Failed Policies of Previous Administration

Floor Speech

Mr. SCHAUER. Mr. Speaker, it's an honor to be here to address the House of Representatives, to address the people of America, especially to address the people of Michigan. No State has suffered more under the failed policies of the previous administration than the people of Michigan.

We are very resilient people, and I will say, for my colleagues to understand, and for everyone watching, the people of Michigan and Michigan's economy, never came out of the last economic recession.

This, and as a first-term Member of Congress, I remember being sworn in just about a year and a half ago, and it was that time, this was January of 2009, that we learned that our economy had been in recession for a full year, for a full year.

So my freshman colleagues and I, regardless of what side of the aisle they come from, all walked in to a year into the deepest economic recession since the Great Depression. The closest thing I can remember was when I was in college in the early 1980s, not being able to find a job, and it was very, very difficult at that time. But that's the story of many in Michigan. It has hit my family just like practically every family in America.

So what I am here to talk about this evening, and I will be joined by some of my Democratic colleagues, is really where are we in America with our economy? What is the policy direction that we should be going in? What is the choice for America?

This is the body, this is the people's House, where we discuss and debate these choices, and the American people hear what my Republican colleagues say and there isn't necessarily a complete partisan difference, I don't want my constituents to feel that, because I always look for that common ground.

But I think the choice is very clear: Does America and our economy, our fragile economy, that is recovering, continue to move forward and dig out of this economic hole, this economic mess that we are in, or do we go backwards?

I would like to share a quote, and I am hoping that people can see it, and this is a statement that one of my Republican colleagues made, one of the Republican leaders. He was on one of the Sunday morning talk shows.

I don't get to watch these very often. I guess some of my constituents and the American people do, but this is one of the national shows, ``Meet the Press,'' this Sunday, July 18.

The host of the show said ``I think what a lot of people want to know is if Republicans do get back into power, what are they going to do?'' And I think the American people deserve to know that, because we have a new President that has helped us move in a new direction, we have a Congress that I am a part of, that the Democrats control, that is working to move us in a new direction.

But Congressman PETE SESSIONS of Texas said, here is his quote, ``We need to go back to the exact same agenda.''

Well, that is the choice. Do we, as the House of Representatives, as a Congress, go back to those exact same policies that created this economic catastrophe, or do we move in a new direction, do we continue in the direction that we are going in?

Now, I want to be clear that as a Member from Michigan, where our unemployment rate is still slightly over 13 percent, in my district in south central Michigan it's slightly under the State average, but we are gradually digging out of this hole. Or do we want to go back to the policies that created this economic catastrophe? These are very, very important questions, and what I have been working on, my Democratic colleagues and I have been working on, is addressing the problems that created this economic catastrophe, and it is a catastrophe.

I will tell you a personal story. My son-in-law, a journeyman electrician, a trade that, you know, should guarantee you employability for sure for life, with intermittent unemployment, I understand, that's the nature of that business, he was unemployed for the better part of a year. He is married to our oldest daughter, who is a nurse. They had a baby. She was on maternity leave, and our son-in-law, Paul, living in Ypsilanti, just outside of Ann Arbor just east of my district, was laid off from the steel mill where he had been employed for some time, for the better part of a year. Unfortunately, that's the story that's the result of economic policies that this Congress inherited.

But why did this happen? Unfortunately, there was an ideology under the former administration that said, you know, we need to let the marketplace regulate itself.

Well, I remember about a month or so before the last election, even Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve Chairman, said, I was wrong. I thought Wall Street, I thought the markets could regulate themselves. We saw the meltdown that resulted from that, a gambling mentality on Wall Street that played a cruel game that affected millions of families, and it was a game of heads I win, tails you lose, gambling irresponsibly with the retirement savings of the American people.

So this week, this week, the President will sign a landmark Wall Street reform bill that will crack down on the big banks, that will protect consumers, and this is perhaps the biggest consumer protection legislation in decades, and it will bring greater economic security to families and small businesses across our country.

And my wife and I own a small business. She runs a business, it's her business, she employs three people. She is thinking about employing another person, probably part-time. That's the story of America, and it's businesses that went bankrupt during this Wall Street meltdown and families that lost their homes, but this Wall Street reform bill puts in place the strongest consumer protections in history, with an independent watchdog whose sole purpose is to enforce those protections and look out for the American consumer.

So, let's go back to what Alan Greenspan said. He said that I thought the markets, I thought Wall Street could regulate itself. I was wrong.

