Enough Is Enough

For too long our trade policy with respect to China has been to simply give large American corporations incentives to move there and lay off U.S. workers. At the same time, we’ve provided few if any incentives to stay here and invest in this workforce.

The result is that our legacy of talented and innovative workers has been eroded over the years to the point where we now have a vastly diminished manufacturing base. And our trade imbalance with China is substantial and growing each year.

This report shows that the Chinese government systematically subsidizes their industry to target important areas of U.S. and world markets. These predatory trade practices violate international trade law, and reinforce my belief that we need to strengthen our trade enforcement efforts and rethink our trade relationship with China.

The report found that China has targeted many of the industries in Upstate New York already struggling to compete with nations using low-cost labor.  Among the targeted industries key for their next Five-Year plan: auto parts, machine tools, information technology, optics, photonics, and clean renewable energy.

In September, the administration took their first step by placing a tariff on Chinese-made tires that were being dumped into the U.S.  That decision saved the jobs of some of Goodyear-Dunlop’s 1,000 workers in Tonawanda.

But I said at the time, that case is not only about a broad range of consumer tires, it is also about the future of American manufacturing. We have watched as once-great companies downsize, move to China or other countries, or simply close their doors. The ripple effect on that shift is profound, with as many as four to five additional jobs being lost for every manufacturing job lost.

Enough is enough.

The report’s conclusions and effects on Upstate New York are spelled out below.

• China’s is being increasingly aggressive about espionage efforts to obtain U.S. secrets and technology for the benefit of China’s military and its economy.

• China’s has stepped-up cyber espionage and cyber warfare capabilities that constitute a growing threat to U.S. computer networks.

• China’s extensive use of foreign propaganda and China’s efforts to influence public opinion and policymaking in the United States.

• China’s detailed industrial policy designed to attract foreign investment and production and to create “national champions” to compete on a global scale.

• China’s use of subsidies and other trade-distorting measures in violation of its international commitments.

• China’s role in the creation of the economic imbalances that that helped produce the global financial crisis.

• The expansion and modernization of the Chinese navy and its effects on U.S. access to the waters around China and Taiwan and the likelihood of a maritime arms race.

• The use of new and more sophisticated methods by Chinese authorities to control the Chinese news media and the Internet.

• China’s activities in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia.

• Mainland China’s increasing influence in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

• The effect of China’s policies on the economy of the upstate New York region.

Moreover, the report showed several specific areas where upstate New York has been harmed by China’s trade practices. They include:

• China’s industrial policy targets and supports strategic industries identified as important to its economy in the 11th Five-Year Plan. This industrial policy promotes and subsidizes many of the same industries that comprise the industrial cluster of upstate New York.

• These industries include auto parts, machine tools, information technology, optics, photonics, and, more recently, clean renewable energy. China’s industrial policy has contributed to the loss of manufacturing in the region and presents a challenge to New York as it seeks to become a global leader in the renewable energy field

• The relocation of manufacturing from upstate New York has weakened the industrial cluster, which in turn has greatly impacted the ability of remaining firms to be innovative. Advanced technology companies in the region that have been moving their manufacturing operations to China are now relocating their research, development, and innovation operations there as well.

Reconsidering Trade Policy

Today I joined with members of the House Trade Working Group to strongly urge a new direction in United States trade policy ahead of the WTO Ministerial Conference in Geneva on November 30th.

My district has seen more than its share of job losses as a result of unfair foreign competition and dumping. Once-great companies have downsized, moved to China and other countries, or simply closed their doors leaving people struggling to make ends meet. The ripple effect on small local businesses has resulted in even more job losses which is not anything Western New York can afford right now.

On the eve of the WTO ministerial meeting, we have a tremendous opportunity to help reshape the WTO, and move the United States towards a new trade policy. It is my hope that President Obama returns from his eight days in Asia with a better understanding of the need for American workers and companies to have opportunities there. We can not continue to simply open up our markets to their goods when the deck is stacked against our workers. Even our trading partners are astonished the United States has allowed this hemorrhaging of jobs to occur without even making a peep.

