Marcy Kaptur

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I yield one minute to the gentleman from North Carolina [Mr. McIntyre].

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself as much time as I may consume, and I would like to inquire of the Chair on time remaining.

Ms. KAPTUR. Yes, the gentlewoman from New York [Mrs. McCarthy] is correct.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, will the gentlewoman yield?

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from New York [Mrs. McCarthy].

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. McHale].

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I inquire as to the time on both sides.

Ms. KAPTUR. I want to just ask the gentleman a question if I might. Just for clarification purposes, in the report that accompanies our bill, we did direct the administration with the following language: ``Funds for these initiatives are not available until justification and reprogram requests are approved.'' So I think we put language in the report accompanying the bill to put our subcommittee directly in oversight over what is happening. And I will say to the chairman of our subcommittee, I was hoping our community could get one of these designations. We have several rivers we need help on. But I look forward to working with the gentleman on the language as we move to conference.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Hawaii [Mrs. Mink.]

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Connecticut [Ms. DeLauro], an esteemed member of our subcommittee and full committee.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. Obey], our distinguished ranking member.

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker I rise in support of the motion of disapproval and ask the question: Why renew the terms of an abnormal relationship that is not working? Have freedom and liberty of the Chinese people expanded? No. Repression has increased. Has the United States earned income from this trade deal? No. Our trade deficits with China have exploded, as we watch China spend their dollar reserves to arm themselves militarily while they keep their tariffs against our goods at 40 percent, and give us no reciprocity in their market. For America, freedom should mean more than selling fertilizer. John F. Kennedy inspired the world when he said that human progress is more than a doctrine about economic advance. Rather, it is an expression of the noblest goals of our society. It says that material advance is meaningless without individual liberty and freedom. Exercising economic sanctions against South Africa's repressive regime resulted in an advance of freedom. But in our Chinese engagement, America's efforts have resulted in creating more powerful oligarchs that feast off our misdirected trade policies. Upend this abnormal trade relationship, support the motion to disapprove.

