[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Page 14427]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         CURRENCY MANIPULATION

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, today the Senate begins another very busy 
work period. I am confident this work period will be productive.
  Tonight, the Senate will vote to begin debate on legislation to curb 
China's unfair currency manipulation. I expect strong bipartisan 
support to move this legislation forward. There have been conversations 
between the bipartisan supporters of this legislation in the House of 
Representatives and the administration. My colleagues--both Democrats 
and Republicans--agree that China's deliberate actions to devalue its 
currency give its goods an unfair competitive advantage in the 
marketplace. Their goods do not deserve that. That is not fair. It 
hurts our economy and it costs American jobs. In the last decade alone, 
we have lost more than 1 million American jobs to China because of this 
trade deficit fueled by currency manipulation. A massive trade deficit 
is one of the reasons for our unsustainable unemployment rate. This 
legislation we are going to move to will even the playing field and 
help American goods compete in a global market and help keep American 
jobs here at home.
  Democrats believe there is no problem facing this Nation that 
deserves our attention more than the jobs crisis. This bill is part of 
the effort to get our economy back on track and put Americans back to 
work. If China stops the practices that artificially tip the scales in 
its favor, it would create 1.6 million American jobs fairly quickly. I 
hope this legislation will motivate China to stop devaluing the yuan on 
its own. I also know it will send a strong message to the Chinese that 
Americans will no longer ignore their blatant, unfair trade practices.

                          ____________________