Marcy Kaptur

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise as co-chair of the Congressional Polish Caucus to announce that this week in Washington, at an historic ceremony to be held today at the Polish Embassy, Thursday, January 8, preeminent American scholar and historian Dr. Timothy Snyder will be awarded the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland by Minister of Foreign Affairs Grzegorz Schetyna on behalf of the nation of Poland. We in Ohio are celebrating this occasion because we know the global significance of Dr. Snyder's work. His scholarship allows liberty's flag to fly higher. An Ohioan by birth, Dr. Snyder--now Bird White Housum Professor of History at Yale University--has been documenting the complicated, epic history of what he terms ``The Bloodlands,'' the 20th century history of Europe between Hitler and Stalin. With the opening of the Soviet archives after the fall of the Soviet Union, Dr. Snyder has led a team of incredible scholars from many nations in piecing together the complex, and often under reported history, of what happened to people in Europe before, during, and after World Wars I and II. He places the historical and political complexities that led to World War II in a broad, contextual framework unparalleled by other efforts. He factually documents the suffering that innocent people from various nations endured in places that still today have seriously inadequate archival memory of what occurred. Dr. Snyder, in my opinion, is one of the most indefatigable and profound scholars of our time. As author of the bill that created the World War II Memorial here in our nation's Capital--which has now been visited by over 42 million people--it is clear to me the American people through their own families understand the magnitude of what was at stake. But as Dr. Snyder rightly points out, ``America's soldiers never reached far enough east. He states, ``American and British forces liberated German concentration camps such as Belsen and Dachau. But the western Allies liberated none of the important death facilities . . . the Red Army liberated Auschwitz, and it liberated the sites of Treblinka, Sobibor, Belzen, Chelmno. Majdanek. American and British forces reached none of the bloodlands and saw none of the major killing sites.'' Even America was shielded from the bloody truth of tyranny's grip on the continent of Europe. The people of Poland even more fully comprehend the betrayal and suffering that their Slavic ancestors endured in Poland and Sovietized Ukraine. The Jewish people of the world know too what happened there and why the struggle for Israel's existence continues to this day. The people of Belarus, Hungary, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania and adjoining nations know too. With the systematic ethnic slaughter that occurred, Dr. Snyder's masterful work pays homage to all victims, in the most complete and objective presentation I have read. Yet, still more scholarly work needs to occur. This past August, the people of Poland commemorated the memory of the Warsaw Uprising. Those brave Poles honored at that national remembrance lived and died by the motto ``Freedom Means Never Surrender.'' Poland never surrendered. Her capital was levelled. And the martyrdom of Poles--fully twenty percent of the people of that nation--humbles us mortals who stand in awe of their valor against insurmountable odds. What distinguishes Snyder's work is its comprehensiveness and depth in paying tribute to the fallen across that entire war torn region. We will fly a flag over the U.S. Capitol honoring the work of American scholar Dr. Timothy Snyder and his legion of dedicated scholars. I have come to respect Dr. Snyder's work because his scholarship helped me reach my own epiphany and conclusion about why it has taken the world so long to appreciate what the people of Poland suffered during that gruesome period. Nearly all of the educated and academic leaders of Poland were annihilated at Katyn in 1940, when over 23,000 were rounded up and summarily shot by Stalin's NKVD, the Soviet secret police. There simply was almost no Polish memory left able to record and relate. It has taken new generations of those able to probe the carnage to enlighten the pages of memory. So, please let me express sincere gratitude to the government of Poland for bestowing this great honor on a native son of Ohio who has gone on to serve the cause of historical truth. As a history major myself from my own alma mater--the great University of Wisconsin--I recall the words of that University's motto: ``Whatever limitations may trammel inquiry elsewhere, we believe that the great State University of Wisconsin should encourage the continual sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.'' Dr. Timothy Snyder and his associates surely live those words. Congratulations! Onward truth. Onward liberty.