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, everybody knows the Energizer Bunny. He has been around since the 1980's, and appeared in more than 40 commercials with his sunglasses and that little drum. Everybody knows his message: The bunny just keeps going and going and going. Well, last week Eveready Battery Co., maker of the Energizer battery and the largest manufacturer of dry cell batteries in the world, announced that it would be closing its factory in the town of Fremont, OH, and moving all of those jobs to, you guessed it, Mexico; 250 more citizens of our country earning between $10 and $15 an hour whose jobs are now on the chopping block, outsourced again to a low-wage nation that has no responsibility on environmental considerations. This gives new meaning to the Eveready slogan, it just keeps going and going and going, because those workers in Fremont, OH, now understand what that Energizer bunny is drumming all about. This particular company is part of a larger trend since NAFTA: a quicker pace of companies moving from our country, moving good jobs that used to pay good wages with benefits in this Nation to low-wage environments, keeping pressure here at home for jobs that are more temporary in nature, more part-time, with no health benefits, and with retirement benefits threatened every step of the way. Throughout our country companies are moving production and jobs to places like Mexico at a faster pace. In fact, when we add up these Eveready lost jobs, the numbers of people that have already been certified as having been terminated as a result of NAFTA now number over 140,000 around our country, including in States like my own, in Ohio. We have seen textile and apparel plants leaving the American Southeast. We have seen electronics companies leave Massachusetts and Indiana. We have seen the destruction of the tomato industry in Florida. We have seen the potential for tens of thousands of jobs in the automotive industry to evaporate as companies locate plants in the border areas of Mexico. We have seen the potato industry in Maine laid low because of imports from Canada, and the wheat growers and cattle growers in the Plains States under assault. The downward pressure on wages and benefits continues around this Nation. NAFTA is making its effects felt in communities throughout our Nation, and no region is exempt. You can run, but you cannot hide from the effects of NAFTA. Today the Associated Press reports that the community that has been most hard hit by NAFTA is, you would never have guessed it, El Paso, TX. That is right, El Paso, TX, right there on the border, the same El Paso, TX that proponents of NAFTA predicted would be one of the greatest beneficiaries of the trade agreement. El Paso was once a stronghold of the garment industry, but the community has now lost over 5,600 jobs since NAFTA. Coming in second is Washington, North Carolina, which has lost 3,400 jobs because of NAFTA. If anything, these statistics understate the dimensions of the losses, because not all workers who lose their jobs are reported to the Government of the United States at the Department of Labor. By the way, it is the U.S. taxpayers that end up paying the costs of unemployed workers that are displaced due to this trade agreement when production is moved outside the United States. Most American citizens do not understand that. They think if people are put out of work, somehow the companies end up paying the costs of the workers' replacement in another field. That obviously does not happen. Is that not a fine how do you do? Not only do the companies leave and they take the jobs elsewhere, but then it is the people of the United States through their tax dollars that have to subsidize the movement of these workers to hopefully some other job or some type of training. We do know in all of the studies that have been done that when people leave one job and move to another, they rarely are employed at the same wage level, they rarely get the same benefits, and in fact, since NAFTA's passage, most of these people have seen their standard of living erode in an economy that is supposed to be just doing wonderfully. I will submit for the Record the article that was in the Associated Press this morning, that El Paso leads the Nation in lost jobs, and an article from the News Messenger in Fremont, OH: ``NAFTA Cited in Eveready Loss,'' as further evidence that the agreement is not working. The articles referred to are as follows: [From the News-Messenger, June 6, 1997] NAFTA Cited in Eveready Loss--Toledo Area U.S. Rep Blames Fremont Plant Closing on Free Trade Pact (By Lynda Rea) Eveready Battery Co.'s decision to close its Fremont factory is the latest tragedy resulting from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Toledo's U.S. Congresswoman says. ``Every single job we lose is a tragedy for the people who are terminated and the community in which they reside,'' the 9th District's Marcy Kaptur said. ``Eveready advertises they `keep going.' Well, I guess they are going. This is 250 workers--that is a huge, huge loss for us.'' Eveready announced earlier this week it would close the newly-renamed Energizer factory in 12 to 14 months and move a portion of its production to Mexico, eliminating 250 local jobs. Asked whether NAFTA played a role in the decision, Eveready officials emphasized that the reason instead is declining consumer demand for carbon zinc batteries, which do not last as long as alkaline batteries. Domestic production of carbon zinc batteries, which are made in Fremont, has dropped to 30 percent of what it was in 1986, Eveready spokeswoman Jill Winte said. ``NAFTA has not been a factor in the decision-making process,'' Winte said. ``The carbon zinc battery is just a declining segment of the market.'' Kaptur says companies are heading south of the border-- taking 140,000 American jobs with them since NAFTA started-- because of fewer environmental regulations and because they can pay laborers ``pennies.'' ``They all use the excuse they have to compete globally, except all the companies who are doing this are all multi- nationals and they seek the lowest standards.'' Comparing Mexican wages to Americans' wages and, more importantly, to corporate profits, ``makes me sick,'' Kaptur said. Employees at Fremont's Eveready earned $12 to $18 an hour, with the average worker earning around $13, Eveready spokesman Keith Schopp said. Various sources place the typical Mexican wage between 80 cents and $1.50 an hour, which Kaptur called ``hunger wages.'' Fremont's closing will create a ``small number of incremental jobs'' in Mexico, but it is too early to determine the number, Winte said. ``There is no question that the average wage in the U.S. is higher than the average wage in Mexico or outside countries, but that was one of many factors the company considered,'' Schopp said. ``The main reasons are the U.S. market is moving away from carbon zinc batteries and we need to consolidate production for the Western Hemisphere.'' Eveready already has moved production from Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Ecuador into the existing Eveready plant near Mexico City, which employs 900 people, Schopp said. U.S. Rep. Paul Gillmor, R-Old Fort, said he found it ``disturbing'' that local production was going to Mexico, but added he does not blame NAFTA. Americans were complaining about jobs going to Mexico long before NAFTA began reducing tariffs and other trade barriers, he said. NAFTA has eliminated a 20 percent duty on American products shipped to Mexico and a 10 percent duty on Mexican products shipped to the U.S., Gillmor said. ``I don't want to see these jobs or any other jobs go to Mexico, but the idea that because the Mexicans had to lower tariffs it has hurt American jobs defies any logic,'' he said. Gillmor said NAFTA has had little impact in the Fifth District, which includes Sandusky County. His 1996 poll of 124 firms, employing 17,000 people, found that 72 percent reported no impact on business by NAFTA. Eighteen percent said NAFTA had helped their business and 10 percent reported it had been detrimental. A local business expert, Richard Smith of the Sandusky County Economic Development Corp., said American companies moving to Mexico is a trend related to NAFTA. ``Personally I think these are short-term solutions,'' Smith said. ``In the long run, quality will suffer. . . . They are leaving behind quality labor when they do that.'' Kaptur could not agree more. ``We have had dozens of closings in Ohio already,'' Kaptur said, listing Goodyear and Allied Signal as examples of movers to Mexico. `` . . . I say to them, `You sell your product there and don't send it back here. We are not interested.' ''

