Byron Dorgan: “I want to just speak briefly about two issues. One is a jobs issue and the other is a crime issue. Both, I think, are…”

“I want to just speak briefly about two issues. One is a jobs issue and the other is a crime issue. Both, I think, are important to this country. I introduced a bill on one subject last week, and I am going to introduce a bill on the other next week. I just talked about the budget deficit. That has been coming down some in recent years. It is still too high, but it has been coming down. Nobody talks about the trade deficit. The trade deficit has been going up. Last year was a record. The fact is the trade deficit goes up because we are exporting manufacturing jobs out of this country. It means fewer jobs and fewer opportunities and less income for too many of the American people who need a good job with good income. How do we deal with the jobs issue? I do not have all the answers. I know we have to deal with the trade deficit. Nobody here talks about it. The trade deficit is going to be repaid ultimately with a lower standard of living in this country. So we have to deal with that. One thing we ought to do, just for starters, relates to a bill I introduced in the Senate last week. It is very simple. The bill simply says, let us stop providing tax loopholes or tax incentives for those people who move their plants and their jobs overseas.”