Marcy Kaptur: “the Commerce Department has just reported the latest economic news and the trade deficit figures, and the story is not…”

“the Commerce Department has just reported the latest economic news and the trade deficit figures, and the story is not good. America's trade deficit in March surged sharply, reaching the second highest monthly deficit in history. This means thousands more lost jobs. This chart illustrates the increasing number of jobs we are losing every year due to the imbalance of our trade accounts. In March, exports exceeded imports by over $43.5 billion, just that month, and the main culprit was oil. To feed our addiction to oil, American consumers paid out in March $9.1 billion alone for imported petroleum. Do people really understand what is happening? We are transferring wealth out of the United States and into foreign hands. For every dollar of imported petroleum, we are giving Saudi Arabia, 7 rac{1}{2} cents; Mexico, 6 rac{1}{2} cents; Canada, 6 rac{1}{2} cents; Venezuela, 6 rac{1}{2} cents; and Nigeria, 2 rac{1}{2} cents for every single gallon of gasoline we use. In a year, this results in billions of our dollars being transferred in income to dictatorships. Over a decade we are talking about trillions of dollars of wealth transferred abroad. As my colleagues can see, much of this money is going to prop up corrupt oil regimes, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Nigeria, Colombia. Just imagine if America achieved energy independence here at home instead of sending $9.1 billion more out of America in March.”