law 
that China agreed to during the permanent normal trade relations 
debate--President Obama has taken the side of American workers and 
American manufacturers.
  If American workers and manufacturers are going to compete in the 
global market, they need to have a government that uses the trade 
enforcement tools that exist, including the section 421 safeguard.
  As part of becoming a member of WTO, as I said, about a decade ago, 
China agreed to this so-called section 421 safeguard. Four times it has 
been invoked or been suggested by the International Trade Commission, a 
bipartisan, generally free trade arm of the Federal Government, four 
times President Bush backed off and let China have its way. This is the 
first President who stood up on this issue to actually enforce the 
trade laws that exist on the books to make our trade policy fairer and 
to help American workers.
  The data in this case on tires make clear that American workers are 
getting crushed by a surge in tire imports from China. Imports of these 
products more than doubled in volume and tripled in dollar value in 
only a 4-year period. During this time, domestic production obviously 
declined. Manufacturers could not sell their high-quality products and 
orders dropped. In many cases, there was no choice but to slow or even 
halt production.
  Take, for example, workers at the Denman Tire Company located in 
Leavittsburg, OH. I have been to that plant. That plant that has been 
in operation for almost 100 years produces a variety of tires. About 
half of its 2,600 units-per-day capacity is dedicated to the passenger 
and light truck tires that are the subject of this trade investigation. 
The facility employs 270 men and women in good-paying, skilled jobs 
that strengthen the middle class.
  Take, for example, workers at the Cooper Tire and Rubber facility in 
Findlay, OH. There over 1,100 workers produce some 22,000 units per 
day. The Cooper facility has also been in operation for almost a 
century.
  It is time our trade policies reflect our national interest and that 
we do not practice trade according to a textbook that was out of print 
20 years ago. It is time our trade laws were enforced to promote our 
goods and services--and our auto communities.
  Tomorrow the President travels to Lordstown, OH, a northeast Ohio 
community not far from Youngstown, where GM workers are building the 
next generation fuel-efficient vehicles, the most fuel-efficient 
vehicles in the GM fleet. Increased production of these vehicles 
invests in Ohio workers and invests in the future of our auto industry.
  We have a rare opportunity to reinvigorate manufacturing by helping 
to build demand for products and technologies in a brand new industry. 
We have not had an opportunity such as this in 40 years. We can build a 
new industry that will help end global warming and create good will and 
will rebuild our Nation's manufacturing backbone. We can build on our 
auto industry, which in my State has been a leading economic engine for 
all kinds of next-generation manufacturing.
  When you look at a GM factory in Parma, outside of Cleveland, or a 
Chrysler factory in Toledo, you are also seeing the genesis of next-
generation manufacturing jobs up and down the Ohio Turnpike as it 
crisscrosses from west of Toledo in Williams County to the Pennsylvania 
border near Youngstown--jobs in the aerospace industry, the component 
parts industry, the largest industry still in America--auto parts, auto 
components, auto supply parts--and you can also see jobs in the soap 
industry all coming out of the auto industry. These jobs were created 
out of America's manufacturing ingenuity and entrepreneurship.
  Plainly and simply, as we work to build more fuel-efficient autos, we 
will expand opportunities for new manufacturing jobs that become part 
of the green jobs supply chain.
  Again, this manufacturing strategy must include rigorous trade 
enforcement.
  I am struck by the chorus of voices from editorial boards and from 
the conventional wisdom think-tanks that warn against creeping 
protectionism. Safe to say, none of these editorial writers and none of 
these think-tank academicians have ever lost their job because of trade 
agreements or ever lost their job because of unfair trade practices.
  These think-tank academicians and these editorial board members are 
confusing protectionism with pragmatism. Utilizing trade remedies under 
limited circumstances, as the President did, as provided for under 
international trade rules, is not protectionism. It is simply enforcing 
the law. Enforcement of trade remedy laws consistent with WTO rules, 
again, is not protectionism.
  Most Americans recognize that trade plays an important roll in 
creating opportunities for economic growth. But when our trade deficit 
is bumped up against $2 billion a day for much of the last several 
years--we buy $2 billion more in products than we sell abroad, about a 
third of that bilaterally with China alone--you know something is not 
working.
  American workers and businesses have an entrepreneurial spirit and 
can compete with anyone. They also need to look to new markets to 
sustain economic growth. American workers can compete with anyone, but 
they must rely on this government to enforce fair trade practices. Done 
right, a national manufacturing policy can reinvest in our workers' 
capacity to build next-generation technologies and can rebuild the next 
generation of middle-class families.
  One thing is certain: It is time to invest in the workers and the 
communities that are the backbone of our middle class.
  I yield the floor.

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