Mike Levin: “very briefly, there are a number of points which the Senator from Texas has made which deserve, again, to be refuted. I…”

“very briefly, there are a number of points which the Senator from Texas has made which deserve, again, to be refuted. I will pick two of them. First he says Mr. and Mrs. America, if they only knew, they surely would say that we have to allow the Prison Industries to establish a monopoly so that the Defense Department must buy a product from Prison Industries, even though the Defense Department is paying more for it from Prison Industries than they do from a private firm. I think Mr. and Mrs. America would be stunned, would be shocked if they heard that a private firm is not allowed to bid on a product that the Government is buying. I think Mr. and Mrs. America would probably shake their heads in disbelief and say: Wait a minute, you mean that the office supply company down the street my husband or wife works at is not allowed to bid even if they have a lower price than Prison Industries at 50-cents-an-hour labor? You mean that firm, that company, where my spouse has a job, cannot even bid on it? Talk about being stunned. That would stun Mr. and Mrs. America. There is something else, by the way, about Mr. and Mrs. America to which I want to make reference. We do not allow Americans to buy products made by Chinese prison labor. We prohibit it. We just do not think it is right that we should be competing with Chinese prison wages.”