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“THE RED INK KEEPS GETTING DEEPER” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Commerce was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H6634-H6635 on June 18, 2007.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THE RED INK KEEPS GETTING DEEPER
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, the topic of my remarks tonight will be
``The Red Ink Keeps Getting Deeper.''
If we look at the trade procedure the Bush administration wants Congress to pass called Fast Track, we should know that it is shorthand for Congress blindly signing away its constitutionally granted duty to regulate commerce with foreign nations. That is right in the Constitution. Under Fast Track procedure, Congress loses any opportunity to negotiate, amend, or improve the Bush administration's misguided trade policy.
We have seen what happens when Congress hands the reins over to the executive branch. When we look at our soaring trade deficit and our ravaged middle-class communities, we see how Congress could have improved each one of the trade agreements we were forced to consider as a whole under what was called Fast Track. It is like a fast ball through here that you can't even amend.
The Commerce Department just released an example of the Bush administration's horrendous leadership on this issue. The first quarter account for 2007 is another $193 billion deficit in the red, which totals 5.7 percent of GDP, a total drag on economic growth in this country. And, in fact, this quarter's debt is larger than the last quarter of 2006. The red ink keeps getting deeper every single quarter.
Our national security is forced to take a back seat to foreign investment while workers lose their pensions and their health benefits or their jobs, and illegal immigrants scramble across our borders attempting to flee the destruction caused by our failed trade policies in those countries. This should not be happening.
When Congress reclaims our power to amend trade agreements, we can use trade policy in a manner to level the playing field, to help people and not just fan the flames of more corporate greed in the global marketplace.
Congress cannot accept Fast Track in any form. We must demand and create a new model for trade that has not just a logic but also an ethic. We must bring people back into the trade equation, not just investors.
Our trade policy touches people around the world, from middle-class Americans in the heart of this country to Mexican corn and bean farmers facing extinction come next January as some of NAFTA's provisions phase out for them. Our trade policy touches factory workers in China toiling for starvation wages.
We, as most powerful Nation in the world, must accept our responsibility to protect people from corporate greed and our own people from security risks. We cannot trust President Bush to defend our jobs. We have seen he has not been able to do that. And we cannot watch him dictate trade policies that Congress is blocked from amending. We have to take the responsibility given to us in our Constitution.
Instead of approving more lopsided trade agreements, Congress should fix our current situation. Trade should create jobs in America. It should not exploit Third World workers. It should elevate, not reduce, America's image abroad. Congress should fund the North American Development Bank to support job creation in communities where jobs have been offshored and outsourced. And we should require our trade competitors to adhere to environmental standards. We should abolish child labor worldwide. We should stop labor trafficking. And we should fix our broken immigration system that is so tied to failed trade policies. A new trade model must be created that meets America's most principled values, democratic rights and justice for all.
Under Fast Track authority, however, Congress cannot even control our own floor schedule. President Bush will decide what policy we consider and when we vote on it. We simply can't accept that. Congress must reclaim its own power. Democrats must lead the way to a more sensible and ethical trade policy that brings prosperity to people here at home as well as around the world, restores our reputation abroad, and advances democratic principles, that's with a small ``d,'' respect for people.
The world has suffered at the hands of Bush administration trade policies for too long. I urge my colleagues to join me in opposing any more blank checks for this President or any President who tries to move a trade agreement through here on renewing Fast Track. Congress ought to reject Fast Track and we should stop making the red ink deeper.
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