[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Page 6812]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE GENERAL MOTORS LORDSTOWN PLANT

  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, on Saturday I visited the General Motors 
Lordstown plant near Youngstown to celebrate its 50th anniversary. For 
half a century, this plant has been an anchor of the Mahoning Valley. 
It has supported good, middle-class union jobs through good times and 
bad. Seven Ohioans--get this--seven workers at that plant have been 
there for all 50 of those years. Albert Gifford, Mossco Dubose, John 
Brincko, Robert Polansky, Thomas Koppel, John Rosa, and Stephen Gazdik 
have helped build 21 different General Motors models since 1966, 
starting with the Chevy Impala.
  The car they make now is the Chevy Cruze. My wife and I are proud 
Chevy Cruze owners. I drove to the plant in one. I was proud to be at 
GM Lordstown in 2010 to see the very first Chevy Cruze roll off the 
assembly line. The first three Cruzes were painted red, white, and 
blue. They represented the determination of a community and a country--
think about the auto industry and the state of the economy back in 
2010. They represented the determination of the country to bounce back 
and succeed in the face of long odds and national naysayers who wanted 
to write off this plant and that community.
  It has been a rough few years for that industry. Think about where we 
were less than a decade ago. Auto sales were down 40 percent, 1 million 
jobs were at risk of being lost, on top of the 8 million jobs we had 
already lost as President Obama took office. We heard rightwing 
politicians on the news calling the American auto industry dead, but 
what they meant was they didn't believe it was worth saving. They 
wanted to bet against American companies and against American workers.
  The workers at Lordstown and at plants like it across Ohio--in 
Toledo, in Defiance and Cleveland and Walton Hills and Avon Lake--and 
across the country proved them wrong. Working together with President 
Obama, we invested in rescuing the American auto industry. Right now, 
because of the auto rescue, because of workers in Lordstown, in Parma 
and Cleveland and across the Midwest, the American auto industry is 
roaring back to life. GM posted 5 percent gains in sales last year.
  Let's be clear. Ohio and much of the Midwest would be close to a 
depression if the doubters and the naysayers had their way. But we 
refused to let the auto industry collapse, and history has proven it 
was the right thing to do. The people of Northeast Ohio know how 
important it was. So do people across the whole State. So do people 
across that region. The cars made in Lordstown epitomize how central 
the auto industry is to Ohio's economy. The Chevy Cruze features 
components made at plants all across Ohio. The engine blocks are 
manufactured in Defiance, the transmissions are assembled in Toledo, 
the wheels for the Chevy Cruze Eco are made by Alcoa in Cleveland, and 
parts are stamped in Parma and also in Lordstown.
  Ever since the first Chevy Impala rolled off the lot in 1966, the 
Mahoning Valley has depended on Lordstown. This is the industry and the 
company on which the great American middle class was built.
  On Saturday, anyone could see how central this plant is to its 
community. GM estimates that more than 10,000 people--young and old, 
families with their children, vintage car buffs, former workers--turned 
out to watch the parade, stroll through the car show, and tour the 
plant. The line to get into the plant stretched down the street and 
around the block. That is what this plant and this auto industry mean 
to the communities they serve.
  I know this community and this State will continue to depend on auto 
workers for another 50 years and beyond.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Mississippi.

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