Now, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle somehow are trying to convince the American people that this legislation is somehow, to use their words, another ``bailout.'' Well, we saw the bailout that resulted from the Republican philosophy of deregulation. We saw the almost complete meltdown of our economy, and we saw the results of that and this mentality. And it's a similar approach to protecting the environment that has resulted in this catastrophic oil spill, the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. But the reforms in this Wall Street reform bill will protect consumers when they take out a mortgage or sign up for a credit card. It will prevent the kind of shadowy deals that led to this crisis and will never again put taxpayers on the hook for Wall Street's mistakes.

Now, let's talk about this bailout. And I want to be clear to my constituents at home, I said when I was running for office I never would have supported that bailout. And when I had to vote, and a number of us took this position, voted against the second part of this bailout, but the problem with the bailout was that it put more money in the hands of the big banks that actually caused the economic collapse in the first place. Those big Wall Street banks refused to lend to small manufacturers, tool and dye shops, machine shops, auto suppliers, those businesses that I work with every day in my district that are diversifying into renewable energy technology, life sciences technology, defense technology, and so many ways to create jobs. But these big banks even that were bailed out wouldn't lend to them.

So under this Wall Street reform legislation, the American people, the taxpayer will never be stuck with a tab again, never under any Democratic legislation that finally passed the Senate, and I will commend some of my Republican colleagues in the Senate that saw that that was the right thing to do for the American people.

Despite the benefits the American people will enjoy from these reforms, the Republican leader in the House is already calling for its repeal. So even before the President has signed this bill, which he will do this week, the Republican leader in the House of Representatives has called for its repeal. But let's be clear, America cannot afford to go backwards to the days when our financial laws were written by the corporate lobbyists. And the fact of the matter is that corporate lobbyists, the Wall Street banks and their lobbyists were huddling with Republican leadership as the House was taking up this legislation, actually trying to kill this legislation, devising a plan, coming up with language trying to fool the American people that this historic Wall Street reform legislation was another bailout when it couldn't be anything further from the truth. Failure to act would doom us to repeat the same kind of economic catastrophe that the failed policies of the Bush administration created in the first place.

So to move forward, we not only need to demand greater accountability from Wall Street. We need to help those people who are struggling on Main Street, those folks who are facing the loss of their home, the loss of their business, looking for capital, for basic loans to expand their businesses. That's why the President and Democrats in the House of Representatives are fighting to provide emergency relief to American workers who have been laid off in this recession due to no fault of their own.

It is tragic that millions of workers--and 23,000 in my district alone in south central Michigan--are facing losing their unemployment benefits by the end of this year. And talk about a failed ideology, even JOHN MCCAIN's own economist told us--us collectively, the American people, Members of Congress--that for every dollar of unemployment insurance--and it is insurance. It is a form of insurance, unemployment insurance. For every dollar of unemployment insurance that is provided to a family of a laid off worker, there is $1.61 in economic impact.

So not only were the Republicans holding hostage families who are losing their unemployment benefits in a tough economy, in a recession caused by the failed policies of the Bush administration, but they were also holding our economy hostage, where these unemployment benefits of about--it's less than the wages that people were earning, but those dollars were actually being put into local grocery stores, local gas stations, local businesses. And for every dollar of unemployment benefits, there was $1.61 of economic impact. But those emergency benefits for American workers are in jeopardy because those same Republicans who didn't have any problem spending hundreds of billions of dollars on tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans are now saying we shouldn't offer relief to middle class families who really need help.

So we have an economic storm, and the choice is a very clear one: Do we rebuild our economic foundation for a stronger future or do we return to the failed policies of the previous administration?

Let's have a little history lesson here. When I came to office a year and a half ago, when Barack Obama came to office a year and a half ago, our economy was losing an average of 750,000 jobs each month; 750,000 jobs each month were being lost in this economy. During the last 5 months of the Bush administration, our economy lost an average of almost 640,000 jobs. In the last 5 months, we have added an average of 174,000 jobs a month. So let's do the comparison.

Now, I don't want to give anyone in my district or in my State in Michigan the idea that we are anywhere where we need to be from an economic standpoint. Nationally, the unemployment rate is still 9.5 percent. We are digging out of this hole. We've got a long way to go. But if you look at during the last 5 months of the Bush administration, our economy lost an average of almost 640,000 jobs. In the last 5 months, our Nation's economy has added an average of almost 174,000 jobs. So if my math is right, that's a swing of almost 800,000 jobs, almost 800,000 jobs a month net increase.

