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“MANUFACTURING--Continued” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Transportation was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H5899-H5905 on July 21, 2010.
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MANUFACTURING--Continued
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Pennsylvania may proceed.
Mr. FATTAH. We always want to have due deference to our colleagues on the Rules Committee because they rule over all of us.
But I want to focus in on Philadelphia. We have some 1,300 manufacturers. The average wages earned by people working for manufacturers in the Philadelphia area is well over $45,000 annually. It is a major source of where our future economic growth is going to come from.
And the gentleman from California, who has dedicated a great deal of his life on economic development, really understands that at the end of the day the only way to really build wealth in our Nation is that we have to be making products, that we can't be a consumer-driven economy and expect to continue to have a high quality of life for ourselves and for our families and for our children and grandchildren.
In Philadelphia, we're making everything from Peanut Chews, which are the best candy bars in the world, to saltwater fishing reels, which are the world class among fishermen and -women throughout the world. We're making railcars. We're making railcars and we're making upholstery for railcars. We have manufacturers that are engaged in making bicycles. I mean, you run through the gamut and you will see.
Now, people, when they first think about our city, they say, well, you lost a couple hundred thousand manufacturing jobs over the last 30 years. That's true. And when you saw the old Stetson hat factories, and some of the old factories have closed down, but there's a new group of manufacturers who have stepped into the void. And some of them who have been around for a while have even improved their technology in ways that make them very competitive.
Ten percent of our manufacturing jobs are at one company in Philadelphia called CARDONE Industries. I've visited there, and it's an amazing thing. We have a strong immigrant community; 22 different languages spoken on the plant floor. They have over 3,000 employees, and they are making refurbished or reengineered car parts. And they only have one competitor, in Mexico, but they are doing a yeoman's job. They have a prayer service at the beginning of the day where they have chaplains and religious leaders in the different religions, and they have a prayer before they go to work. But they are dedicated to producing world-class products, and they do a great job.
So I want to get to the point here, which is that, as Members of Congress, we have a responsibility, a duty, to create a glide path in which our manufacturers can rise to the point where they can, again, make the best products in the world, compete fairly across the globe.
We only have 1 percent of our businesses in this country export. And of that, 58 percent of them export with only one other trading partner anywhere in the world. But we know that just as we see these containers unloading products coming in here, that we can be putting products in those container vessels, sending them to other parts of the world. But we have to have a fair trading system.
But first and foremost, charity begins at home. We have to build the things that we need to be able to purchase in our own economy. And so, whether they are household appliances, whether they're cars or mass transit vehicles, we have to build the capacity to reengineer our manufacturing sector and also give them the kind of assistance they need from a policy standpoint.
And it's amazing to me that as we have started to grapple with this issue of rebuilding this economy and turning this around, the President has done an extraordinary job, and his economic team, an extraordinary job.
Here in the House, with this focus on manufacturing, we've already, as was the case today, started to move legislative initiatives that are, both as a symbol and substance, providing real messaging to manufacturers here in our country that they're going to get the support that they need, that they're going to get the help that they need, and that, as a Democratic majority, we understand that there is no way possible for us to have the American economy that we want without manufacturing, without manufacturing at the heart and center of it.
Technology is great. Information is great. But we need to have a system in our country that respects the fact that when we make things with our hands, when we make the finest products in the world, that we'll have a market here at home, we'll have a market across the world, and we'll be in a position to have an economy that generates the jobs that we need and the incomes we need to raise our families on.
I want to thank the gentleman for his leadership, thank him for what he is doing. Even if he is from California, he obviously is a person who has been called for a time like this.
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In my church they say that God always provides us people for a time like this. These are difficult days, but I believe that, rather than curse the darkness, we have a gentleman now who is lighting a candle through this legislative vehicle. I want to stand with him and we're going to get these things passed into law.
Mr. GARAMENDI. The gentleman is getting carried away. Let me just cut you off and say that there is no candle that I've lit that was not already lit by the Democratic Caucus. I came here just 8 months ago and much of this work was under way.
You did mention something that caught my attention, and that is that in Philadelphia there is a rail car manufacturer.
Mr. FATTAH. That's correct.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Under the present laws of the United States, the Department of Transportation has the opportunity to use our tax money to purchase rail cars made in Philadelphia, or buses made in California or in the Midwest, but they don't often do it. Instead, they use one of four waivers that are in the law that allows our tax money to be spent on things that are manufactured--buses, trains, light rail, subway cars--manufactured overseas and imported. Our tax money is going overseas. And I'm going, no way, no how.
So what you and I and others are working on is to eliminate three of those waivers and simply say, ``No, no, no, no, no. If it's our tax money, we're going to use it to buy rail cars manufactured in Philadelphia.''
Mr. FATTAH. That is why I'm a cosponsor of your legislation, H.R. 5791, because it addressed directly this point. I was at the ribbon cutting and grand opening for this company with the Governor and with my colleague, Congressman Brady, whose district this is in. It's actually at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, which has been transformed from a naval shipyard to a manufacturing and economic development base; tens of thousands of jobs there. We're making those cars and we want to sell them all over the United States of America.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Let's do it and then we can export them, too.