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I wish to commend a group of explorers from our Ninth Congressional District who are on the verge of an extraordinary accomplishment: becoming the first expeditionary group ever to traverse the length of the Indus River. Led by D.S. Amjad Hussain, professor of surgery at the Medical College of Ohio and a writer and photographer, this expeditionary team last year reached the headwaters of the Indus River in the Kailas Mountain range in western Tibet. This year, the group plans to complete the Ladakh segment of their expedition and will then become the only expedition in history to have covered the entire length of the Indus River. Other members of the expedition team from Toledo included: Qarie Hussain, a student at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England; Monie Hussain, a student at the University of Michigan; and, James Adray, a practicing attorney, along with his son, Sam, a high school student. The team was privileged to carry the flags of the United States, Pakistan, and the prestigious Explorers Club on their expedition. The Indus, one of the largest rivers in the world, arises in Tibet and winds 2,400 miles through Tibet, India, and Pakistan before emptying into the Arabian Sea near Karachi. It carries twice the annual flow of the Nile and three times that of the Tigris and Euphrates combined. Like those other great rivers, the Indus also cradled a glorious civilization along its banks as long as 5,000 years ago. From their base camp, the expedition team traveled on foot and by yak to reach the river's source. Despite mountain sickness due to the extremely high altitudes, the team also endured a blizzard while crossing the 18,500-foot Tseti Lachen pass. They also had to cross numerous rivers swollen with late summer rains while traveling on yaks. The team offered prayers of thankgiving when they arrived at Senge Kabob, 17,000 feet above sea level, a sacred site for Buddhists. Only two previous visits to this sacred site have been recorded. The team now has four difficult expeditions behind them, including a photography trip on or along the Indus and its surroundings and a 2,000-mile trek in 1994 through the length of Pakistan. After completing the Ladakh segment later this year, the group will earn its place in the history books. Congratulations and Godspeed. Team Indus Team Indus is a series of Indus river expeditions designed to study and photograph the river and its inhabitants along its entire length. In 1987 the team travelled on rafts from Attock in the north to Karachi on the Arabian Sea in the south for a distance of 1400 miles. During that expedition the team also carried out depth survey of the river for Planning Commission of the Government of Pakistan. During the second expedition in 1990, the team trekked the river from Jaglot (near Gilgit) to Tarbela for a distance of 400 miles, part of it along the north-south Silk Route, now the Karakoram Highway. In 1994, the team trekked the remaining part of the river in Pakistan from the line of control in Baltistan to Jaglot for a distance of 170 miles. On that expedition the team carried the coveted flag of the Explorers Club. The team explored the headwaters of the river (called Senge Kabob or the mouth of the lion in Tibetan) in the Kailas mountain rangers in Western Tibet in July-August, 1996. The team covered the river close to the point where it enters Ladakh, India. On this expedition the team also carried the flag of the Explorers club. Team Indus V, scheduled for 1997-98, will cover the remaining 200 miles of the river in Ladakh. The team has already achieved a landmark in covering the Indus River in its entirety in Pakistan and trekking to the headwaters of the river in Tibet. With the completion of the segment in Ladakh, Team Indus would be the first in history to have accomplished trekking and photographing the entire 2400 miles of the Indus. Team Indus I, Attock to Karachi, December 1987. S. Amjad Hussain, Maj. Syed Azam, S. Waqaar Hussain, Syed Azhar Ali Shah, S. Sardar Hussain, Najamuddin, Tony Glinke, Bahu S. Shaikh, Shehzad Nazir, Nasim Zafar Iqbal, and Ron Euton. Team Indus II, Jaglot To Tarbela, July 1990. S. Amjad Hussain, Maj. Syed Azam, James Adray, S. Waqaar Hussain, S. Osman Hussain, and Syed Azhar Ali Shah. Team Indus III, Line of Control to Jaglot, August 1994. S. Amjad Hussain, Lt. Col. Syed Azam, S. Waqaar Hussain, S. Osman Hussain, and Syed Azhar Ali Shah. Team Indus IV, Headwaters of Indus to near the Ladakh border, July-August 1996. S. Amjad Hussain, Syed Azhar Ali Shah, S. Waqaar Hussain, S. Osman Hussain, James Adray, and Sam Adray.