Let's talk about our Nation's economic health as a whole. During the last quarter of the Bush administration, the economy shrunk by over 5 percent, almost 5.5. Almost 5.5 percent our economy was shrinking. Hello. I think we really need to take stock--and I heard it earlier today in the House of Representatives, my Republican colleagues, their mantra is, ``Where are the jobs?'' Well, I don't know if they were asking that question in January of 2009, or 1 year prior to that when the recession began or when the economy collapsed because of Wall Street's behavior. So where was the hue and cry when our economy was shrinking by almost 5.5 percent and we were losing, on average, 640,000 jobs a month?

Now, during the last three quarters, so the last 9 months, there has been economic growth. The most recent economic growth is 2.7 percent. It's not enough, it's not nearly enough, but we are seeing the economy gradually beginning to rebound.

But the question is: Which path do we take?

The choice is very clear to me. What I have seen in my own district in south central Michigan--and we have seen it all over the State--is a transformation of our economy.

Now, what I have told the President of the United States personally and have told some of his chief economic advisers is that our recovery has one hand tied behind our back. One of the biggest reasons is that the big Wall Street banks have refused to lend to businesses, to manufacturers. A lot of these are small automotive suppliers, suppliers in the aviation and aerospace industries and the defense industry.

I told a story on the House floor about a bank in my district--Citizens Bank. I'll mention it again--that had had a relationship for many years with a company in my district, RTD Manufacturing. This company won an Army contract. It won an Army contract to build a bracket to go on a mine resistant vehicle, an MRAP, in Afghanistan, to protect our warfighters. This bank would not make the loan. Their loan officer said that they would be fired if they made a loan to a Michigan manufacturer. This was a bank that was bailed out by the taxpayers.

So our recovery would be much further along if these banks that were bailed out by the taxpayer due to failed economic policies would actually use that money and invest it in businesses that were hanging on and had the potential to grow. Yet what I am seeing in my district are businesses just like RTD Manufacturing, which are working hard, which are diversifying from--in this case, they were 100 percent automotive and had begun doing work for the Department of Defense to protect our warfighters.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is having an impact in my district and all around our State. The American people may know that President Obama was in Holland, Michigan, which is about an hour and a half from where I live in Battle Creek. He was at the groundbreaking for a new battery plant for the automotive industry--400 new jobs in addition to all of the construction jobs that are being created for this new technology.

Now, that's not the only battery plant in Michigan that has been jump-started by American Recovery and Reinvestment Act dollars. There is a company in my district, in Battle Creek, that is called Toda America. It received $35 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to attract the private investment to locate this battery facility there. This could have gone anywhere in the world.

Because of a proactive policy to invest in clean and renewable energy technology, in this case for the automobile industry, I think the question we have to ask is: Are we going to continue to manufacture here in America, or are we going to be buying everything from South Korea, from China, from Japan, from all of our global competitors?

You know, we have put a stake in the ground in Michigan--and there are stories like this all over the country--that we will make things here. In this case, as a result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, we are making batteries for vehicles of the future. We are making technology for our warfighters.

I want to tell you another great story about a wind energy cluster that didn't just happen by accident. It happened, in part, because of policies that the Michigan legislature adopted, some of which were put in place when I was still in the legislature there. It happened with investment through the Department of Energy to help wind energy companies.

There is a new company in Eaton Rapids, Michigan,

called Astraeus, which is developing the best technology--the best technology in the world--to develop windmill blades and windmill turbine components, and they have actually attracted--this is a great story. You know, we often don't hear this from colleagues on the other side of the aisle because they don't want to acknowledge some of the successes of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

There is a company based in Finland that has a U.S. subsidiary. It is called URV USA, which is a foundry. We used to have foundries all over my State and all over the country. This company, URV USA, whose parent company is in Finland, is locating a foundry in Eaton Rapids, Michigan, to manufacture some of the heavy components for windmill turbines.

So we have a cluster of wind energy companies locating in this town of about 2,500 people, south of Lansing, that will be the home for thousands of jobs, for thousands of renewable energy jobs; and these companies there are positioning themselves to actually export this technology. So it is not just about beating the competition from China, but it is about being able to build it faster, more cheaply and to be able to export that technology.

So, when my Republican colleagues ask, Where are the jobs? the choice is: what policies do we put forward here, and do we continue with policies that are creating jobs, that are transforming our economy or do we go backwards to what Congressman Sessions says--that we need to go back to the exact same agenda? This is the agenda that nearly bankrupted the United States of America, that drained the retirement funds of millions of senior citizens, that made the dream of retirement slip away for many Americans, and that really left us with an economy completely on its knees.

The industrial sector talked about that. It is very much a part of Michigan's past, a part of Michigan's present and, I hope, a part of Michigan's future. Total industrial production in America has increased 8.2 percent during the past year. That is the largest 12-month gain since 1998. I need to repeat that because, you know, what you hear from folks on the other side of the aisle would make you think that the economic challenges we face magically began in January of 2009.

