The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS” mentioning the Department of Interior was published in the Senate section on pages S10962 on Oct. 30, 2009.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
By Mr. SPECTER (for himself, Mr. Burr, Mr. Casey, and Mrs.
Hagan):
S. 2532. A bill to extend the temporary duty suspensions on certain cotton shirting fabrics, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Finance.
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, today I seek recognition to introduce legislation entitled the Cotton Shirt Industry Tariff Relief and Promotion Act. This legislation will strengthen our domestic dress shirt manufacturers and the pima cotton growers. My bill extends a technical correction that levels the playing field by correcting an anomaly from previous trade agreements that has unfairly advantaged foreign producers and sent hundreds of jobs offshore.
This legislation extends the reduction of duties levied on cotton shirting fabric that is not made in the United States. U.S. law recognizes this lack of fabric availability and has granted special favorable trade concessions to manufacturers in Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, the Andean region, and Africa. The U.S. allowed shirts to enter this country duty-free from many other countries, while failing to reduce tariffs on those manufacturers that stayed in the U.S. and were forced to compete on these uneven terms. My bill extends the correction of this inequity.
This legislation also recognizes the need to promote the U.S. shirting manufacturing and textiles sectors, and does so through the extension of a Cotton Competitiveness grant program, which is funded through a portion of previously collected duties.
Our country has experienced an enormous loss of jobs in the manufacturing sector. It is critical that our domestic manufacturers are able to compete on a level playing field. My legislation is a concrete step that this Congress can take to reduce the hemorrhaging of U.S. manufacturing jobs.
One group of beneficiaries of this legislation is a Gitman Brothers factory in Ashland, PA. The Ashland Shirt and Pajama factory was built in 1948 and employs 132 workers. This factory in the Lehigh Valley turns out world class shirts with such labels as Saks Fifth Avenue that are shipped across the U.S. Their shirts are made of pima cotton that is grown in the Southwestern U.S., but spun into fabric only by special mills in Western Europe. Gitman must compete against Canadian shirt companies that import the same fabric tariff-free and who can then ship their shirts into the U.S. tariff-free under NAFTA. These workers and their families deserve trade laws that do not chase their jobs offshore.
This legislation enjoys the support of the domestic shirting industry, UNITE, and the Pima cotton association. I offer this legislation on behalf of the men and women of the Gitman factory in Ashland, the domestic dress shirting industry, and the pima cotton growers, so that for them, free trade will indeed be fair trade as well.
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By Mr. REID (for himself and Mrs. Feinstein):
S. 2607. A bill to amend the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations Act, 2010 to repeal a provision of that Act relating to geothermal energy receipt; to the Committee on Finance.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:
S. 2607
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. REPEAL OF GEOTHERMAL ENERGY RECEIPTS PROVISION.
Section 423 of the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010 is repealed.
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