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I want to compliment and thank the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Dave Bonior] for being so vigilant and having these special orders to help educate our Members and the American people to what is happening with trade agreements, jobs and wages in this country. I am honored to join the gentleman from New York [Mr. Major Owens], my classmate from the class of 1988, and also the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Dennis Kucinich] who we are so pleased to have here, and my good friend, the gentleman from Vermont [Mr. Bernie Sanders] who has been our partner in these efforts over the years. I think, as the gentleman from Michigan has said, we have made headway with the American people, though we still have not made sufficient headway here in Washington, but it is improving. We are making progress. I just wanted to present a couple of pictures here that I took myself on a trip that we took to Mexico to point out what is really at issue here. We are talking about the ratcheting down of wages and working conditions in our country. This is one of the companies, it is called Gigante Verde in Mexico, but it is Green Giant as we know it here in this country, a company that moved lots of jobs out of California. We are talking about the wage issue. If Members look down here, they moved to Irapuato from Watsonville, CA; hundreds of jobs lost in California, where the workers earn $7.61 an hour in California. It is a State that has a pretty high-living standard. It is expensive. Seven dollars and 61 cents an hour is not a whole lot. In Irapuato, however, Green Giant, which ships all that product back here, because it is frozen and we have freezers here, and the average homemaker in Mexico does not, they pay $4 a day to their workers there. The draw is obvious: Production moving in the agriculture sector out of California into Mexico, workers in the processing plants paid much less than in this country, and Green Giant making huge profits. The next chart, or it is actually a photo that I took, I had to take it with three pictures because it was so large, this is one of the companies that moved from New York. We will go to the other part of the United States. Trico Corp. makes windshield wiper blades. This is a picture of the plant relocated from Buffalo into one of the maquiladora areas in northern Mexico. I do not think, unless a citizen has traveled to Mexico and has seen the vastness of these plants, they have any idea of the kind of transplantation that is occurring of United States production down to Mexico; and it is not just the United States, but it is international corporations of all stripes going to the cheapest wage havens of the world.

