Bill Pascrell: “I want to thank Chairman Levin for bringing this bill to the floor today, as well as the sponsors of this legislation…”

“I want to thank Chairman Levin for bringing this bill to the floor today, as well as the sponsors of this legislation, Mr. Ryan and Mr. Johnson for working in a bipartisan way on behalf of America's workers and manufacturers. In the Ways and Means Committee, we have studied how China uses "state capitalism" to manipulate world trade to give its industries an unfair advantage over the rest of the world, at the expensive of our workers and businesses. Currency manipulation is just the tip of the iceberg. China provides government subsidizes to favored industries--notably green technology, selectively rebates its value added tax to penalize imports and encourage exports, imposes restrictive local content rules, and practices an "indigenous innovation" policy. We must deal with each of these issues as a part of a broad strategy. Everyone acknowledges the reality that China's currency is fundamentally undervalued. My friends on the other side of the aisle, the Administration, our international partners, and even China itself have all said the RMB could and should appreciate. However, despite this widespread consensus, China has not taken any meaningful steps to correct this manipulation that disrupts the flow of international trade. With the passage of this bill today, we signal to China that enough is enough. The free ride is over. We will not stand by while we lose 1.5 million Americans jobs and shave 1.5 percent off of our GDP every year.”