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the very able gentleman from Wisconsin, Congressman Pocan, for organizing all of us this evening and for his indefatigable efforts to tell the truth about what is happening to the workers of our country and those around the world. I rise with you tonight because America--our wonderful country--has a huge ``good jobs'' deficit because we have a gigantic free trade deficit. Our trade policies export more U.S. jobs than U.S. products. More and more foreign imports come across our shores than we send goods out, and the gap grows wider every decade at extraordinary proportion. Never before in American history have so many good jobs been outsourced off our shores. America's workers have had income shortages--every family knows it--because America has had this jobs hemorrhage due to the flawed, Fast Tracked free trade agreements that have been ramrodded through this Congress. Since 1975, when Wall Street's free trade regimen began to lock down, America has amassed a $9.5 trillion trade deficit with the world. If you count up every year, numbers don't lie, and this has translated into a gigantic, unprecedented jobs loss of over 47.5 million lost American jobs--good jobs from coast to coast, living-wage jobs, jobs that have evaporated from our communities, jobs that have been shipped out. We know the places as we just look at the tags on any products-- Mexico, China, Vietnam, Korea, Bangladesh, Honduras, Guatemala, Turkey, El Salvador--to dozens of Third World nations--frankly, most very undemocratic--where workers are treated like a bonded class. Workers everywhere--here, too--are being treated like expendable parts. Yes, American jobs are being shipped out to penny-wage sweatshops behind the Iron Curtain of anonymous towns in distant countries most Americans will never visit. Anonymity, worker exploitation, and hidden squalor are fundamental to free trade. And so are the stories of Americans who struggle to earn a living, who lose their jobs and are forgotten, are forgotten in their plight. In our country, the impact on the average American family has been a loss of real income of $7,000 a year. Imagine that. The public knows it. The people who elected me to Congress--and I thank them--have allowed me to be a voice, to put the ugly puzzle of outsourcing together. And I have made it my mission to travel the world to find the companies that fled our shores. And I have traveled to find them. I have lots of photos, and I have lots of interviews. And I have had time to talk to unemployed Americans too--far too many--and the exploited workers of developing nations and to visit the plants that have been displaced from this country and built elsewhere. The titans who run these global transnational corporations, their operatives, and the Wall Street giants that finance them couldn't care less about workers anywhere or the communities in which they live. And, frankly, these new bosses of global production don't care about democracy or the rule of law either. They pay whatever they want, and they can pay off as they see fit. I have seen workers making Maytag washing machines in Monterrey, Mexico. Those used to be made in Newton, Iowa. These Mexican workers don't earn enough to buy the very washing machines they make. And with the jobs lost from Newton, the poverty rate in Newton has dramatically increased in the town that Fred Maytag proudly helped build. However--I don't know if you have noticed--the quality of those machines has gone down too. Who can be proud of what is happening? I have visited the homes where those workers from Monterrey live and other maquiladora factory zones and have see firsthand their impoverished living standards. I have stood at a surreal location in Mexico following NAFTA's passage called Michigan-Ohio Avenues and witnessed the jobs outsourced from our country from a windshield wiper factory that used to be located in New York. I have met women in the garment industry from Honduras and El Salvador who earn 10 cents for every T-shirt they produce in those sweat shops down there, barricaded off behind barbed wire and outsourced from places like the Carolinas. The women are being paid 10 cents an hour for every T-shirt that then comes in here and is sold for $20 each at stores and shopping centers around the country. Meanwhile, the booming garment and textile industry of the Carolinas, like the furniture industry too, has all but disappeared, and the tens of thousands of jobs that went with them. I visited those massive shuttered factories, and they reminded me of the auto plants that existed in my industrial region. I have tracked furniture jobs to Vietnam and have seen child laborers perched with their bare feet on the edge of large wooden bowls that they sand and spray with lacquer paint, wearing no face masks, with no air filters, breathing in the fumes and chemicals certain to damage their fragile lungs and bodies. Let me just say in closing, as an Ohio Representative, we have lost over 5 million manufacturing jobs alone in northern Ohio since the passage of NAFTA, which I fought with every ounce of being that I had here in 1993. We lost that fight. A 12-votes switch here would have made the difference. And as I speak here today, another global company, Hugo Boss, a German-owned company, is shutting down a factory in Brooklyn, Ohio, where workers had their pay cut 17 percent 2 years ago to save that company. You can walk into any Hugo Boss outlet, and you can see men's suits selling for $1,200 apiece. What a tragedy. What a tragedy for our country. What a tragedy for workers globally. I will say to my wonderful colleague from Wisconsin (Mr. Pocan), thank you so much for doing this. In terms of China--and others will cover this more completely--just in the past year, 2013, the latest complete year of data, our country assumed $319 billion of trade deficit with the nation of China just in that year, just in that year with that one country. Because of that deficit, we have lost an additional 1,595,000 more American jobs, just with this one country in 1 year. The answer to balanced global growth is to pay workers a living wage and to respect their work, not exploit it. The answer to balanced growth is to stop the outsourcing of U.S. jobs and to pry open the closed markets of the world, starting with Japan, China, and Korea. And the answer to balanced growth and fair trade is to stop the hemorrhage of more jobs from this country by defeating any more deals like NAFTA and all of its offspring, and the Fast Tracking of more jobs that they are trying to do in the Trans-Pacific Partnership. It is time for America to stand up and for this Congress to stand up with the American workers and communities. Again, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me this evening.

