Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008
HOUSING AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY ACT OF 2008 -- (House of Representatives - July 23, 2008)
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Mr. BLUMENAUER. Thank you, Mr. Neal, for your leadership and your courtesy.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to support this package as it brings much-needed reforms to the industry, supports homeowners around the country and is much needed. I think it represents a lot of good, hard work. But I must make one point, because buried in the provisions of this bill in section 3082 on page 680 is an expansion of the Gulf Opportunity Zone to two counties in Alabama.
One of those counties is 300 miles from the coast and doesn't have much to do with housing and has nothing to do with damage for Katrina.
The reason I'm speaking to it is because it is an expansion designed to provide a subsidy for National Steel Car, a Canadian rail manufacturer. A subsidy unnecessary for two reasons: because the plant in question is already under construction, and that Alabama was already under a contractual obligation to provide this subsidy if Congress did not.
The United States has a domestic railcar industry, with plants and facilities around the country. I put in the Record a list of the 18 factories around the United States and the four American corporate headquarters.
U.S. Rail Car Facilities
AMERICAN RAILCAR INDUSTRIES (2095 EMPLOYEES AS OF 12/31/07)
Corporate Headquarters, 10 Clark Street, St. Charles, MO 63301, 636-940-6000.
Marmaduke Plant, 7755 Highway 34 E, Marmaduke, AR, 870-597-2224.
Milton Plant, 417 North Arch St., Milton, PA.
Paragould Plant, 901 Jones Rd., Paragould, AR, 870-236-6600.
TRINITY INDUSTRIES (RAIL GROUP: 7470 EMPLOYEES AS OF 12/31/07)
Corporate Headquarters, 2525 Stemmons Freeway, Dallas, TX 75702, 800-631-4420.
Longview Plant, 607 Fisher Rd., Longview, TX.
Oklahoma City Plant, 2033 SW 22nd St., Oklahoma City, OK, 405-632-6631.
Saginaw Plant #1, 104 E Bailey Boswell Rd., Saginaw, TX 817-232-3650.
Saginaw Plant #2, 2850 Peden Rd., Saginaw, TX, 817-236-7141.
Ft. Worth Plant #1, 2548 NE 28th St., Fort Worth, TX, 817-665-1400.
Ft. Worth Plant #2, 1901 Brennan Ave., Fort Worth, TX, 817-625-6225.
Springfield Plant, 1849 North Park Avenue, Springfield, MO 65803-1985, 417-831-6797.
Cartersville Plant, 190 Old Grassdale Road Northwest, Cartersville, GA 30121-5097, 770-382-9400.
Winder Plant, 880 Airport Road, Winder, GA 30680.
FREIGHTCAR AMERICA (576 EMPLOYEES AS OF 12/31/07)
Corporate Headquarters, Two North Riverside Plaza, Suite 1250, Chicago, IL 60606, 312-928-0850.
Danville, IL Plant, 2313 Cannon Street, Danville, Illinois 61832, 217-443-4106, Fax: 217-443-0750.
Roanoke Plant, 830 Campbell Avenue SE, Roanoke, VA 24013, 540-853-3221, Fax: 540-853-3254.
Johnstown, PA Facilities--JUST CLOSED, 17 Johns Street, Johnstown, PA 15901, 800-458-2235, Fax: 814-533-5010.
THE GREENBRIER COMPANIES, INC. (GUNDERSON: 1036 EMPLOYEES AS OF 7/21/08)
Corporate Headquarters, One Centerpointe Drive, Suite 200, Lake Oswego, OR 97035, 503-684-7000.
Portland, OR Plant (Gunderson), 4350 NW Front Avenue, Portland, OR 97210, 503-224-1973.
PROGRESS RAIL
Corporate Headquarters, 1600 Progress Drive, Albertville, AL 35950, 800-476-8769.
Raceland Shop, Old US Hwy. 23 Coal Hump Rip Rd., Raceland, KY 41169, 606-836-6314.
One of them, I represent, just laid off 100 workers because of the soft market, and now we're going to have the Federal Government provide subsidy for a foreign company to hurt American industry.
We're not talking about picking winners and losers here. We've already picked a winner. We held a secret bidding process, and I appreciate there was real pressure from some of our friends in the Senate, but a Canadian company won, despite the fact that they would have made this investment anyway.
I'm going to support this package, but I'm going to introduce this week a piece of legislation to make the benefit here prospective, so it doesn't cut the legs out from underneath the American railcar industry. I would urge all of my colleagues to join me in cosponsoring this legislation.
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