Cindy Axne: “I thank Mrs. Maloney, the chair of the Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship, and Capital Markets Subcommittee, for her…”

“I thank Mrs. Maloney, the chair of the Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship, and Capital Markets Subcommittee, for her support on this bill. I also thank Senator Peters and Representative McNerney for their work on the Outsourcing Accountability Act. Last December, Wells Fargo in my district laid off 400 workers, claiming it was due to technological advances. But I heard from dozens of laid-off employees who were directed to train their replacements overseas. Across the country, corporations are shipping jobs overseas, leaving American workers high and dry, just to benefit their bottom line. What is worse is that corporations aren't even required to disclose when they are laying off hardworking Americans by moving jobs overseas. Currently, when corporations submit their annual reports, they are only required to disclose the total number of employees, not where they are located. This makes it far too easy for companies to hide when they are laying off American workers and moving those jobs overseas. It also makes it easier for corporations to deceive the public about inaccurate job creation. If a company lays off 500 workers in Iowa and then hires 1,000 of them in India, their annual report would show that they added 500 jobs when, in reality, hardworking Iowans are left unemployed, wondering how they are going to pay their bills. Employees who lose their jobs due to overseas trade are eligible for Trade Adjustment Assistance, or TAA.…”