Total industrial production--making things, making things in America--has increased 8.2 percent during the past year, which is the largest 12-month gain since 1998. In June, industrial production increased a tenth of a percent. It grew to a 7 percent annual rate in the first quarter to a 6.6 percent rate in the second quarter, and this rapid industrial expansion is consistent with solid growth for our Nation's economy, and that is according to the Federal Reserve. Don't take my word for it. That is according to the Federal Reserve.

Trade, which is an issue that's very important to me. I was recently named to the President's Export Council. So I look forward to fighting for American companies to sell their goods abroad and to tear down trade barriers, like I am working on with China, to make sure that American companies can compete. But nominal exports are up 21 percent from a year ago. In May, nominal exports grew rapidly by $3.5 billion, or 2.4 percent. Year-to-date, exports are up 18 percent for the first 5 months of the last year.

So we've got a big hole to dig out of. Remember, the last 5 months of the Bush administration our economy, our country lost an average of almost 640,000 jobs. Just in the last 5 months we've added an average of 174,000 jobs. There is a swing. We have a long way to go.

Initial unemployment insurance claims fell by 29,000 in the week that ended July 10. Too many people are unemployed. I will not be satisfied until everyone who is looking for a job has a job. Spending in core retail sales rose by two-tenths of 1 percent in June. Small business owner economic confidence increased by 2.6 percent during the second quarter. This is the largest 3-month increase since last July. So there are signs of progress.

I think the question, again, is do we move forward or do we go back to the exact same agenda? That is the choice. I'm not willing to go back. Too many people in my district are hurting. And too many families are hurting. And candidly, many people have lost hope. But we must continue to move forward and we must put the American people over any political agenda. You know, this is not the time to put the next election before the American people. The American people must come first. Their ability to have opportunities for jobs in new economic sectors is what the Democrats stand for and we will continue fighting for.

I also want to talk a little bit more about manufacturing, and particularly about Buy American provisions. I am looking forward to having a very vigorous debate in the House of Representatives, candidly, about whose side we are on. And we must be on the side of the American people. I have been pushing in every way possible that we expand and strengthen Buy American provisions.

I just received a letter from the Vice President of the United States in response to a very real situation that a company in my district faces, a company called Full Spectrum Solutions. They make high-tech, energy-efficient lighting. And they have been more and more making their light fixtures in America from suppliers all over my State and all over the Midwest. And they have been bidding on energy-efficient lighting contracts with municipalities. They received American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds.

Unfortunately, some of their competitors--and there are Buy American provisions. I was asked by a reporter today, Why are Buy American provisions important? Here's the point. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act dollars are your tax dollars. So I think the American people expect a little common sense out of their government, which unfortunately there's not enough of. But they expect that their tax dollars be used to create jobs here in America, not jobs in China.

And so there is a Buy American provision in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. What Full Spectrum Solutions found was some of their competitors were actually taking light fixtures made in China and putting a label on these light fixtures that says ``Made in the USA'' to defraud the government, defraud the taxpayers, and hurt American companies and cost us American jobs.

So I worked with Mike Nevins, the CEO of Full Spectrum Solutions, and went down every path to find relief for this company. I went to the Department of Energy, Department of Commerce, Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Attorney's office. No relief. No mechanism for relief for complaints of competitors cheating and mislabeling their products as made in America.

So I wrote the Vice President about 3 weeks ago, and I received a very, very specific response that is creating a new hotline within the Department of Energy for complaints about companies that are mislabeling their products as made in the USA, a means to investigate these complaints, and a notice to all grant recipients of these American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to be aware that there are some companies, unfortunately some American companies, that are defrauding the taxpayers and cheating and using our tax dollars to buy goods made in China rather than goods made in America.

So I received this very specific response, and it underscored just what we should be fighting for. We need to be fighting for American workers, American companies, and strengthen these Buy American provisions. I look forward to taking up legislation, Democratic-sponsored, hopefully bipartisan, but I know there are Democratic bills that I cosponsored as a part of the House Bipartisan Trade Working Group that will strengthen Buy American provisions.

I talked about a week ago about another fair trade bill with China. We are letting China eat the lunches of American workers. We are letting them do it. China, when they joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, never signed the government procurement agreement. This is the agreement that sets the terms for companies in one country to bid on and compete for government contracts with other countries.

