John Joseph Moakley: “it's been 4 years since NAFTA was signed. And for those 4 years it's been nothing but bad news: NAFTA has been bad news…”

“it's been 4 years since NAFTA was signed. And for those 4 years it's been nothing but bad news: NAFTA has been bad news for American workers; NAFTA's been bad news for Mexican workers; and NAFTA's been bad news for the environment. American workers have lost 420,000 jobs thanks to NAFTA and Mexican workers' wages have dropped to one-third of what they were in 1980-- from $2.40 an hour in 1993 to $1.50 in 1996. So, Mr. Speaker if NAFTA is such a dismal failure? If NAFTA has hurt so many workers on both sides of the border, why on Earth are we talking about repeating its mistakes? Thanks to NAFTA hundreds of American companies have closed shop in the United States only to reopen in Mexico to take advantage of cheaper labor and weaker worker protections. And some of those corporations that don't shift their businesses south threaten to move in order to stop union organizing. They tell their workers if they try to organize the company will move south to Mexico and they'll be out on the streets. Meanwhile, those companies that move to Mexico are having horrible effects on the environment. Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt just returned from the border where the pollution and disease are unbelievable. In the border region, where maquilladora plants have been set up to do business cheaply, corporations pollute at will, with no control from the Mexican Government.”