James Traficant: “Mr. Speaker, the new trade deficit figures are out: for the last 3-month period, $81 billion of trade deficits…”

“Mr. Speaker, the new trade deficit figures are out: for the last 3-month period, $81 billion of trade deficits, averaging now $27 billion a month. I do not know who else may have noticed yesterday, but the Singer Sewing Machine Company filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York City. The roots of the Singer Sewing Machine Company are in New York City. Not anymore. They are located in Hong Kong, and they make and manufacture their sewing machines in Brazil, Taiwan, and Japan, and no one in Congress or Washington is even looking at this issue. Our Tax Code is chasing companies away. We are making great progress with the electronic phenomenon that will mature, and we are looking at a down side here, Mr. Speaker. I have an amendment for each of these bills, when they spend money, requiring they comply with the Buy American Act and other provisions. I would hope that they would be accepted, but I would hope that Congress would begin to address a Tax Code that rewards imports, kills exports, and is destroying manufacturing jobs.”