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Voice of America, Ukraine Service on the occasion of their 65th anniversary. For 65 years, from the dark days of Stalin's rule to Putin's current aggression against their country, VOA's Ukrainian Service has been a crucial source of news and information for the people of Ukraine. Throughout the Euromaidan revolution and Russia's campaign of aggression against Ukraine, VOA's Ukrainian Service has served an essential role as a unique and comprehensive source of news, information and discussion about the year-long crisis and the U.S. response. Nearly every moment of television airtime has been devoted to U.S. official and expert commentary and analysis regarding the Ukrainian people's drive to overthrow authoritarian rule and integrate with the West, Russian President Vladimir Putin's determination to stop them by any means, and American and European efforts in support of Ukraine. This surge in Ukraine-related content was accompanied by an expansion of broadcasts, and both initiatives, combined, resulted in remarkable ratings, with the Service reaching more than 18 percent of the adult audience in Ukraine in a given week and maintaining VOA Ukrainian's position as the most popular Western international broadcaster in Ukraine. VOA began broadcasting in Ukrainian on December 12, 1949. Throughout the Cold War, it was a beacon of freedom for the citizens of Soviet Ukraine, who were living under repressive rule. With the collapse of the U.S.S.R., VOA Ukrainian took advantage of new opportunities offered by Ukraine's declaration of independence. After decades of jamming, VOA was able to sign contracts with the government broadcast channel and local FM stations for transmission of VOA radio programs on Ukrainian airwaves. In 1993, the agency launched VOA's first television program, a weekly Ukrainian-language TV magazine, Window on America. Every week, VOA's Ukrainian Service reaches millions of people in Ukraine, a strategically located country of 45 million with a persistent Soviet legacy but with strong European aspirations. Ukrainian news organizations have a very limited reporting presence in the United States, thus VOA provides viewers in Ukraine with a unique, thoughtful and revealing window on America life, and remains the leading international broadcaster in the country. Through its daily reporting on U.S. politics, foreign policy, social issues, business, culture and the arts, VOA provides comprehensive, accurate and authoritative information that Ukrainians can employ in strengthening their nascent democracy, market economy and independent statehood. This past year, perhaps more than any other, the service of VOA Ukraine has been a crucial lifeline between the people of the United States and Ukraine. It is with great pride that I warmly congratulate VOA Ukraine and their highly capable staff, notably chief Adrian Karmazyn, on this extraordinary milestone and wish them another 65 years of success in the public service.