I notice next to you the gentlewoman from the great State of Ohio. She is determined to change from the Rust Belt to the Future Belt. Congresswoman Betty Sutton is joining us. You are right smack in the middle of what once was the greatest industrial section anywhere in the world. Please share with us your experiences and your hopes and where you think we ought to be going.
Ms. SUTTON. Thank you. And thank you for having this hour tonight to talk about jobs and manufacturing and how we can make it in America. I appreciate the gentleman from California's leadership and, of course, our friend from Pennsylvania joining us here tonight as well.
Manufacturing is the backbone of a strong economy, it's the backbone of this country, and it's long past the time in my view that we stand up for U.S. manufacturing. Now I am proud to say that I'm a product of a manufacturing household. When I grew up it was a time when people could have a good job in manufacturing, put food on the table, cover health care costs and supply a pension. But we have seen obviously a lot of loss of good manufacturing jobs due to a number of things, but including unfair trade practices and policies that put our companies and our workers at a disadvantage.
As we work together to pass this initiative that is multifaceted in its approach, there are many things we need to do to level that playing field and invest in many ways in our manufacturing sector so that we can again make things and create real value.
We just saw an economic collapse in this country and it is all too vivid in our minds. A lot of that, that wealth that we thought was out there, was actually created by people moving money around. There was a lot of smoke and mirrors going on, and when the room cleared up, the American people were smashed under the results.
When you make things, you create real value. We are embarking. We've been in this mode, but now we're really racheting up the attention to U.S. manufacturing. It's a welcome, welcome train that we're moving here.
We've got to encourage innovation. We hear a lot about innovation. We need to create a level playing field, as I said, for U.S. manufacturers. We have to improve our U.S. infrastructure with iron and steel and products produced right here in the United States. That's what the American people expect us to use when their dollars are being used. We also, of course, have to help our labor pool. We need to strengthen our training and education and coordinate our efforts, because we are in this together, and we will make it in America.
Today we passed a couple of bills, I am happy to report, out of the Energy and Commerce Committee consistent with our goals, to make it in America. One of them calls for a national manufacturing strategy. Now that's a pretty good idea, don't you think? Since it is a multifaceted task and mission that we're on, it makes a lot of sense to plan out our actions and make sure we have our policies in order so that they work together and that they work for and with our businesses and our workers. The National Manufacturing Strategy Act of 2010 was passed out of the Energy and Commerce Committee and hopefully on its way to the House floor so we can vote on it in the near future.
Another bill was passed out of the Energy and Commerce Committee today and it was a bill that I sponsored called the Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability Act of 2010. This bill deals with products that are manufactured in foreign countries, sold into our marketplace, and then if they injure our consumers, we don't have a right of redress really for them to deal with that. Every year countless Americans are injured, sometimes fatally, by dangerous products that have been manufactured abroad and imported into the U.S. Some of the examples we're all well aware of--the toxic drywall and faulty infant cribs, lead paint in toys, defective tires.
These products not only hurt consumers, but they also hurt American businesses, because when our businesses put manufactured products out there, they have to comply with safety standards that we expect for our consumers. Yet it's very difficult for injured parties to hold foreign manufacturers accountable because they can't serve process, they don't have jurisdiction over them, and as a result our consumers and businesses are forced to engage in cost prohibitive and consuming international legal battles. What is more is, the fact of avoiding all of those issues, producing things in foreign countries, allows them to undercut our U.S. manufacturing; and it's not fair.
This is a bill about fairness. It's about accountability. It will improve the safety of products that come into our marketplace. And it will allow our manufacturers to compete on a level playing field.
We're on our way. I thank the gentleman for the three bills that he has pending on manufacturing and I look forward to this mission to revitalize the strength of our Nation, the backbone of our Nation, manufacturing.
Mr. GARAMENDI. I thank the gentlewoman from Ohio for bringing to us the perspective of things that we have yet to do; the idea of a strategy. You mentioned several pieces of that strategy, one of which the Democrats in this House have already done, the Senate voted for it, it's been signed into law, and it happens to deal with education.
We know that if you're going to have a manufacturing strategy where you compete in the worldwide market, you need a well-educated workforce. And so the Student Aid and Financial Responsibility Act was passed here several months ago, was approved over in the Senate, and the President has signed it.
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One very interesting fact about the way that bill passed this House. It passed without one Republican vote. Every Republican voted ``no'' or didn't vote at all. Only the Democrats voted to increase the Pell Grants to make it possible for students to enter college, to enter the community colleges. You can't have a first class manufacturing industry unless you have a well-educated workforce, which means education. And that's what we did. It's now the law. Every student and wannabe student across this Nation now has access to that additional money.