The working group also stressed their support for my Reciprocal Market Access Act as well as the TRADE Act introduced by Congressman Michael Michaud (ME-2) of which I am a co-sponsor. These bills would ensure opportunities for American workers looking for jobs as the country recovers from the worst economic recession since the Great Depression. Summaries of both bills are listed below.

H.R. 3786 Reciprocal Market Access Act

I am the prime sponsor and author of this bill

Summary:
The legislation is designed to ensure that our trade negotiations achieve real and meaningful market access for our producers.

• Authority to receive or eliminate tariffs in trade agreements is tied to achieving meaningful market access for U.S. domestic producers that have identified and worked with the U.S. government to address those barriers.

• To better ensure meaningful market access, the bill requires that the President provide a certification to the Congress in advance of agreeing to a modification of any existing duty on any product, that sectoral reciprocal market access has been obtained.

• This will enhance the partnership with Congress and achieve reciprocal market access.

• It gives the government the automatic negotiated right to revoke concessions to cut tariffs if our trading partners don’t implement the commitments they made to open up their markets.

• This authority, known as “snap back” authority, could be triggered by a private sector or Congressional request. The goal – and the result – will be reciprocal market access for our nation’s products.

H.R. 3012, TRADE Act

I am a Co-Sponsor of this important legislation

Summary:
The bill requires the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a comprehensive review of the major trade pacts that comprise the model on which U.S. trade agreement have been based, such as NAFTA, WTO, Jordan, and CAFTA. The GAO must also report on how the current pacts measure up to the bill’s criteria with respect to what must and must not be included in trade pacts.

• The bill spells out what should be in trade agreements including standards on: labor, environment, food and product safety, agriculture, human rights, currency anti-manipulation rules, national security, procurement, investment.

• The bill also lists issues that should NOT be in trade agreements including: bans on Buy America, bans on anti-sweatshop rules, new rights for foreign investors to promote off-shoring, service sector privatization and deregulation requirements, special protections for pharmaceutical companies that limit affordable access to drugs.

• Renegotiation: Require the president to submit renegotiation plans for current trade pacts prior to negotiating new agreements and prior to congressional consideration of pending agreements.

• Establishes a Super Committee: The bill establishes a special congressional super committee chaired by the Ways and Means and Finance Committee chairs to work with the President on formulating this plan. The super committee also includes a role for the chairs and ranking members of other committees whose core jurisdiction is directly affected by today’s expansive trade pacts.

• Replacing Fast Track: The bill lays out criteria for a new mechanism to replace the anti-democratic Fast Track negotiating process. To obtain agreements that benefit a wider array of interests, this new process includes Congress setting readiness criteria to select future negotiating partners; mandatory negotiating objectives based on the bill’s criteria of what must be and must not be in future trade pacts; and the requirements that Congress must certify that the objectives were met, and then vote on an agreement before it can be signed.

Keep East Side Health Clinics Open

Today, I express my opposition to the closure of two health clinics on Buffalo’s East Side.  Without these clinics, patients would not receive the same level of care, leading to more severe medical conditions and higher treatment costs.

County Executive Collins has called for the closure of the Jesse Nash Health Care Center and the Dr. Matt Gajewski Human Services Center.  Together, these clinics have provided critically-needed primary care medical services for approximately 10,000 county residents, particularly women, teens, and seniors, who otherwise would not have easy access to pediatric services, dental care, mental health counseling, and women’s health and family planning.

I strongly oppose the proposed closure of the Jesse Nash Health Care Center and the Dr. Matt Gajewski Human Services Center and applaud the County Legislature for holding a hearing on the subject.  City clinics like these are our front line resource to make sure our working poor and indigent do not fall through the cracks.  Closing these one-stop medical service clinics and dumping county residents into a patchwork of fragmented providers is a recipe for inefficient and ultimately more expensive care.

At the national level we are working to establish a more cost-effective health care system. One of the hallmarks of our reform, and one of the major ways we will achieve long term cost savings, is by providing people with better access to primary and preventative care.