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member of the full committee, Nita Lowey of New York, and the chairman, Hal Rogers, for the perseverance they have shown throughout this process. I rise to address the bill before us to fund the departments of the government of the United States for the federal fiscal year 2015 which incidentally began over 2 months ago. Though 2 months late and a Christmas tree bill at that, what is very troubling in this measure are dangerous and unwelcome nongermane riders--like opening the door to more Wall Street abuse and reckless behavior with swaps and derivatives. Haven't those megabanks hurt America enough? What is this doing in this bill? This underhanded inclusion of authorizing language does not belong in this bill. This subterfuge reminds me of a similar effort in 2000 to bury language in a Continuing Appropriations bill to not regulate derivatives at all. Look what that did to our economy. I recognize that not passing this bill can severely hamper our economic recovery and job creation. Many of us view these as the top priorities our constituents have sent us here to achieve. Job growth this past month increased again by 321,000, as the unemployment rate dropped to 5.8 percent nationwide. We have gained 10 million private sector jobs since President Obama took office amid the deepest recession in modern history, but still, 9.1 million Americans remain unemployed. This bill will promote future economic growth which is in America's interests. There should never be a question whether the government of the United States will remain open for business and honor its commitments and contracts. Further, this appropriations bill is within budget limits. Indeed, our deficit has been going down year after year as employment increases and revenues with it. The annual deficit has dropped from $1.3 trillion in 2010 to an estimated $469 billion for 2015, an enormous improvement made possible by steady economic growth. Our pace needs to continue. The Energy and Water portion of this bill assures America will continue its decathlon toward energy independence and energy diversification, a major strategic objective for our Nation--some would argue the highest. An all-of-the-above energy strategy is strengthening our Nation here at home financially and militarily as fewer imports are required and new energy jobs are created within the borders of the United States. The energy trade deficit, by the way, for our Nation has been on a downward path.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlelady. The energy trade deficit for our Nation has been on a downward path from 4.7 billion barrels in 2008 to 3.6 billion barrels in 2013. That is real progress, and you can even see it in falling gasoline prices across this country. Our bill will support thousands of jobs through the Army Corps of Engineers in developing infrastructure, and the bill provides $922 million above the request to meet an unmet enormous backlog. This bill as a whole is far from perfect, yet our Congress must work toward keeping our economy and jobs growing through giving certainty to the public that Congress can operate our ship of state.

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Speaker, reserving the right to object, though I don't intend to object, I would like to stand this evening and say, as cochair of the Ukranian Caucus, along with my dear colleagues, Jim Gerlach of Pennsylvania, and the ranking member of the full committee, Congressman Eliot Engel of New York, I stand in strong support of H.R. 5859, a measure that allows America to shine the hope of liberty to the distant land of Ukraine, a measure that we hope to send to the President's desk very soon, and we need to move it tonight. It is clear that Russia is actively fomenting upheaval and propagandizing in the West about its illegal invasion. It is an invasion, plain and simple, of a sovereign nation. The Kremlin's designs don't stop with Ukraine, and we see substantial pressure being placed on our NATO allies and other European friends. Liberty cannot bow to Putin's aggression. Six months ago, when Russia invaded Ukraine, 4,000 more Ukrainian lives were existing and have been taken. Just according to the U.N. 1,000 additional lives have been lost since the cease-fire that was negotiated in September, and approximately 13 lives per day are being lost. Since the cold war, a vision has emerged of a Europe whole, free, and at peace, and that reality is within reach. Putin's reckless aggression cannot stand. The United States cannot let the hope of liberty die, surely, in a land where its people have historically suffered more than any other place on Earth. The ravages of World War II still sting their memory and ours, and motivate our actions here tonight. By approving H.R. 5859, America sends a clear signal to the world that we are the standard bearer of liberty at home and abroad. I am very pleased to join my colleagues this evening. I thank the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for sending the House this bill. With that, I withdraw my reservation of objection.

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member Mr. Bishop for yielding and thank the chairman Mr. Gibbs, and, obviously, my colleague Mr. Joyce, who just spoke. I rise in support strong support of H.R. 5764. Since the creation of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, our Nation has made great strides in reviving and protecting our Nation's greatest freshwater treasure, our Great Lakes. Still, despite progress, this past summer presented a stark reminder of the unfinished challenge, as a toxic algal bloom shut off the fresh drinking water to over half a million people and businesses in Ohio and Michigan for 3 days across Lake Erie's western basin, the largest watershed in the entire Great Lakes. The public, though shocked, was orderly and beneficent. We didn't have riots or civil disorder. During that 3-day crisis, astoundingly, we learned communities along the lake were not equipped locally to test the water so vital to their own survival. Two precious days were wasted sending and resending vials and samples 5 hours away to EPA labs, and then back and then back again. This simply is unacceptable. Proper testing equipment on Lake Erie is fundamental, fundamental to a response time commensurate with the challenge that remains before us. The Lake Erie community needs its own water testing equipment and certified lab. Already local universities and health departments have been assembling key components of necessary equipment for a certified lab. It is incumbent upon the GLRI to help us find a way to provide the remaining $147,000--not million--$147,000 we have to deliver. To date, the lack of response from our Federal agencies is astounding. Lake Erie's water quality is an emergency due to the toxic algal blooms. When we see Federal agencies diverting hundreds of millions of dollars abroad to dams in Afghanistan to deliver freshwater, yet somehow our own EPA can't identify funds to protect the American people who live along Lake Erie and Lake Michigan and draw their life source from it, I stand aghast.