Mr. FATTAH. Under that program, these community colleges, and we have seen it all across the country, can do customized job training to help local manufacturers develop classes where they will come out and train, at the work site or at the community college, specific skills related to the manufacturing processes that are going to be used there. So you are absolutely right.
I was here in the Clinton years. When the Clinton economic plan was passed, not one Republican voted for it, not in the House, not in the Senate. But you know, 25 million jobs later, a balanced budget, $3 trillion surplus, it doesn't matter whether they vote for it or not, what matters is that Democrats, we have to be committed to doing what we do best, which is getting this economy headed in the right direction. And at some point maybe it will catch on with the other party. But they didn't cast any votes in favor of these things.
But what's most important is what we see. We saw it in the unemployment numbers yesterday, State by State, with the improvements throughout the country now and the majority of our States with employment moving up.
So I just thank the gentleman. I thank the gentlelady from Ohio. I love ladies from Ohio. My wife was born in Ohio. But let's keep working together. Let's make it in America. And I thank you very much.
Mr. GARAMENDI. You have that experience of women from Ohio, and it couldn't be better, and we certainly appreciate our colleague from Ohio, Congresswoman Sutton.
I noticed over here on my left side a gentleman who comes from the Continental Divide. Congressman Perlmutter has been very deeply involved. He was here a moment ago bringing to us a rule from the Rules Committee as a member there.
You were talking to me earlier about the way in which the economy is changing, and Colorado's become a manufacturing State. So please share with us.
Mr. PERLMUTTER. I thank the gentleman from California.
And really we've got to kind of not forget what we've come through, because the better days are ahead. But you can't forget where you came from. And over the course of 2007 through 2008, at the end of the Bush administration this country was losing 780,000 jobs a month. And over the course of the next year, through a series of things that stopped the free fall of the economy, righted it, and dealt with some significant issues that have been really holding us back, holding this country back for a long time. Health care as it applies to business. Each car costs a ton of money. On top of that is the health care costs. A variety of things that have been holding us down from reaching our real potential as Americans and as America.
But over the course of the last year-and-a-half, instead of losing 780,000 jobs, as we were under the Bush administration, we crossed the axis to positive job growth. And it's still kind of shaky, but we've gone from losing 780,000 jobs to gaining about 100,000 jobs a month. Now that's not good enough, and we can do a lot better. And we have a lot of work to do because in this trough, in this deep part of the recession, we lost 8 million jobs.
We want good paying, good products coming out of that so that we can put people back to work. And that's the goal and the everyday job. Our first priority is putting people back to work to good jobs. And that's what we're doing. We've taken care of dealing with some long-standing problems, whether it's reeling in Wall Street, dealing with health care, making sure that women get equal pay for equal work. Those are the kinds of things that we've been focusing on, when the Republicans have been focusing on the George Bush agenda of cutting taxes for the wealthiest, prosecuting wars without paying for them, failing to police Wall Street, privatizing Social Security, and abolishing Medicare. That's not the contract that we want to have with this country, but that is their contract that they want to pursue, just as George Bush pursued it.
Now, I would recommend to you, Mr. Garamendi and to the other speakers, an article that was published in the Denver Post this past Sunday by a gentleman named Andy Grove, who was the chief executive of Intel. And it describes manufacturing in the United States, and when it grew, and how it's waned, and what we can do to start building it again.
My friend from Ohio (Ms. Sutton) talked about manufacturing jobs in that State. One of the places where we can have solid manufacturing jobs is in the green, clean technology arena. Now, it's manufacturing, whether it's solar panels or wind turbines or many things that are of huge size that we build in this country, we construct in this country, and it puts our people, Americans back to work. And that's the kind of thing, we are building a country by looking forward, by looking to that new day where we're going to have something better for the people of this country.
One of the things you talked about, Mr. Garamendi, was this bill that we passed involving students and community colleges. Well, community colleges in that bill will really be a base for developing these new manufacturing positions so that we have well-educated, well-prepared people to go build the best products in the world. That's what we've done before, that's what we're going to do again, because that's what America is made of.
And I am so proud to be part of a Democratic Caucus, and a Democratic Caucus that has dealt with a very difficult financial time, dealt with very substantial and difficult subjects like health care, and Wall Street, and getting this country back on its feet. And now we're going to move forward, just as America wants us to do, and we're going to start building this thing the way we know we can.
I yield to my friend from California.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Thank you. I just want to kind of set a couple of things in place here. Before I arrived here, my three colleagues and the Democrats in this House passed an energy policy that puts America on the track to renewable energy and puts us on a track to end our addiction to foreign oil. That bill passed this House. It is a fundamental policy direction. We're moving this Nation to renewables. We're moving the Nation away from its dependence on oil. I wish I were here to vote for it, but the special election occurred after that. There will be some follow-ups.
One follow-up, and this is something that just drives me crazy, that policy to build renewables in America actually runs up against our tax policy. The American tax policy allows our tax dollars to be used to buy wind turbines, photovoltaic systems, and even buses that are manufactured overseas. I am going, I don't get it. Wait a minute. That's our tax money. We're using it to buy wind turbines that are manufactured in China? Solar panels that are manufactured anywhere but America? That's stupid.
