Washington, Wake Up

Floor Speech

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, how many millions of more jobs have to be outsourced before Washington wakes up? It makes you wonder if the recently released report by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is some sort of a cruel joke. It claims that U.S. trade agreements have supported 5.4 million jobs. Are we talking about the same country?

Take Ohio: Since 1994, employment just in the manufacturing sector has declined by one-third. Companies like Silgan Holdings, Delphi, Georgia Pacific, GM, Dixon Ticonderoga, and Champion Spark Plug all have moved to Mexico.

Remember when NAFTA promised us the promised land, claiming we would get millions of new jobs and the standard of living would rise? What we got was the giant sucking sound, more jobs going out and a cumulative trade deficit of $1 trillion to this country as a result of NAFTA. The deficits from NAFTA and NAFTA-like trade agreements have caused our great manufacturing Nation to wither as our workers and companies are asked to compete against state-managed capitalism in places like Mexico, China and Japan.

It is time to wake up, stand up for this country and renegotiate those agreements that keep moving our jobs offshore.

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