Jumpstart Our Business Strength (Jobs) Act

JUMPSTART OUR BUSINESS STRENGTH (JOBS) ACT

Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, the distinguished Senator from Connecticut has spoken passionately and eloquently about our concern about job loss in this country and certainly it is something we are all concerned and want to do something about. But I am sure none of us would want to endorse a cure which is worse than the disease or cause other problems that perhaps we have not thought through or that are not intended.

I do detect a whiff of politics. I notice the chart says manufacturing jobs lost under President Bush. Perhaps since the time when we had primarily an agrarian economy, we have seen tremendous shifts in our economy because of the efficiency of a flow market system that is far more efficient than the command-and-control economy that is used in other parts of the world that is inefficient and stifles competition and innovation and the productivity that we have in this country.

I certainly would not want to see us do anything that would harm the good things we had going on in the economy in the effort to address a real problem but perhaps with the wrong solution.

I appreciate the Senator from Wyoming mentioning this is something I and no doubt other Members would like to study a little further to see exactly what the details may be before we were asked to vote on it.

I am not an economist. I do understand why companies outsource, to find a cheaper way of producing their product. Even though the distinguished Senator from Connecticut says it is a bad idea, I am not sure what you can do or what we could do, short of erecting a wall around this country and saying we are no longer interested in international trade. I don't know what we can do to avoid companies who are seeking to produce a cheaper product in a more competitive environment from outsourcing some of those jobs. I do think there is an answer, but I am not sure the answer is what the distinguished Senator from Connecticut is proposing.

In fact, by prohibiting the outsourcing of jobs we are basically saying the American taxpayer has to pay a higher price than they would otherwise have to pay. Certainly, that is something we need to explore, whether the higher price is worth the proposed cure.

Also, the Senator from Iowa mentioned we are a country that has a policy of free and fair trade. Of course, there is a question of retaliation. But the truth is, we have seen a loss of manufacturing jobs in this country for a lot of reasons other than outsourcing or competition with China, India-now with the movement of white-collar jobs particularly in the service sector to that country-and that is simply because we have increased productivity. Technology has made it possible to do the same or, indeed, more work using less people. That is just a fact of life. I don't think anyone would want to go back to the last century and say we are not going to seek further improvements in technology or innovation because we do not want to put people out of work.

The truth is, the solution is, we need to make sure we continue to educate our workforce and not for minimum-wage jobs but for good high-paying jobs. Members may recall the President addressed this issue in his State of the Union speech and talked about the importance of Americans competing in a global economy by educating and perhaps retraining our workforce for new and better-paying jobs.

He mentioned his initiative, working with community colleges. I took the President's words to heart because I am concerned-as no doubt all 100 Members of this body are-about job loss in this country. I went to the community colleges in my State. I said, Tell me what you are doing to train the American worker or perhaps to retrain the American worker for good, high-paying jobs. I went to Amarillo in the Panhandle where I found that Bell Helicopter and the Amarillo College helped create a curriculum to train people to work on the V-22 Osprey which is produced in that plant.

I remember a young woman, a single mom, Hispanic woman, with two children, formerly working as a prison guard making about $9 an hour. As a result of this program with Amarillo College and Bell Helicopter-this is just one example-she is now working on a production line, contributing to the transformation of our military and also improving her standard of living, making about $16 an hour in a good job.

I have done the same thing in Austin where I went to the Austin Community College and learned about partnerships they had entered into to train nurses, surgical techs, dental hygienists. At the San Jacinto Community College near Houston they have partnerships with Boeing and NASA and others to train people for good, high-paying jobs.

Now, I realize we are in the political season, and I understand that perhaps nothing said in this body or anywhere else in Washington is perhaps totally devoid of politics, but the truth is, Americans can and will always be willing to compete and win in the global competition in this new economy.

Now is not the time for us to wring our hands and say: Oh, woe is us. We just can't quite do it. We have to erect protectionist walls. We have to come up with solutions which, perhaps maybe actually increase prices to the American consumer while not actually solving the problem that we are all concerned about; that is, job loss.

So I say as part of this debate-and, again, I know the Senator from Connecticut has the best of intentions, and we share the same concern-now is not the time for the American worker or for the Members of the Congress to lose faith in free markets and the capitalist economy which has made this Nation the envy of the world.

We are talking now again, thankfully, about addressing our immigration issues in this country. I will note that there are not people trying to get out of the United States of America because things are so bad. To the contrary, people are risking life itself to come here because we are still a beacon in terms of the opportunities provided, in terms of the freedom, in terms of the ability of people, working hard in this country, to have a good standard of living and a better quality of life.

I hope the election year does not consume us so much that we look at the glass always as half empty rather than half full, or look at something as a lemon rather than an opportunity to make lemonade.

I think the President is exactly on the right track. I think if we commit resources to train the American worker to be part of the innovation that has always characterized and been the hallmark of the American economy and the business providers in this country, to make sure those workers are trained in this constantly evolving economy, which is very efficient, and sometimes brutal, but to make sure we are there and are working with local and State and Federal governments to do everything we can to assist business partners and the education community to train the American worker for good, high-paying jobs, I think we have nothing to fear.

Finally, where I was raised we were taught that we would get our formal education and then we would go to work and maybe even stay in the same job for the rest of our adult life. But the truth is, today that is just not possible. We need to change our frame of mind so that we teach our younger people, look, learning is a lifetime endeavor, and it may be that you will change jobs at different times during your adult life because you want to improve your circumstances, you want to get a better paying job to better provide for your family, and you can do it in a free country where there is an opportunity to retrain, to get an education throughout the course of your life.

I firmly believe now is not the time for the American people to lose faith in the good thing we have going in this country, and that, as I said a moment ago, is the envy of the entire world. I believe our focus ought to be on that education, lifetime job training, and not on erecting barriers around this country or perhaps other solutions, although well intended, which will have a detrimental impact.

With that, Madam President, I yield the floor.