William R. Richardson: “I speak as a 14-year member of the Democratic Party with a 90-percent labor voting record. The AFL-CIO has been…”

“I speak as a 14-year member of the Democratic Party with a 90-percent labor voting record. The AFL-CIO has been mentioned here. Yes, they are opposed, but let me state that their opposition stems from following the lead of the big Navy-oriented yards. Mr. Chairman, while 80 percent or more of total employment in shipbuilding is in these big yards, these yards primarily build Navy ships, not commercial ships. Over 90 percent of commercial ships are built in yards other than these Navy yards. The bill does not affect military ships. The big Navy yards are hopeful for big new subsidies for commercial ships. That is very enlightening. Jobs would be created for commercial yards to build more, but they cannot compete with the much larger subsidies from foreigners. Foreign subsidies are more than $4 billion. U.S. subsidies are $50 million. This is the reason for the agreement to eliminate these subsidies, so we can create more American jobs, so our shipbuilders are more active and can compete more. The agreement would eliminate these unfair subsidies that we cannot compete with. This is a good bill, this is an amendment that would violate the fair trade agreement. Significant growth is projected for the highly competitive international shipbuilding market, while domestic military and commercial markets are expected to be small. The commercial shipbuilding market is projected to be $265 billion for the period 1992 to 2001.”