So one of the things my colleagues and I are working on is to change American policy here so that our tax money is spent on these green technologies that are manufactured here in America. Now, I hope the Republicans join us on this one. It remains to be seen, because they certainly have not joined us on any other job creation program that has been put through this House that's been signed by the President.
Now, my colleague from Minnesota.
Mr. KAGEN. You are thinking the Minnesota Vikings. I represent the Green Bay Packers.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Somewhere between California and Philadelphia is where Dr. Kagen is from. And you actually started a major business in America. You know what it is to make things in America. You are a physician, you are an entrepreneur, and you are one heck of a legislator. So please share with us.
Mr. KAGEN. Mr. Garamendi, I thank you for yielding briefly, but I am from the great State of Wisconsin. And I know that occasionally the State of California has dabbled in the dairy business. And somewhere you've got a moniker that says somehow your cows are happier.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Happy cows.
Mr. KAGEN. You can't be any happier than being from Wisconsin. We are still the Dairy State, and I remind that to my colleague each and every opportunity.
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Let me tell it to you this way. If I heard my colleague from Colorado correctly, you said that today was an important day for taking a positive step forward.
We saw our country on the brink of disaster. Why? How did we get into that mess? There were two wars at the same time, and the Republicans didn't pay a dime for either one of them. Two wars without paying a dime for it. There were two tax cuts to the very wealthy in the United States, didn't pay for that either. Four hundred billion dollars handed over to big drug companies in Medicare part D, didn't pay a penny for that benefit either. And then at the tail end of the Bush administration, they cracked the door open to the Treasury and allowed Wall Street speculators to take out nearly a trillion dollars, didn't pay a penny for that either.
So we've got a lot of bills that somebody's going to have to pay. We're beginning to move up. The way you do it is to generate private sector jobs. We understand that. But first we had to do a lot of lifting here. We had some tremendous leadership that guided us through these tough times.
The first and most important bill that I helped to pass was to live within our means or pay-as-we-go. It worked during President Clinton's time. It will work again during President Obama's time. We are fiscally responsible here on the Democratic side of the aisle. We wish the Republicans would join us in helping us build that better future.
You mentioned that it's important to generate jobs. But to do that, small businesses and private businesses that I am very familiar with, we need to lower the cost of labor. We've done that. To give tax credits for those employers who will hire people. We did more than that.
According to the Republican adviser to President Reagan, Mr. Bruce Bartlett, on March 19 he said these words: Federal taxes are very considerably lower by every measure since Obama became President. Last year's stimulus bill enacted with no Republican support reduced Federal taxes by almost a $100 billion in 2009 and by $222 billion this year. It was news even at USA Today where the headline reads, ``Tax Bills in 2009 At Lowest Level Since 1950.''
If people in Wisconsin were looking for lower taxes, the Democrats have delivered it to the middle class. They didn't feel it, though. You're not going to get credit for it because the economy was on its knees. We were so deep into this recession.
But today is historic because we did pass a bill, a financial reform regulation bill that guarantees no more bailouts, no more bad loans to people who can't afford to pay them back. The taxpayers won't be on the hook for the speculators on Wall Street. And most importantly, a consumer protection agency that will finally put someone on the side of the consumer looking out only for their best interest. It wasn't done with a Republican-led House of Representatives or Congress. It was done with Democratic leadership.
And it will take Democratic leadership and a strong spine to stand up and take credit for all of the benefits that we're bringing to every American no matter what party they're in, because we're going to have to work together and across the aisle to guarantee that we can generate the jobs we need to work our way back into prosperity to make things here in America again and begin to get a balanced trade deal, not just with Europe, but most importantly with China.
I yield to Mr. Garamendi.
Mr. GARAMENDI. You mentioned Democratic leadership.
Just next to you is our Democratic leader, the Congressman from the great State of Maryland (Mr. Hoyer). I suspect you have a few things you'd like to say, and you may want to cover the 20 or 30 bills that under your leadership and Speaker Pelosi that the Democrats have passed out of this House with no Republican support. But I'll leave it to you to speak on the matter of manufacturing.
But before you do, if you will look over here Mr. Leader, ``Make It in America.'' Now that came from a tremendous leader. Our majority leader said in caucus one day, Make it in America. It's your slogan, it's our slogan.
I yield.
Mr. HOYER. I thank my friend from California. I thank my friends from Colorado and from Wisconsin and from New York and certainly from Ohio who are on the floor here with us talking about making it in America.
We believe everybody ought to be able to make it in this, the greatest land on the face of the Earth. And we believe one way they're going to make it in America--I tell the gentleman, the Speaker, Mr. Driehaus from Ohio--is to make it in America and sell it throughout the world. Make sure that our manufacturing capacity is as robust as it was in former decades and as it needs to be, and as Americans know it needs to be if our economy is going to give back, and America, which is a great country, can be even greater. And that America, which has been the engine of economic opportunity, will be an even greater engine of economic opportunity for our people. It will create jobs and growth.
