Charles Rangel: “I rise in support of H.R. 2754, in opposition to the Bateman amendment, and also to thank Sam Gibbons who for so many…”

“I rise in support of H.R. 2754, in opposition to the Bateman amendment, and also to thank Sam Gibbons who for so many years has been active in these very sensitive negotiations which involve not just shipbuilding today but shipbuilding tomorrow. We are all pleased that America now is going into an era of peace, that we are moving swiftly from defense into commercial shipping, and that we now are going to have to make certain that we can have a plane, an equal, a flat playing field as we move forward in economic competition with other shipbuilders, and that is exactly what this agreement has done. It prevents other countries from manufacturing, making ships, and dumping them on our markets for less than the price that they actually paid for it. It really sets the rules for all of the countries that have sat down and realized that there are pluses and minuses in every agreement. The subsidies that we have now, sure, we can continue those, which are higher than other countries, but that does not mean that other countries cannot change if there is no agreement and put in for deeper subsidies. So what we are talking about is a war between which country is prepared to subsidize this industry more than the other. We know that we have the expertise, we have the ability to excel, and all we ask is that other governments play by the same rules.”