Bob Dole: “I understand the severe budget restraints you and the committee were working under to produce this final bill. I wish…”

“I understand the severe budget restraints you and the committee were working under to produce this final bill. I wish that the committee had been able to fund this very important measure. Since 1996, 65,7000 jobs have been lost in North Carolina alone in the textile industry. However, contrary to some opinions, the North Carolina textile industry can compete domestically and worldwide if, and I strongly emphasize 'if,' the Federal Government allocates the resources to its customs agents to do their jobs and enforce existing trade agreements. Chuck Hayes, the former head of the American Textile Manufacturers Institute, once said that thousands of textile jobs could have been saved in North Carolina if the United States had rigorously enforced our existing textile trade agreements. But in order to do that, the Customs Service needs to hire many more experienced agents to be able to investigate cases of illegally shipped textile products into the United States through our ports. It is a massive undertaking but one that we must pursue in order to save the remaining textile jobs in North Carolina and elsewhere and put our domestic textile industry on a more equal basis versus overseas manufacturers.”