National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018

Floor Speech

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Mr. President, I rise to discuss my legislation, which seeks to prevent American workers from losing their jobs and having them shipped to other countries.

I have always fought to protect American workers and ensure we have Federal policies that benefit our workers in Indiana and across the country. In my home State of Indiana, our workers are being hit particularly hard by jobs being lost and shipped out of America. Recently, more than 300 workers at the Carrier plant in Indianapolis were laid off, and hundreds more are slated to lose their jobs just days before Christmas. They are not alone. Over 2,000 Hoosier jobs have been or are scheduled to be eliminated and outsourced at nine different companies.

These are more than just statistics. These are moms and dads, sisters and brothers, husbands and wives, our friends, our neighbors, and folks we go to church with, men and women who get up in the dark and go home in the dark, working hard every single day to take care of their families, to give everything they have to try to make their company a success.

These men and women, as I said, work hard every single day. They make quality products, they support their families, they pay their bills, and are working hard to save enough to retire with dignity, and now they are losing their jobs because those already highly profitable companies would rather squeeze out that last dollar in profits by paying less to foreign workers. I have met and spent time with Hoosier workers whose jobs are being outsourced. They are not looking for a handout. They just want an equal shot, a level playing field, and the opportunity to provide for their families.

I met them on the Sunday after the announcements were initially made at Carrier. I spent time with them, talked to them. One of our young men in a military uniform of our country, standing up and serving our Nation, had just been laid off, with his job being shipped elsewhere.

He and fellow workers have fulfilled their part of the American promise--a promise that if you work hard and you help your company succeed, you will be able to keep your job, you will earn a decent living, you will be able to put a roof over your family's head, and you can send your kids to school to have an even greater shot at the American dream than you and then retire with dignity.

This is the basic promise of America--the promise of shared success of our workers and our companies. It is now in question. American companies need to live up to their part of the bargain as well, and many already do.

As a U.S. Senator, I have a responsibility to working families, to taxpayers, and to our economy. It is critical our laws and policies encourage businesses to invest in American workers and American communities and penalize those who ship jobs to foreign countries. That is why, earlier this year, I introduced the End Outsourcing Act, which is based on three principles:

First, Federal contracts, funded by taxpayers, should go to companies that employ American workers. This ensures that Federal contracting policy takes into consideration whether companies have outsourced domestic jobs.

Second, companies that do send jobs to foreign countries should forfeit tax breaks and incentives. It is fundamentally unfair that when companies leave for a foreign country, they can then write off the moving costs involved and hand the bill to American taxpayers for their very costs of heading out the door. This legislation claws back incentives and prohibits companies from receiving tax breaks for outsourcing jobs.

Third, Federal policy should encourage businesses to invest here at home, in our towns and in our cities--not only in Indiana but across the country. My legislation creates tax incentives for companies that relocate foreign jobs back to rural or struggling communities. We should encourage job growth in these towns and these places. When companies bring jobs back home, we should support them for helping spur economic investments and growth.

I have spoken with President Trump about this several times, even as recently as last night, and he has been very supportive.

Today I am offering a simple amendment--an amendment which would require companies bidding for Federal defense contracts to disclose in their proposals whether they have outsourced more than 50 jobs to a foreign country in the previous 3 years, and it would allow contracting officers to take into consideration a company's outsourcing practices when awarding Federal contracts--just like price, just like quality, just like delivery. It would be one more element so the people of America can get the very best deal.

Put simply, our tax dollars should go to companies that invest in and support American workers. If we are going to effectively address the jobs going overseas, the jobs leaving our plants, the workers like the ones at Carrier who were laid off and the devastating impact on families across our country, we need to take action here. We can start with the Senate passing my amendment. Preventing the outsourcing of these jobs and investing in our workers should be a bipartisan priority. Protecting American jobs and encouraging businesses to invest in the United States shouldn't be any controversy at all. In fact, it should be easy.

While there is no single solution to prevent companies from shipping jobs to foreign countries, hardworking taxpayers deserve to know our policies line up to promote the American economy and American workers, investing in our workers, strengthening our middle class. We call that Hoosier commonsense, and there is a lot more wisdom in Indiana and in other States than there is in Washington, DC. In Indiana, this makes sense.
I urge my colleagues to support the End Outsourcing Act when it comes up for a vote.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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