[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 17547]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            GENERAL ELECTRIC

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Wolf) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WOLF. ``General Electric, the Nation's largest corporation, had a 
very good year in 2010.''
  These were the opening words of a March 24 New York Times article. 
The article continued to explain that GE paid zero taxes in the U.S. in 
2010. Meanwhile, the Congressional Research Service found that the 
October 2008 issue of China Taxation magazine published top corporate 
taxpayers in the commercial services sector. The Beijing subsidiary of 
GE was No. 32.
  While we don't yet have the data regarding GE's tax payments in China 
for 2010, it is noteworthy that GE, an American company, paid no 
Federal taxes in its home country last year while being honored for 
being a significant source of tax revenue to China--China with its 
horrific human rights abuses, persecution of people of faith, 
censorship of the press, cyberespionage, support of rogue regimes--like 
President Bashir of Sudan, where there is genocide taking place--and 
its increasingly aggressive military posture.
  This should give the Congress pause.
  It is particularly alarming in the midst of economic troubles at 
home, but my concern does not end there.
  U.S. companies like GE are increasingly sending American jobs to 
China. General Electric's health care unit recently announced it was 
moving the headquarters of its 115-year-old x-ray business from 
Wisconsin to Beijing. Ironically, the head of President Obama's Council 
on Jobs and Competitiveness is GE chairman Jeffrey Immelt. Meanwhile, 
half of GE's workforce is overseas. He is creating jobs, but he is 
creating jobs in China.
  In addition to national security ramifications, GE's posture toward 
China has economic implications here at home.

                              {time}  1110

  This week I wrote Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, urging him to 
conduct a national security review of the recently announced joint 
venture between General Electric, GE, and the Chinese firm AVIC to 
develop avionics systems for jets. This partnership is troubling for a 
number of reasons, including the rapid advances in Chinese aeronautics 
and space programs and the unprecedented Chinese threat from 
cyberattacks and espionage. Yet according to an August Washington Post 
article, GE has dismissed concerns about providing the People's 
Liberation Army with advanced avionics technology. Lorraine Bolsinger, 
chief executive of GE Aviation Systems, said, ``We are all in, and we 
don't want it back.''
  Wow. Is this true? They don't want it back? They want to give 
technology to the People's Liberation Army? Statements like this fail 
to acknowledge reality.
  According to a November 4 article from The Washington Post, the 
administration's Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive 
has issued a warning that, ``Chinese actors are the world's most active 
and persistent perpetrators of economic espionage.''
  Prolific Chinese espionage is having a real and corrosive effect on 
job creation. Given the breadth and scope of this espionage, which is 
well documented by the U.S. intelligence community, GE's public 
assertion that they will be able to fully protect sensitive technology 
lacks credibility. Should the GE-AVIC joint venture proceed, there is 
no question that the sensitive technology involved will be completely 
compromised by the People's Liberation Army.
  GE has a proud tradition as an American company, and it's past time 
for companies like GE to bring the jobs back to America. To date, there 
have been no plans from this administration to do just that; but when 
the House takes up the mini-bus appropriations bill later this week, 
that will change. I've worked to include provisions to help bring back 
manufacturing jobs to the U.S. from China and other countries. This can 
help State and local governments better compete for these jobs.
  American workers are among the most skilled in the world. American 
ingenuity is our greatest strength. We can and must compete. It is time 
to bring the jobs home.

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