William Pryor: “It seems to me our economy is changing. As a Congress, we need to recognize that, we need to understand that, and try to…”

“It seems to me our economy is changing. As a Congress, we need to recognize that, we need to understand that, and try to harness that change in a positive way for our economy. One area our economy has changed quite a bit in the last several years is we have gone more and more to a service-oriented economy rather than just purely a manufacturing economy. Back in the 1960s, the Congress passed something called Trade Adjustment Assistance. What it did is it provided sort of a package of various programs for workers who had been dislocated--who had been downsized, in today's vernacular. What I think we ought to do, and what this amendment does--and I think it is very smart to do this and move in that direction--is it gives workers in the service industries those same TAA benefits. The reason I think that is important is because a much larger percentage of our economy is now based on the service industries, and what we are seeing is the trend that those service jobs are moving offshore.”