Well, China, they know what they're doing. Just like they know what they're doing when they manipulate their currency. Just like they know what they're doing when they steal our patents, our intellectual property. Just like they know what they're doing when they subsidize their companies, tilting the playing field in their favor. And so what they've done for the last 9 years is they have blocked our companies from doing business with their government, while for some reason, I haven't been able to figure out yet, it's because there's no good reason, we're allowing Chinese companies to bid on and win contracts with our Federal Government paid for by your tax dollars. I don't think the American people have in mind that we use their tax dollars to create jobs in China rather than jobs in America.

So my bill, H.R. 5312, is very simple. It's a reciprocal trade bill. It truly is a fair trade bill. It says to China that their companies can do the same dollar amount of business with our government as our companies can do with their government.

Now, I flew when I came to Washington from my home in Battle Creek, Michigan, yesterday. There was a Ford Motor Company engineer on the plane. And we talked about this issue. I talk about this issue everywhere I go. And I said, ``Do you manufacture in China?'' He says, ``Yeah, we manufacture in China.'' And I said, ``You are not able to do business with the government in China, right, for any of their vehicle purchases or motor pools, whatever it might be?'' And he said, ``No, you know, now that you mention it, we're not able to do that.'' So I said, ``Well, you know, China can do business with our government even though they're blocking our companies from doing business with their government?'' Even, here is the point of the Ford conversation, even when they're manufacturing in China. So our companies are investing there, they're making their products there.

Include, even with that, China's policy. They know what they're doing. They didn't sign this government procurement agreement 9 years ago when they joined the World Trade Organization, and they are playing us for fools.

You know, according to the Economic Policy Institute, in Michigan, we have lost 68,000 jobs due to China's unfair trade policies since 2001. In Michigan, in my district--I represent seven counties in south central Michigan--2,700 jobs. That's the size of a medium-sized village within my district, wiped out completely, because of China's unfair trade.

So I want to stop in a moment. I want to yield to an outstanding leader, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz from Florida, to talk about our economy. I have been talking about the choice. I've been talking about the choice. Do we move forward and dig out of this economic hole that was caused by the failed economic policies of the Bush administration? And one of our Republican colleagues on one of the national press shows on Sunday says, when asked--they often don't like to talk about policy. They don't like to do that. When they were asked to talk about Medicare, their solution was to voucherize Medicare. Even though they don't like the term that is really true about their position on Social Security, they want to privatize Social Security. They don't like to talk about policy ideas. But when they were asked if Republicans get back into power what are you going to do, Pete Sessions says, We need to go back to the exact same agenda.

We cannot go backwards. We must go forward, and we must continue to fight for the American people. We must continue to fight for the American workers. We must continue to fight for manufacturing, for making things in this country. And I talked earlier about great progress that's being made in renewable energy, battery technology, wind energy technology, life sciences technology, the Chevy Volt. The Chevy Volt will be the first battery electric car, will roll off the assembly line in October in Hamtramck, Michigan. We are making things.

And if we don't have the kind of policy foresight that Democrats in this House of Representatives have been putting forward and will continue to put forward aggressively, we will go backwards.

So we've got a long way to go. I am not satisfied. I said I will not be satisfied until every unemployed worker in my district that's looking for a job has a job, until seniors again feel secure with the promise of Social Security. You know, these are the basic values that I hold, and this is the fight that I signed up for.

So it's been a pleasure to talk a little bit about Michigan, a little bit about my home, a little bit about what's going on. I even talked a little bit about my family and my son-in-law that was unemployed for the better part of a year and, unfortunately, I don't think I finished that story. The good news is they're still in Michigan. They moved to the beautiful Upper Peninsula. It's where my wife, Christine, is from, from the Upper Peninsula. They got a job there. They bought a house.

But too many families can't tell that story. And we are fighting for the American people.

It is my pleasure to yield to my colleague, Debbie Wasserman Schultz from south Florida, to talk about this choice.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT.

Mr. SCHAUER. I would like to thank my colleagues, DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ of Florida, PAUL TONKO of New York. Our time is about up, but I will give you two numbers that summarize the Bush policies: 8 million lost jobs, $14 trillion in wealth lost to American households--8 million, $14 trillion. Trillion.

Now, Americans can do it. We have been through tough times before, but we have always pulled together as a Nation to overcome our challenges. After challenges, Americans return stronger, more determined and more united.

Democrats came together and faced the challenges that we were handed by mismanagement of the Bush Republicans and, together, we are pulling our economy back from the brink of economic ruins.

As Americans, I know we can do it. That's why we are here tonight. I received a couple of texts from folks at home. They are watching. Americans know we can do it. We can turn our economy around and get our economy back on track.

I will yield back. Thank you.

END.

Source