Manufacturing is critical, and Americans know it, critical to our economic strength. And Democrats are committed to rebuilding it as a part of America's economic recovery.
Mr. Perlmutter has a chart there which shows that we were handed a debt of an economy, the deepest recession in three quarters of a century. There are only a couple of Members, a few Members of the House, who were alive 75 years ago. There are some.
America understands why they're feeling pain because of this debt left to us by the last administration. You showed the deficit, the figures. I've served with all four of those Presidents, I tell my friend Mr. Garamendi. I served with all four of those Presidents. One of them was a Democrat--the only one who's above the line, the only President in the lifetime of anybody in this institution that has had a net surplus. The only one.
Now we show four Presidents here, but very frankly you can go back for as long as you've been alive, no President ended with a net surplus as Bill Clinton did--a $5.6 trillion surplus left by that administration. An ability to address our problems.
Unfortunately, we failed to do so. Unfortunately, we had an administration that thought just helping the wealthiest in America, buying things and not paying for them, going to war and not paying for it, doing a prescription drug bill--which has done some good things--
but not paid for, was the thing to do. And, therefore, we find the economy tanked. And in 1 month in America we lost 786,000 jobs. That was the last month of the Bush administration; 3.8 million jobs lost in the last year of the Bush administration.
And what does that mean?
If you look at the last year of the Clinton administration, we had 1.9 million new jobs created.
So Americans know that we've got to put America back to work. And one of the best ways to do that, Americans are telling us--Republicans talk about listening to America--one of the best ways to do that is to start making it in America and sending it to other nations. Not the other way around. Putting our people back to work.
Thank you, Doctor. I appreciate that.
In coming weeks we will be bringing to the floor the Make It in America agenda. A comprehensive strategy to boost American manufacturing. It's based on the idea that when more products are made in America, more well-paying, blue collar jobs, white collar jobs, no-
collar jobs are going to be created; and it will be possible for more people to make it in America.
This bill, the Manufacturing Enhancement Act, is the first piece of that agenda. It includes hundreds of tariff suspensions and reductions so that American companies will find it easier to obtain the materials they need to produce goods, grow, and add workers, which we passed today. So we've already started on that agenda.
And by the way, I noticed that our Republican friends out of habit voted ``no.'' Then they started talking to one another and said, Hey, you know what this bill does? It starts to grow our economy. By the way, the National Association of Manufacturers are for this bill these Democrats put on the floor. They're for it because they know it helps to build jobs. And, oh, by the way, the Chamber of Commerce is for this bill. Why? Because it starts to build jobs. That's the agenda the Democrats are on. And did you notice how they sort of all talked and said, Hey, gee, maybe I better vote for that bill and we saw those
``noes'' go to ``aye,'' ``noes'' go to ``yes.'' It was a strange experience for them. I hope it's catching.
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I hope they will keep doing it. I hope they will keep saying ``yes'' to the American worker. I hope they will keep saying ``yes'' to growing manufacturing capability in America. I hope they will say ``yes'' to the proposition that we can, we should, and we will make it in America.
America is the greatest land on the face of the Earth, and our people are some of the most talented, innovative, entrepreneurial people on Earth, and if we give them the tools and we give them the opportunity, they will compete with anybody in the world.
That's why we, Democrats, are committed to an agenda that says, yes, we can, we will make it in America, and in that enterprise, a manufacturing expansion, more people will make it in America.
I thank the gentleman for yielding.
For generations, Americans have looked to our manufacturing sector as a source of pride, a source of economic vitality, and a source of good-
paying jobs.
Along with every part of our economy, manufacturing has taken a severe hit from the recession--but more than that, many Americans worry that industry and the jobs it provides are gone for good.
We have a chance to change that--to emerge from these hard times as a stronger, more competitive company.
That's why Democrats are launching the Make It in America Agenda: a comprehensive manufacturing strategy based on the idea that when more products are made in America, more people will be able to make it in America.
The Make It in America Agenda will create incentives for investment in industry, strengthen manufacturing infrastructure and innovation, and help to level the playing field for American companies that compete globally.
Today, the first part of that agenda passed the House--and, I'm proud to say, it passed with strong bipartisan support.
The U.S. Manufacturing Enhancement Act will make it easier for American companies to get the materials they need to produce goods, contributing to a more productive economy and supporting job creation.
In the weeks to come, Democrats look forward to introducing a range of similar bills that will help manufacturers invest in clean energy, break down foreign barriers to American goods, ensure that taxpayer money pays for goods made in America, and more.
A strong manufacturing sector means a stronger economy and more secure jobs for all of our constituents--so I hope that the Make It in America Agenda will have support from Republicans and Democrats alike.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Leader, thank you so very much.
I notice we're joined by yet another Representative from another State, Mr. Tonko of New York, and you have often talked to me about the manufacturing that occurs in your area. Could you share us with your experiences and how all of this comes together in the great State of New York?