Ms. KAPTUR. When our water crisis occurred, the U.S. EPA didn't even show up or have personnel on the ground. I asked, ``Where is Homeland Security funding to help during the crisis and after?'' No show. As far as I am concerned, they are asleep at the wheel. Wake up. As we prepare for a new spring thaw and the increasing rains that will come, feeding the algal blooms, the GLRI presents the hope that I still have that a solution can be found to counter the agency dithering that our region has experienced throughout this harrowing environmental crisis. Surely, America can do better. I really think the chairman Mr. Gibbs, from the State of Ohio, and my dear colleague Mr. Joyce, from the State of Ohio, they live at the other end of the lake, but they get the problem. God bless you. And I thank the ranking member, Mr. Bishop from the east coast, who understands how important freshwater is to sustain life in this country. It shouldn't be this hard. Thank you so very much for this bill. I rise in strong support.

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, it is an understatement to say dean and Chairman John Dingell is a gentleman of this House and a respected man of the law. He has served our Republic his entire life, beginning as a page for this House at the age of 12, followed by his enlistment in the United States Army and his service during World War II. He is a bona fide representative of the Greatest Generation's dedication and enduring legacy. He is a Member's Member, always available for counsel and always with an encouraging word. How many of us have benefited from his astute advice? This Chamber says thank you to a man who knows how to negotiate, who knows how to legislate, and knows how to foster great change. He is a master of the art of compromise. His service has been honorable for over half a century. He has been indefatigable. John has walked forthrightly in the shoes of his beloved father before him, and he served our Nation nobly in this House and the people of Michigan who reelected him 30 times. His service has established a historical record 59 years long of consistent dedication to liberty and to the people of our country. Historically, he has assumed his place as one of the House's strongest timbers, truly a foundational Member, a master of the rules and decorum that should attend to our privileged service here. He is a champion of the dignity of the House. Generations to come would be well-advised to emulate his service. He understands and treasures this House, its centrality in steering progress for our democratic Republic. He is a champion of civil rights, of living wage jobs in America and labor rights here and abroad, of American manufacturing and the auto industry, of energy independence for America, of Medicare and Social Security as his father was before him, of our natural environment and the legal basis for respecting it--our Great Lakes, the fish, fauna, and creatures that form the wild kingdom, the park systems and wildlife refuges, the river and ocean ecosystems that maintain and sustain the stunning beauty and bounty of our land and frankly sustain us. He is the heartbeat of Motown. I personally will always treasure the moments we spent working on legislation to refinance the U.S. auto industry and our tours of the auto giants' manufacturing platforms, of the times we spent together creating the first international wildlife refuge in our country in the Great Lakes region spanning our shared Michigan-Ohio border with Canada, the clean water and clean air achievements, the tours of the La-Z-Boy company and that firm's stellar involvement in environmental stewardship of our Ohio-Michigan region. Mr. Speaker, I shall always treasure our encounters, countless as they are, along the Ohio-Michigan border that we shared, the hundreds of plane rides together, often with Deborah along, with dear colleagues like John Conyers, Billy Ford, as well as our car ride back to Michigan together after 9/11. We have shared the priceless opportunity to guard liberty and extend her welcoming arms to the people of Poland, our shared ancestral heritage, as Poland cast off the shackles of Communist oppression. Though each of us dreamed of the day when that incredible moment might transpire, its achievement remains one of world history's most glorious moments. So the patriotic gentleman from Michigan, House seniority rank number one, our dean, you have not only earned your title as ``Man of the House,'' you have inspired millions of people and ably met the call of Daniel Webster in your time and generation to perform something worthy to be remembered. You have met that test. My colleague, may God bless you and Deborah and hold you and your loved ones dearly. America thanks you, and so do I, as dean of Ohio's delegation. Godspeed.

