Marcy Kaptur: “our amendment simply states that no funds made available to the United States Customs Service may be used to allow the…”

“our amendment simply states that no funds made available to the United States Customs Service may be used to allow the importation of Chinese goods into the United States that were made with the use of prison, slave or child labor. Now, under a previous memorandum of understanding signed in August 1992 between the United States and the People's Republic of China along with the statement of cooperation signed then 2 years later in 1994, the United States Customs Department is already directed to monitor and ban the importation of such goods, but we know that there is convincing evidence that the United States Customs Service has not been doing so and not following the law. Now, this amendment is very important because it reiterates the commitment of this Congress not to allow the importation into this marketplace of goods made with child, prison, or slave labor. We know that in China 5 to 50 million children are currently working under slave labor conditions in horrendous sweatshops. We also know that 80 to 90 percent of convicts in China are placed in forced labor conditions in Laogai prison camps in the name of reeducation through labor, and there are plenty of publications available that describe what happens.”