Ms. KAPTUR. Completely modern. But if you go with a worker that works in this plant to where they live, it is an abomination. The people who work in these plants do not earn sufficient wages to buy anything they make. Their streets are not good enough to drive cars, anyway. They are bused into these locations, largely women workers. Seventy to 75 percent of the people working in this plant are women workers who earn maybe $1, $1.20 an hour compared to what the workers in Buffalo used to make. None of that production is used by the people of Mexico. It is sent back here on vehicles that are assembled down there. One of the largest components of the trade deficit are assembled vehicles now, cars and trucks that are coming back to the United States. The last chart, and this is sort of the frosting on the cake, but it makes me so angry I sometimes cannot contain myself, this is the street sign next to that plant. It is called Calle Ohio, Calle Michigan. They have actually renamed the street. You feel like you are living in a surreal world of Hollywood, where they just move the street signs around. It is the intersection of Ohio and Michigan Avenues. The problem is it is a maquiladora in Mexico, and the workers there have none of the rights of the workers in Ohio and in Michigan to earn a decent living, to earn decent benefits.

Ms. KAPTUR. We could go and find those companies down there. In fact, we need lots of missions by church groups and interested organizations around our country connecting the workers who have lost their jobs in this country and then going and finding those jobs. Remember the games we used to play as children, you would follow the string? We need to follow the string, whether it is Vermont, Ohio, California, Florida. I wanted to place another company in the Record tonight that started layoffs this May, just this past month, in the State of Massachusetts, Osram Corp. And when the gentleman from Michigan talked about global production and global sourcing, this company is owned by Sieman's Corp. out of Germany. They are laying off an initial 160 workers at this company in Danvers, MA, starting this past May, just last month, and they do not know how many more they are going to lay off, but they are moving the workers to Juarez, which is in one of the maquiladora areas, and to Mexico City. If I could just take 1 extra minute to read from one of the articles in the local weekly newspaper up in Massachusetts, it says that the layoffs are significant because they mark the first time NAFTA has impacted the labor force north of Boston. The President of the company said that it had a relationship to NAFTA, which was approved by Congress 4 years ago, but here is what he says in the article. He says that aggressive pushes by competitors General Electric and Philips BV of the Netherlands into Mexico, where labor is cheap and environmental laws lax, forced Sylvania to reexamine labor costs. He says, ``My competitors are selling products at prices lower than my costs.'' And at that particular plant workers earn $13 an hour, while workers in Mexico earn less than $2 an hour. So they can rake off a lot more profits, whether the multinational is based in Germany and has a subsidiary in Massachusetts, or whether it is located in Ohio and it moves down to Mexico, or to any low-wage haven. That is really what we are fighting for.