The American Medical Association (AMA), the American College of Physicians (ACP) and others have continually stressed that lack of access to primary care physicians leads to worse patient health outcomes and higher costs.

These clinics currently pose no financial burden on County taxpayers.  The cost to operate the clinics is funded through payments from patients’ insurance or reimbursed to the county through state and federal grants. In fact, the clinics have posted budget surpluses and are expected to even cover the clinic employees’ future legacy costs.  Last week I spoke on the House floor and chaired the Rules Committee hearing on the Affordable Health Care for America Act.  My comments are available here.

Slaughter Renews Commitment to Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station

Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY-28) today said she would do everything possible to make the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station a crown jewel of the U.S. Air Force.

Slaughter attended a ribbon-cutting for the Airman’s Visiting Quarters at the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station this morning. Since 2006, Slaughter has helped secure almost $17 million for the visiting quarters which today provide another 80 rooms for visiting airmen.

“I can assure you that I will continue to do everything I can in Congress to ensure that additional federal investments are made here at NFARS,” said Slaughter. “With continued investments and the continued great work of the 914th and the 107th, I know that it is not long before NFARS will be considered a crown jewel of the U.S. Air Force.”

Slaughter highlighted an additional $5.7 million for a small arms firing range at the Air Reserve Station approved by the House yesterday in the National Defense Authorization Act Conference report. Slaughter, as Chairwoman of the powerful House Rules Committee, managed the debate. Her comments from the House floor can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/louiseslaughter

In 2005 the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station was removed from the BRAC list, ensuring its short-term survival. Slaughter worked to keep the base open at the time in order to protect local jobs and preserve a valuable military asset. The Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station is the largest employer in Niagara County

“Since we successfully removed the Niagara Air Base from the 2005 BRAC list, I have been committed to bringing more federal dollars to the base and continuing to strengthen its position within the Armed Forces,” said Slaughter. “This lodging facility, along with the new state of the art dining facility that was approved last year are the types of federal investments that allow the base to serve a greater number of our military personnel with the best possible equipment and facilities.”

The Niagara Falls Air Reserve Center is home to the 914th and 107th Airlift Wings.

I Support The Public Option

I know a lot of you are concerned about the fate of the public option in the health care reform bill. Last night I spoke to reporters, and articulated why I so strongly support the public option and I wanted to share it with you.

Editor – This follows Rep. Slaughter’s statements on health care reform and the public option she gave last month to WNYMedia.net during a visit to the Theodore Roosevelt Inauguration Site.

High Speed Rail – Responding to Your Comments

Last week Chris Smith and was kind enough to help me post at WNYMedia and talk to you about bringing high speed rail to Upstate New York. On Monday, New York State applied for over $500 million in stimulus funding to start making that goal a reality. Since last winter, I have worked with Governor Paterson, Amtrak, CSX, and my colleagues in the Upstate Congressional Caucus to make sure that Upstate was given top consideration in the grant process, and yesterday was vindication for our efforts – in fact, all of the grants which New York State applied for would go to Upstate.

In addition to letting you know about the grants, I wanted to share my responses to comments my post received last week on each of the sites with all of you, and invite you to discuss in the comments how we can make high speed rail work best for all New Yorkers.

QUESTION: In previous interviews we’ve conducted with state officials, the primary feedback has focused on how the new HSR initiatives utilize existing track. The perception is that we’re only getting mild speed/travel time increases due to sharing with CSX, the age of the lines and the route those lines travel. In short; if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right. Will there be any effort to lay new track and implement “true” HSR? If not, can Rep. Slaughter address those concerns for our readers?

Creating a third track to run alongside the freight tracks is one of my primary goals for this project, both in the short and long term. $60 million was included in this group of grants to start building a dedicated passenger track that will eventually run along the entire Empire Corridor. Construction of this dedicated track should start as soon as the grants are approved; we’ve been told it can be completed within five years and I believe that’s feasible.

