Political Quotes

“we all support American manufacturers; every Member of Congress should. But feel-good resolutions such as the one we are voting on this week will do little to cure our manufacturing ills. We are running record trade deficits each year. When I first ran for Congress in 1992, the U.S. trade deficit, as you can see on this chart, was $38 billion. The trade deficit last year, after 12 years of misplaced trade policy, 12 years of misplaced tax policy and 4 years of a Bush administration that has totally ignored manufacturing, we now see a trade deficit of $617 billion. From $38 billion to $617 billion in a space of only 13 years. The U.S. has become the world's largest debtor nation, over $2.5 trillion in 2002. The dollar continues to lose value in world markets. Last year, we had the opportunity to pass Crane/Rangel, a bipartisan bill to help the American manufacturing industry by encouraging them to produce goods in the United States. But instead, we passed an alternative that, as usual, gave handouts to multinational corporations and did little to nothing for our family-owned manufacturing facilities. My State of Ohio has lost more than 170,000 manufacturing jobs since 2001, and the remaining small manufacturing businesses are struggling to keep the doors open. The manufacturing extension program, MEP, is an important resource that helps small manufacturers in Ohio and across the country to help improve efficiency, increase competitiveness and stay in business.”