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, the people of northwest Ohio lost a great man, a giant oak, this past week. Msgr. Jerome E. Schmit, who passed away on Thursday, April 10, 1997. Monsignor was born on December 4, 1910, the youngest of five children. He graduated from St. John's High School in Toledo in 1982, St. John's College in 1932, and attended the Pontifical Josephinium in Worthington, OH, where he studied theology and the Scriptures. He received his masters in social work degree from Catholic University of America in 1941. Overcoming prejudice about a congenital disability which impaired his speaking ability, Monsignor Schmit overcame his cross and was finally ordained a Catholic priest on June 7, 1941. He received his ordination from Bishop Karl J. Alter and, over the years, gained not only the respect but love of his flock. Early in his career, Monsignor was appointed to Catholic Charities in Toledo, and it was there that he truly made his mark--ministering to the legion of children of our community. Guiding the CYO [Catholic Youth Organization] program, Monsignor Schmit developed an entire youth program under which Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and 600 basketball teams flourished. His leadership made the CYO program a proud institution of the Toledo Catholic Diocese. Property was purchased and developed, programs were expanded ever further, and thousands upon thousands of children have now been served by his ministry. He became the cherished relative to every family whose lives he touched. In 1942, Monsignor Schmit was asked to take over the Catholic Club, a recreational facility, and was soon named director of Catholic Charities and director of the diocesan youth department. He served the Catholic Club until retiring from the position in 1980. Not content to limit development of local youth sports and recreation, Monsignor Schmit was a part of the Lucas County rec committee which developed the Lucas County Rec Center. Through the committee's work, the recreation center added baseball diamonds and a pool. During the 1950's, a baseball franchise was purchased, and Monsignor Schmit became the secretary-treasurer of the Toledo Mud Hens Triple A baseball team. Until his death, he was secretary-treasurer of the Lucas County Rec Center. Elevated to papal chamberlain, he was entitled to the title Monsignor in 1954. In 1963, he was elevated to domestic prelate. Associate pastor at St. Patrick's Historic Church from 1951 until 1968, Monsignor Schmit was named the church's pastor in 1968. He retired--but only officially--from those duties in 1981. Monsignor Schmit's achievements and recognitions are too numerous to mention. In addition to those described above, a few of these include: founder of the council of Catholic men in 1945; awarded the city of Toledo Recreation Award in 1954 for his outstanding contributions to amateur athletics; awarded the Silver Beaver Award from the Boy Scouts of America, whom he served as chaplain, in 1952; member of the Old Newsboys Goodfellows; receipt of the American Red Cross Distinguished Service Award in 1963; St. John's Alumni 1975 Man of the Year; awarded outstanding service as chaplain of the Toledo police department for 25 years in 1980; induction into the Toledo City Athletic League Hall of Fame in 1984; board member of the Toledo Legal Aid Society; founder of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Maumee, OH; founder of the Shoe Bowl football competition; charter member of the Catholic Better Community Development Corp. which provides housing for elderly, disabled, and low-income people; and chaplain of the Catholic War Vet's Logsdon Walla Post. A man of quiet dignity yet truly profound inspiration and with a wry sense of humor, Monsignor Schmit will be greatly missed. He left our community a magnificent legacy, perhaps best described in his obituary; ``Monsignor Schmit's energy, inventiveness, and dedication to the ideal of service has touched virtually every facet of our community's life.'' He ``inspired hundreds of young people to lead wholesome, Christian lives.'' Monsignor Schmit was preceded in death by his family: parents Henry and Minnie Schmit; brothers Rev. John Schmit, Rev. George Schmit, and Dr. Bernard Schmit; and sister Ursula Schmit. However, he leaves behind the family of our community, and we will miss his effervescence, his devout faithfulness, his humble manner. Monsignor Schmit epitomized a life well-spent. Godspeed, good and faithful servant.

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a remarkable woman from my district. Hazel Schweirking Graffeo of Oregon, OH passed away on Tuesday, April 29, 1997. Mrs. Graffeo fought a very courageous 8 year battle with cancer. Although that battle cost her dearly, she never lost her spirit. Mrs. Graffeo was devoted to her husband and family, and enjoyed cooking for them. She also loved entertaining for others. She was a fan of big band music and enjoyed dancing. She loved reunions and other family activities. Mrs. Graffeo's generous heart extended beyond her family and friends. She was an active member in the Alba Club, the Oregon Democratic Club, St. Charles Hospital Auxiliary, VFW Post 9816, and St. John Lutheran Church in Williston, OH. Everywhere, she exuded good cheer, strong values, and made others feel welcome. Mrs. Graffeo is survived by her husband Joe and daughters Sharon, Janet, Janice, and Carolyn, as well as 12 grandchildren and 12 great- grandchildren. Our sympathies and prayers are with them, but we know that the memory and example set by Hazel Graffeo will give them a measure of comfort. Even as they mourn their loss, may they celebrate her life.

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Speaker, I would just like to say that when we are offering this motion to instruct, it is simply on the language that was adopted here yesterday. We appreciate the gentleman's concerns, and in view of the time, I think the membership would like a vote on this. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from New Jersey [Mrs. Roukema].

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. Obey].

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, we absolutely want to keep with the purposes of the program.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?