The Role of Congress in Supporting American Companies and Workers
THE ROLE OF CONGRESS IN SUPPORTING AMERICAN COMPANIES AND WORKERS
Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I have come to this floor repeatedly to talk about the ongoing crisis in our domestic manufacturing sector and about ways in which Congress should act to stem the loss of manufacturing jobs and the shuttering of domestic manufacturing companies.
My State of Wisconsin has lost nearly 80,000 good-paying manufacturing jobs since 2000. The country has lost more than 2 1/2 million manufacturing jobs since January 2001, including more than 25,000 jobs last month alone. And this hemorrhaging of jobs shows no signs of stopping.
Much of this job loss can be blamed on the dismal trade policies of recent years, which have contributed to many American companies--some of them household names--moving their operations overseas or shutting their doors entirely. These policies have a ripple effect in the communities that have lost manufacturing plants. The closure of the local plant is felt not only by those who worked there and their families, but by the community as a whole.
Mr. President, Florence, WI is a town in the far northeastern corner of my home State, just a few miles from the border with the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. A few weeks ago, that small community got a sharp introduction to the realities of our country's trade policies. Pride Manufacturing, the world's largest maker of golf tees, announced that it would be closing down its plant in Florence and moving that operation and the hundred or so jobs that go with it to China.
That announcement probably was not noticed by many people outside of my home State--one company in one small community in Wisconsin leaving for China does not raise many eyebrows in Washington or on Wall Street. But it is a serious matter for the families whose livelihood is directly affected by the move. And it will certainly have an impact on the community in which they live. Some families may try to stay, but some may be forced to look elsewhere for jobs. The local school district is already trying to cope with declining enrollment and the challenges of being a largely rural district. The prospect of losing additional families will only make matters worse. Local businesses that relied on the patronage of those families will be hit. Car dealers, grocery stores, hardware stores, clothing stores--everyone in that community will potentially be affected by the loss of Pride Manufacturing.
There are too many stories like this taking place around my State and around our country. There are too many boarded-up factories and too many parents struggling to make ends meet and to provide for their children after the plant closes and the jobs go to other countries. Congress can and should do more to support these hard-working Americans and their employers. These are the people who are bearing the brunt of the bad trade agreements and other policies that have encouraged companies to close or to leave the United States.
In response to this crisis, this week I am introducing a series of bills intended to support American companies and American workers. These measures alone will not solve this problem, but I believe that they represent a first step in helping to save a core sector of our economy.
My first proposal would set some minimum standards for future trade agreements into which our country enters. It is a break with the so-called NAFTA model and instead advocates the kinds of sound trade policies that will spur economic growth and sustainable development. The major trade agreements into which our country has entered in recent years have resulted in a race to the bottom in labor standards, environmental standards, health and safety standards, in nearly every aspect of our economy. A race to the bottom is a race in which even the winners lose. We should ensure that future trade agreements do not continue down this perilous road.
The principles set forth in this resolution are straightforward and achievable. These principles include: calling for enforceable worker protections, preserving the ability of the United States to enact and enforce its own trade laws, ensuring that foreign investors are not provided with greater rights than those provided under U.S. law, providing that food entering into our country meets domestic food safety standards, and preserving the ability of Federal, State, and local governments to maintain essential public services and to regulate private sector services in the public interest.
Mr. President, my second bill, the Buy American Improvement Act, focuses on the Federal Government's responsibility to support domestic manufacturers and workers. The Buy American Act of 1933 is supposed to ensure that the Federal Government supports domestic companies and workers by buying American-made goods. This is an important law, but it contains a number of loopholes that make it too easy for Government agencies to buy foreign-made goods.
The Buy American Improvement Act would make it harder to waive the Buy American Act. We should ensure that the Federal Government makes every effort to give Federal contracts to companies that will perform the work domestically. We should also ensure that certain types of industries do not leave the United States completely, thus making the Federal Government dependent on foreign sources for goods, such as plane or ship parts, that our military may need to acquire on short notice.
My bill would also, for the first time, make the Buy American requirement applicable to Congress. I believe that Congress should lead by example and comply with the Buy American Act. And, in an effort to bring transparency and accountability to the process, it would require agencies to report on their purchases of foreign-made goods.
It is bad enough that our trade policies have encouraged companies to shut down or relocate overseas. Many of the same flawed trade agreements that have sent American jobs overseas have also weakened the Buy American Act.
Last year, the ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Mr. LIEBERMAN and I asked the GAO to study the effect of trade agreements on domestic source requirements such as those contained in the Buy American Act. That study, which was released this week, found that the Government is required to give favorable treatment to certain goods from a total of 45 countries as a result of 7 trade agreements and 21 reciprocal defense procurement agreements.
In other words, at the same time that Congress has been paying lip service to the Buy American Act, it has been carving out exceptions to that Act in our trade and defense procurement agreements. It is time for Congress to step up and support efforts to strengthen, not undermine, the Buy American Act.
In addition, Congress must make every effort to help workers who have lost their jobs as a result of our trade policies. Many of these workers require retraining for new jobs that will enable them to support their families.
My third bill, the Community-Based Health Care Retraining Act, would authorize a demonstration project to provide grants to community-based coalitions, led by local workforce development boards, to retrain unemployed workers who wish to obtain new jobs in the health care professions. The funds could be used for a variety of purposes--from increasing the capacity of our schools and training facilities, to providing financial and social support for workers who are in retraining programs. This bill allows for flexibility in the use of grant funds, because I believe that communities know best about the resources they need to run an efficient program.
By providing targeted assistance to train laid-off workers who wish to obtain new jobs in the fast-growing health care sector, we can both help unemployed Americans and improve the availability and quality of health care in our communities.
I hope that my colleagues will support each of my proposals, and I look forward to working with Senators on both sides of the aisle to find additional ways to support our domestic manufacturers and their employees. I know that there are towns like Florence, WI, all over the country, and I hope that we will finally act this Congress to support the jobs that are the bedrock of those communities.
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