On the recordOctober 5, 2011
as the manager of this bill and the sponsor of S. 1619, I am, first of all, pleased with the bipartisan support we have seen. We have five Republican and five Democratic sponsors as the lead 10 sponsors and another dozen or so sponsors in addition to that. The support from Senators Graham and Sessions and Burr--all three southern Republicans--and Senators Snowe and Collins--northern Republicans--joining with the first five Democratic sponsors, Senators Schumer, Stabenow, Casey, Hagan, and myself, have set the bipartisan tone here. That is why we had 79 votes in the first go-round on the bill. But what concerns me most, and what I hear from people in the House of Representatives--and I have heard it from opponents in the Senate, and I have heard it from large multinational corporations that have outsourced so many jobs to China--is this is going to start a trade war with China. That seems to be the thrust of their comments: This is going to start a trade war. First of all, I don't know where they are that they think that because most of America thinks we are in a trade war right now with China and, frankly, China is doing pretty darn well. It is not going that well for American workers, and it is not going that well for American manufacturers. Go to downstate Illinois or Albuquerque or Akron and look at the number of plant closings.…





