Russ Feingold: “I think we ought to be spending 30 hours on the manufacturing crisis in our country. Since January 31, we have lost 2.5…”

“I think we ought to be spending 30 hours on the manufacturing crisis in our country. Since January 31, we have lost 2.5 million manufacturing jobs and over 70,000 of them are from Wisconsin alone. These jobs are more than numbers on a page. They are all too real. The thousands of Wisconsin residents who have petitioned their Government know this firsthand. In their letters to me--and, Mr. President, I have with me over 2,000 letters that were sent recently to my home by manufacturers, not labor union members but manufacturers from the State of Wisconsin that are desperate about this problem. Thousands of people from all around Wisconsin, from places such as Sparta and Trempeleau and West Bend and Muskego, write that the first and foremost reason behind these lost jobs is our trade policy. These letters say: Our elected officials say workers will benefit from this free trade policy and the free trade agreements that come with it, but the opposite has occurred. Our trade deficit is increasing at a pace of $1.5 billion per day. That is how many more products we are importing than we are making. As you can see, these trade agreements are not working to the benefit of U.S. workers. These letters go on to talk about how manufacturing in America is dying a slow death.”