Mr. TONKO. Thank you, Representative Garamendi. It is great to join with our Democratic colleagues here on the floor to share our thoughts on how we rebuild this Nation's economy. And it's absolutely the truth that what was inherited here was a huge loss in jobs, 8.2 million jobs lost in the Bush recession and $18.5 trillion lost in the last 18 months in American households of the Bush administration. So there was a huge comeback required.
What we have here is an opportunity, I believe, to really express the strength of this Nation. The strength of our Nation is the intellect. The intellectual capacity of this Nation, when embraced, can inspire a wonderful, wonderful era of innovation, and we have seen it throughout our history.
When we professed that we were going to land a person on the Moon, when we entered the global race in space under the leadership of President Kennedy, we made it happen because people saw the goal. They believed that we were the greatness of America, and that greatness was expressed by a Nation that invested in technology that landed us on the Moon.
So we're at that same juncture. It is a repeat of history almost. As the President asked us in the Recovery Act to invest in basic research, to invest in R&D, in research and development, that allows us to develop all sorts of responses to basic needs.
The energy dilemma in this country, in this world, can be addressed here in the United States. You look at what the investment in advanced battery technology means. I see it in my district. In Schenectady, GE is opening a facility that will manufacture all of this wonderful opportunity where this alternative battery technology will not only allow for generation of energy, but it will allow for heavy fleets to be equipped with alternative supplies that create efficiency, less carbon emission, and a stronger outcome. Job creation, job production, and then beyond that, this battery will be available for storage, for storage of intermittent power.
So, as we look at the sun and the wind and the soil to produce our energy needs, there are concerns at times that there is an intermittent quality, that the sun may not shine, the wind may not blow. If we can store that supply, then we have created the linchpin to an innovation in the energy world. That is happening as we speak, and those batteries will be developed and manufactured here in this country. That's what we're talking about.
Do we want to go from purchasing fossil-based fuels from unfriendly Nations in the Mideast to purchasing solar panels from China? Not at all. We can produce here in this country but it's about choosing the right policies. It's about relying on the right course. It's about placing trust and confidence in leadership.
Do we want the failed leadership that continues to promote the policies of the past where Republicans in this House will stand on the floor and say privatize Social Security, put it to the whim of the investment market? What would have happened if we had transitioned that with the failure of Wall Street? We're talking about a party that continues to talk, continues to talk about providing vouchers for our Medicare system. I don't want to balance a budget on the backs of hardworking seniors who now earn their retirement years. They want Social Security and Medicare to stay intact.
We're talking about a party that said addressing Wall Street reform is like attacking an ant with an atom bomb. Well, what a gross misrepresentation of the dynamics of reform that were required here in this country.
So it's about going out to the past, reaching out to the past and all those failed policies, where a $236 billion surplus which was projected to grow into a $5.6 trillion surplus was destroyed. It was usurped by failed policies. Or do we choose to go forward with progressive leadership, with recovery that we're seeing, investment in our intellect, investment in our innovation, and putting together the resources that enable us to go forward to make it in America again, to manufacture here in the United States?
We have that ability. We have the course established. Let's continue to maintain the recovery walk that is so very valuable to our economy.
I know that Representative Betty Sutton has something she wants to say, and I will yield back, Mr. Garamendi.
General Leave
Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject we're talking about, making it in America, manufacturing matters, the subject of my Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from California?
There was no objection.
Mr. GARAMENDI. We've got about 10 or 12 minutes. So we're going to do what we call lightning rounds. So we'll go around and we want to cover this ground as completely as we can.
I notice that our representative from Ohio (Ms. Sutton) has a few more things she wants to add here. So, please, I yield.
Ms. SUTTON. Well, again, I just want to summarize some of the things that we've been talking about here and just say it loud and say it strong, that we have to focus on replacing policies that reward businesses for outsourcing jobs with incentives and sensible tax policies that will help our businesses and workers what? Make it in America.
And we have to develop a trade model that will put an end, an enforceable end to currency manipulation and illegal subsidies and product dumping, one that requires reciprocity of market access and one that ensures that products produced elsewhere and sold into our U.S. market are safe for consumption here in the United States.
If you look at this chart that my friend, Representative Ellison from Minnesota, is helping me hold up here, we can see how working Americans are being squeezed; 12,000 to 20,000 American jobs are offshored every month. It is outrageous, and we have a chance with our policies to stop this from happening. Let's close the corporate tax loopholes and save
$14 billion a year and start to save these jobs.
Mr. GARAMENDI. This House more than a month ago passed a very, very important tax bill, and what it did is to end the tax subsidies--and the gentlewoman from Ohio was speaking to this--ended the tax subsidies that American corporations get when they offshore jobs. Americans that I talk to say, What are you talking about? You mean the tax policy of America actually allows corporations to take a reduction in their tax, a tax credit when they send jobs overseas? The answer is yes, but if that bill becomes law--and it's stalled in the Senate by the Republicans--if it becomes law, that will end and no longer will corporations be given a tax break to send jobs overseas. It's $14 billion a year.
