Tammy Baldwin: “I have learned that taxpayer dollars in this bill, combined with taxpayer dollars at the State and local level, are used…”

“I have learned that taxpayer dollars in this bill, combined with taxpayer dollars at the State and local level, are used to purchase textbooks printed and manufactured in countries that censor these teaching materials. One of the consequences of outsourcing to cheaper labor sources overseas is that an increasingly large number of American textbooks and educational materials are printed overseas, especially in China, a country which the State Department's 2006 Country Report on Human Rights concludes actively censors all publications. The State Department's Human Rights report reads, ``By law, only government-approved publishing houses are permitted to print books. The State Press and Publications Administration controls all licenses to publish. The Chinese Communist Party exerts control over the publishing industry by preemptively classifying certain topics as off limits.'' In addition, ``the government does not respect academic freedom and increases controls on political and social discourses at colleges, universities, and research institutes.''”