[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 10952]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           ON THE REPATRIATION OF AMERICAN MANUFACTURING JOBS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WOLF. Madam Speaker, I rise to discuss a critical issue for 
American families: job creation.
  With unemployment still hovering around 10 percent, this country must 
focus on new and innovative ways to create jobs in America. I believe 
that we must be aggressive and creative in our approach to job 
creation. That's why I've been urging both the Federal Government and 
my home State of Virginia to work to repatriate jobs that are going 
overseas, to bring them back to America. We must launch a systematic 
program, led by all the Governors of each State, to identify American 
companies that are doing business abroad and incentivize the 
repatriation of jobs back to America. This is necessary and feasible.
  Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal reported that a major 
American manufacturer, Caterpillar, was considering expanding its 
manufacturing inside the U.S. rather than overseas. According to the 
article, repatriation is gaining momentum; and after a decade of rapid 
globalization, economists say companies are seeing disadvantages of 
offshore production,
including shipping costs, complicated logistics, and quality issues. 
Political unrest and theft of intellectual property pose additional 
risk. I applaud Caterpillar's effort and call on every other American 
company to follow its lead.
  I believe that every American company has a moral obligation to try 
to create jobs in America. American companies with overseas factories 
take ample advantage of American law enforcement, the American justice 
system, and countless other resources provided by the American 
taxpayer. In doing so, they have an obligation--a burden--to contribute 
and to support American job creation.
  When an American company operating factories overseas needs law 
enforcement help, they turn to the FBI, not the Chinese secret police. 
When an American company is the victim of cyberattack or intellectual 
property theft, they turn to the American Government for support and 
assistance, not to the Chinese Government, which is spying and stealing 
from them and arresting Catholic bishops and Protestant pastors. That's 
why I believe that, if asked, American companies will support their 
home country in creating new jobs.
  Many of the world's largest companies are American, but much of this 
manufacturing and call-center work has shifted overseas over the last 
two decades. This trend is fueled primarily by the opening of 
international markets, cheap labor, and affordable shipping.
  Although free trade has yielded significant benefits to our economy 
and consumers, the U.S. has done a poor job of encouraging domestic 
manufacturing investment. Now is the time for American companies to 
reevaluate their business models and return home. Our competitive 
dollar makes the U.S. an excellent location to export to international 
markets. Rising oil and gas prices have added to the cost of 
international air and shipping, which has helped level the playing 
field for U.S. domestic producers. More importantly, we have a highly 
skilled and efficient workforce in the U.S. that is ready to help 
companies start producing at home.
  Finally, I believe that a repatriation initiative is important 
because it focuses the U.S. on competing internationally for these jobs 
rather than States competing with other States for existing American 
jobs. Instead, this will lead to net job growth throughout the United 
States.
  Over the last 4 months, I've been urging Secretary of Commerce Locke 
and other officials in the Department to launch a national repatriation 
initiative in conjunction with its export initiative. As a result, I 
will be urging the Appropriations Committee to include language in this 
year's bill, the 2011 Commerce-Justice-Science bill, to direct the 
Department to launch such an initiative working with the Governors of 
this country. I hope the administration and my colleagues in the 
Congress will embrace this initiative and reach out to large American 
companies about bringing the jobs home to America. A major repatriation 
program will allow us to create new jobs, promote U.S. exports, and 
demonstrate that America can still be a highly competitive manufacturer 
in a global market.

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