Mr. Ellison, we've had a debate here with your colleague next to you about which is the greatest State in the upper Midwest. Would you care to join us and answer that really important question?
Mr. ELLISON. If the gentleman would yield, it's well-known fact that in Minnesota that everybody's above average, you know.
Mr. GARAMENDI. If you yield for a moment, I assume, therefore, you must be from Minnesota.
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Mr. ELLISON. You know what I tell you, nothing about my comments would necessarily indicate that but you're right. I'm not bragging. I'm just telling how it is.
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But let me just say this, one thing Minnesota and Wisconsin do have in common is that we have a lot of hardworking people who are very talented at making things. We can make goods. We can make products. People have made goods throughout the history of this Nation that have essentially armed America during World War II. The arsenal of America was right there in the upper Midwest, Detroit, Wisconsin, Minnesota, right in there as we were making the things that America needed to defend itself.
We also made the things that helped Americans have more convenient lives, have the best and strongest economy in the world. And I just want to say that we can make these things again. There is nothing that can stop us from making it in America all over again. It's a matter of vision. It's a matter of commitment.
I am telling you that I am so proud that today we passed a bill to take us a step in the direction of manufacturing in America today, making it in America, and then we can sell it in America or out of America or anywhere around the globe. What I call for is a commitment to manufacturing, enforcing our trade rules, making sure that other countries play by the rules, that we invest in education, training, and we adjust our Tax Code, as you so correctly point out, to make sure that we are on our own side, which I think only makes sense.
So with that, I want to thank you, Congressman, for bringing us together yet again to talk about the vital issues that affect Americans every single day. Your leadership is very valuable around here. Thank you.
Mr. GARAMENDI. I would yield to our mutual friend from the neighboring great State of Wisconsin.
Mr. ELLISON. You mean the State that the great Brett Favre so wisely left and then came to my State of Minnesota.
Mr. GARAMENDI. We will not find any unanimity among the Democratic Caucus on that, but let's yield to Dr. Kagen.
Mr. KAGEN. In Minnesota or Wisconsin, we have the same ideas. The idea is that on a level playing field, whether it's a football field or a manufacturing competition across borders, we can compete and win against anybody. But there has to be, there must be a level playing field.
We cannot in this country continue to allow China to manipulate its currency to its own advantage. We cannot allow our own corporations or any international corporation to offshore our jobs.
Instead of shipping our jobs overseas, we must export our values. Our values are at stake. We care about our people. We care about our environment. You cannot, you cannot continue in China to sacrifice your environment for economic development.
I think we have got the right message. If you don't make anything, you won't have anything. We have got to get back to our base of making things here in America and making sure that we can compete on a level playing field. That's what we are working so hard to do.
Mr. TONKO. Representative Garamendi, I like these lightning rounds. I think you are right on to the absolute powerful course to make certain that tax policy speaks in defense of American workers, American families. Absolutely essential, making certain that there is an agenda here to invest in education, because we are training the workforce of the future. But what we also need to do--and I am convinced that we can do it smarter. If we don't do it cheaper, we can still win if we do it smarter.
I look at all of the opportunities that we can do through energy efficiency retrofitting, that we can take manufacturing and upgrade it so that we are creating a state-of-the-art facility. Energy costs are significant in production, in production costs, in manufacturing costs. When I look at the potential of providing, for that efficiency, retrofitting, I saw it NYSERDA. I served as president and CEO at the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority just prior to entering Congress. We saw many, many businesses coming to us to ask for programmatic help, to make their efficiency and on site as powerful as could be.
We need to see that as our fuel of choice. We need to drill and mine for efficiency like you would drill for oil and mine for coal. It is that valuable a resource, and we have invested in that. We have invested in all sorts of innovation in the energy arena through the Recovery Act.
This is a visionary policy-driven administration. The Democrats in this House, led by Speaker Pelosi, working with the President, are visionary. They are bringing about state-of-the-art opportunities. We are bringing into play what was back-burnered by an administration that was too interested in working with powerful sources--big banks, big oil companies, all of the special interests of insurance--working with them, giving them the prioritization in government rather than allowing us to invest in all of the adjustments that were required so that our manufacturing could be as smart and as challenging to the global marketplace as could be. I see that as a value added that's part of the Recovery Act, part of the packaging that we do here.
Another point that I would mention, SBIR, the Small Business Innovation Research program, I have a bill that will invest in tested prototypes that have been tested and are ready to be deployed into manufacturing. We can do that if we create a phase 3 revenue stream. Let's take those patented ideas that have been prototyped that are ready to go into manufacturing. Let's invest in that. That's jobs immediately. It's a no-brainer.
So I would hope that we could advance that sort of small business agenda, because otherwise these patents are going to other countries. They are developing these patents into a manufacturing situation, and that scenario is providing jobs in their given country. We need to take our own patents here to the SBIR program and advance that agenda.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Representative Tonko, thank you so very much for bringing us that perspective.