QUESTION: Who the hell is going to take this train? Show me the demand. Show me the traffic figures that justify this outrageous use of taxpayer dollars. THEY DON’T EXIST.

In 2007, rail passengers made over 10 billion trips nationwide, and one third of rail trips happen in New York State. As gas prices rose last year, mass transit trips went up by between 5 and 15 percent. So there is certainly an existing ridership that would be benefited by improvements in rail.

There are also many New Yorkers who would ride the train if it got them where they want to go faster and cheaper than cars or planes. More than 80 percent of the state’s residents live within 30 miles of a rail line. Given a choice, many would rather take a train than drive or fly. This development project is about giving them that choice.

QUESTION: Why would high speed rail help when there aren’t enough jobs for the people already in their respective towns?

Helping businesses and workers connect can only help New York’s economy. What’s more, the construction projects themselves will provide an estimated 12,000 construction jobs to the region.

QUESTION: Is rail safe?

In 2007, heavy rail fatalities were 2 per billion miles traveled. Traveling by automobiles led to 12 fatalities per billion miles traveled, not to mention the injuries that resulted from car crashes. Rail is a safe, comfortable means of travel.

QUESTION: The question I would ask Rep. Slaughter is whether or not there is a plan to connect Buffalo and Toronto or Niagara Falls and Toronto in order to promote cross border business growth. Think of the economic benefit that would come from people in Buffalo commuting to Toronto each day to work and Canadian companies seeing the benefit of placing American HQ in Buffalo due to the ease of travel and commerce. Turning a 90 minute drive into a 30-45 minute train ride would certainly open up significant avenues for economic development.

Canada is building its own high speed rail network, and we certainly must connect the two to allow friends, family, and business partners to work across the border. This set of grants does not address that need, but as I continue to work to bring better rail to Upstate, connecting our network to Canada’s is one of my goals.

High Speed Rail For Upstate

Posted by Rep. Louise Slaughter

The discussion over health care reform is hugely important and has understandably dominated the conversation this month, and I am excited to be holding my first telephone town hall about health care tonight. But I am also equally excited about another initiative that I think will be crucial to upstate New York – high speed rail.

Transportation has always been the lifeblood of New York’s economy. The Erie Canal is so iconic that its songs are still taught in grade schools across the state, and the railroads of the Empire Corridor are some of the busiest in the country carrying freight for CSX.

In today’s economy it can be just as important to move people as it is to move goods. Over one third of all passenger rail trips happen in New York State. By connecting Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse with high speed rail we could create a workforce of over 1.5 million people, with only an hour commute between each city. Extending the high speed rail corridor to Albany allows Western New Yorkers to reach their state government more quickly and more affordably.

We all remember when the last major increase in the price of gas drove a move towards mass transit for many commuters. We may not know when, but we do know that the price will jump again, leading many more workers to want to take trains to work rather than drive their cars. However, it takes years to build quality rail service, so it’s important that we prepare now, before the supply of high speed rail falls even shorter of demand.

The environmental benefits of rail are also clear. Not only do the people riding trains save gas used by their own cars, they also relieve congestion on the road for those who do drive, reducing travel time and the amount of gas burned sitting in traffic.

And rail travel can improve one’s quality of life, given that people can relax and enjoy the trip, can spend time talking with one another or doing work rather than being stuck in traffic and of course rail travel makes it possible to avoid the crushing security of airports.

On Monday, New York State is expected to announce its application for grants to improve high speed rail throughout the state.

As you may know, I’ve spent much of the past year working to try and secure some federal money for important projects here in New York – and especially in the upstate corridor. By creating the “Upstate Caucus” – consisting of other lawmakers from the northern part of the state – we have been able focus on the U.S. Department of Transportation and the federal railway agency and get them to look specifically at this area. From my conversations with Secretary Ray Lahood, I believe strongly that we will get a significant and important part of the federal money for these projects and help make this dream a reality.

I’m hopeful that these requests will include money to start constructing a high speed corridor between Buffalo and Albany. I’ll be back on Monday to answer your questions and respond to your comments, and to announce the full list of projects for which New York State requested funding.