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I thank my dear friend and colleague, the ranking member, Congressman Eliot Engel of New York, for yielding me this time, and also wish to thank the chair, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, obviously Chairman Royce, Congressman Kinzinger, all those who have brought this important resolution to the floor, and I rise in support. Let me just say that the actions of Russia have truly disappointed any liberty-loving person that exists on the face of the Earth. I think this resolution further undergirds the high regard this Nation places on the value of liberty, and liberty for all; its provisions that deal with increasing sanctions and with added efforts in the energy security arena for Ukraine are extraordinarily important; the focus on additional communications; defensive equipment for the military of Ukraine to defend the interests of that country; and, importantly, cooperation with NATO nations and nonallied NATO nations to develop the kind of international cooperative effort that truly can yield a better Central and Eastern Europe in the decades ahead. I want to commend the leadership on both sides of the aisle. This is a bipartisan effort, what the American people are asking us for, aspiring to the highest values that we hold as a nation, and that is liberty for all, liberty for those who live in places where individuals have not had the opportunity to fully flourish because of the totalitarian and repressive regimes that make normal life impossible. I would urge my colleagues to support the resolution, and I thank the leadership for bringing this up in the closing hours of this Congress.

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today because the American people keep asking: Where have all the good jobs gone? And I truly appreciate my colleagues, Congresswoman Louise Slaughter of New York and Congressman Paul Tonko of New York, for joining me tonight. We are talking about jobs that can create a middle-class way of life for the people who occupy them as well as local businesses, jobs that produce living wages, that produce good health benefits and pensions and 401(k)s you can depend upon. Now, since the 1980s, unlike any period following World War II, because the United States is importing more than we are exporting, we actually have lost millions and millions of jobs. People complain about a budget deficit. The reason we have a budget deficit is because we have a trade deficit. In fact, since the mid- 1970s, every single trade agreement the United States has signed of any consequence has resulted in more and more and more red ink. Go to any store in this country. I don't care if you are trying to buy a suit or an automobile or curtains, I really don't care what it is, if you can find something made in America, that is a discovery. What does that mean? It means that rather than exporting more than we import, we have been driving down the living standard of most Americans decade after decade. Jobs here disappear while capital moves abroad and exploits penny wage workers who have no hope for a better life because they live in places that have no Democratic values. It is a shocking number to put on the record, but since the mid- 1990s, this country has amassed over $4.3 trillion in trade deficit-- and that is a conservative estimate--amounting to a job loss of over 8.5 million good jobs. That is what this red ink is all about. It is a shocking figure. The American people, they sort of know it innately, but when you really put it up there they go, ``Yeah.'' That is what happened. If you look here, this shows that, with more imports, you get fewer jobs. When the trade deficit keeps getting worse, if you are out of a job yet, keep buying foreign. I am not against trade, I am for balanced trade, but I am not for trade that puts our country in this kind of an economic hole. This is just one example--and we will go back to it a little bit later--this is the most recent agreement that the United States signed called the Korea Free Trade Agreement. We were supposed to be able to sell 50,000 cars in Korea. Guess what. We have been able to ship--here is our piddly little shipment over there--750,000 cars. Guess how many they have sent over here. Look at this arrow compared to that little tiddlywink there. Imported vehicles from Korea, over 561,000 compared to 7,450. So when you start wondering where your job has gone, think about what has happened to these trade agreements and how they have put us deeper and deeper in the trade hole and then in the budget deficit hole. When I ask individual Americans how their life is going under the corporate globalization model that has been accelerated by the so- called free trade agreements, if they answer honestly and if they are not a multimillionaire investor, consistently, the response is one of great disappointment and too frequently one of great distress. The middle class in America is in trouble. It is safe to say that this is a direct result of the long list of free trade deals that have benefited only the wealthiest in the global environment in which we live, wealthy investors who can survive anywhere. In fact, they have a lot of houses--Paris, Geneva, you name it--but each of us has a house that is our most important asset. We come from little communities across this country, and we have a