I am going to very quickly run through a scenario of policy changes that the Democratic majority in the House has approved by overwhelming Democratic majority and which the Republican minorities have consistently voted ``no'' on, almost to a person.
First of all, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act; 2.8 million jobs created out of that, every single Republican voted ``no.'' This was the stimulus bill.
The Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act; 98 percent of the Republicans voted ``no.'' This was to keep people in their homes, to help small businesses.
The health insurance reform; 100 percent of the Republicans voted
``no,'' and this is the bill that provides a subsidy for businesses that buy health insurance for their employees, keeping their employees healthy.
Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, giving students the opportunity to go to school, whether they are 50 years of age or 18 years of age, increasing the Pell Grants; every Republican voted
``no.'' The Democrats passed it.
Cash for Clunkers, keeping the auto industry alive; a majority of the House Republicans voted ``no,'' 95 out of their caucus. Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment, the HIRE Act, which will help create 300,000 jobs; 97 percent of the Republicans voted ``no.''
Credit cards. How many of us have been ripped off on our credit cards, the hidden interest bump that occurs after 3 or 4 months? The House Republicans voted ``no.'' The Democrats passed that, and it's now law with the President signing the Wall Street reform.
And speaking of the Wall Street reform, every House Republican voted
``no.'' The great collapse of the American economy caused by Wall Street excesses. Republicans stood with Wall Street; the Democrats stood for reform.
The American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act passed by the House and Senate; 90 percent of the Republicans voted ``no.'' Small business, Republicans voted ``no.''
The Home Star Energy Retrofit Act, how we can improve the efficiency of our homes and put thousands of people to work; 93 percent of the Republicans voted ``no.''
The COMPETES Act, creating an educated workforce. You and I worked on this in the Science and Technology Committee. So what do the Republicans do? They voted ``no.'' This is the law that gives us science and technology education, gives us the resources, the research for the next generation, on and on and on.
We need policies that move the manufacturing of America, that put Californians, New Yorkers, Ohioans, Minnesotans, Wisconsin and every other State, those people need to go back to work. The jobs program, the innovation programs, the manufacturing programs, those are Democratic agenda items. We vote them out of this House, the Republicans vote ``no'' on them, and then it goes over to the Senate where the power of one Senator, usually a Republican, has stalled it all.
We are not finished. We have just begun. We are going to put America back to work. We are going to make it in America, and Americans will make it. That's our agenda. That's what we are all about, and we are going to see that it gets done.
I want to thank my colleagues and thank you for joining us this evening. For the American people, we thank you for your attention.
Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, American Manufacturing has long been the pride of our Nation and the core of our success. American cars, textiles, steel, aircraft, timber and other industries formed a secure base from which we could provide for our own, with quality materials and support for a strong export economy. However, the erosion of this manufacturing base, with more jobs going overseas, through trade policies and our own government failing to ``Buy American,'' has led us to a point of crisis.
We are taking steps to right this ship and return us to a place of strength in manufacturing. H.R. 4380, the U.S. Manufacturing Enhancement Act, MTB, is one of the most important actions Congress can take to preserve and expand good American jobs. H.R. 4380 cut the costs of doing business in the United States and boost American manufacturing exports. U.S. manufacturers large and small can use the MTB's tariff suspension provisions to obtain raw materials, proprietary inputs and other products that are not available in our Nation. This reinvestment is critical, as the manufacturing sector has been disproportionately harmed by this recession. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, manufacturing employment has fallen by 2.1 million jobs since December of 2007.
I also strongly support Representative Lipinski's bill to establish a Manufacturing Strategy Board and Task Force with a goal of focusing more attention on manufacturing and coordinating government's efforts to ensure our Nation's competitiveness. The manufacturing sector generates two-thirds of our exports and employs millions of Americans. Equally as important is our ability to support our national defense and to sustain American infrastructure with American products. If we are going to improve our manufacturing base we must back our words with a step-by-step plan and solid goals to reach our vision of a return to the solid American manufacturing base.
This manufacturing strategy goes hand in hand with the newly-formed Buy American Caucus, of which I am a member, that focuses Congressional efforts to promote American jobs; reclaim American leadership in manufacturing; support small businesses; and close loopholes in current law to ensure that the federal government is purchasing American-made products.
Regardless of political party, we must work together as Americans to invest in our country's long term future and create high-paying jobs. Right now, American men and women who are willing to work are still having trouble finding jobs. As Members of Congress, we owe it to our constituents to ensure that jobs created with the assistance of government funding are American jobs and that the benefits go to the American people.
We must inspire continued demand for American products to create a rebirth of our state and nation as the manufacturing world leader. This effort must start with buying American products here at home, especially by Federal agencies, followed by a well thought-out strategy and all the small steps we can take to lower the costs of manufacturing in the U.S. I encourage the Administration and the Congress to press forward to require a national manufacturing strategy and to institute Buy American policies wherever and whenever possible.
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