Chris Dodd: “I will make two points. I appreciate my friend from Iowa telling me what the substantive concerns are about the…”

“I will make two points. I appreciate my friend from Iowa telling me what the substantive concerns are about the amendment, one which I think we have addressed. On the second question he raised, we included language which very specifically makes clear that the government procurement agreements between the United States and 27 other predominantly western European countries would not be affected by this legislation. India and China are not part of that problem. The major culprit in all of this is outsourcing of jobs. But my colleague from Montana raised the question that we could be found in violation of World Trade Organization policies, if we didn't include this language. So I think we addressed the concerns about whether or not we are going to run afoul of some international agreements to which we are a signatory. The second part about mandating States, if you are going to use Federal money to lay off workers in your State and hire someone 12 time zones away to do the job, I don't consider that a mandate.”