right to a good life. Our people have a right to a good life because they work so hard. Trade policy is the major reason, in my opinion, that America cannot employ all Americans seeking work. I wanted to allow my colleagues to also speak this evening. Let me just give you a couple examples, practical examples--actually, the list could go all across this floor if I were to roll it out. Fort Smith, Arkansas, ask the 1,860 workers who lost jobs at Whirlpool when production was shifted to Mexico. How about the 300 people who worked at the Vise-Grip plant in DeWitt, Nebraska, a town of only 572 residents, who all lost their jobs, and some would say their town identity, when the company moved to China to keep the name competitive. How about Maytag from Newton, Iowa--one of America's iconic products--shut down, moved to Monterrey, Mexico. If you look at the census statistics from the time that happened over a decade and a half ago until today, poverty in Newton has risen up to a level of 25 percent. This is happening across this country. How about the 535 workers who made hearing aids in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, who were laid off when the Starkey Laboratories factory moved to Mexico and China. Every American listening knows a company or more that has done exactly the same thing. If you go down to those countries and you see how the people live, you couldn't stomach it; you simply couldn't. I have gone down to the maquiladoras in Mexico. I have asked the workers in those factories, ``Take me to where you live,'' and they do. It is truly sad to see a tiny little crate barrel house powered by a lightbulb connected to a battery, and this is what development brings them. Come now. Come now. The world can do better than that. 13,000 citizens of our congressional district in Ohio had jobs shifted overseas, outsourced to someplace else. Oh, they know this tale all too well. I would ask my dear colleague from New York--New York has been battered, just like Ohio has been battered--Congressman Paul Tonko, one of the greatest leaders on economic growth for our country, who has taken time tonight during a very busy week to join us here, thank you so very much for coming to the floor tonight.

Ms. KAPTUR. Congressman Tonko, thank you so much for coming to the floor this evening. I grew up in a family where the work ethic was really respected, and we believed in it because you could get somewhere. You worked long hours. Sometimes, you worked 7 days a week, but you could save a little bit of money. Now, you try to save money and the banks pay you .07 percent interest or something like that, so if you are a saver, if you have a good work ethic, if you have a good savings ethic, what does the market yield you really? What I worry about is the work ethic itself because I talk to many employers now and they say, ``Marcy, do you know what, if we have to hire 40 people,'' let's say, for part-time jobs in a retail store, they say, ``you can't believe how many people we have to go through until we find people who really want to work.'' Well, one of the things that is happening across this country is large numbers of people don't believe working counts because they have seen what has happened in their own families. We stand to lose the work ethic itself among major segments of this population. That is very worrisome to me, and we see related social problems and rising poverty. I mentioned in the Maytag situation in Newton, Iowa--and I am not just picking on Newton, Iowa--but there was a community that absolutely lived for that company. It was invented there. Fred Maytag is buried right there, looking over his town and parks he endowed and all the people whose lives he helped to elevate. To see poverty increase 25 percent of the total community tells you where we are headed. That is just one place, but it is all across our country. Before I call on Congresswoman Slaughter to add her eloquent words this evening, I wanted to mention Norma McFadden, who worked in my district, one of 150 employees who made crayons for a company called Dixon Ticonderoga, one of Ohio's oldest manufacturers dating back to 1835, before the factory was closed and offshored to Mexico in 2002. Norma, along with many of her colleagues, took advantage of what was then called ``trade adjustment assistance,'' which since has been eliminated, and she got an alternative degree as a phlebotomist. Many of the jobs of her fellow coworkers--there were no jobs for them to go to. That poor factory in Sandusky, Ohio, just shuttered. The property hasn't been reused. These were people who made a good product, they worked for years, they were proud of their community, they were proud of their company, and all of a sudden, it was all jerked away. I can guarantee you that the people who are working those jobs outside of Mexico City do not earn a living wage. What are we doing? What are we doing to this country and what hope do we provide to the people of other countries that their work matters? I say what we are yielding is social instability, instability. If you look at the murders around this country and what is happening with the drug epidemic in this country, don't think there isn't a connection between hopelessness and what is happening, not to some of the wealthy people that prowl around the Capitol who have the ability to pay to get here or who have lobbying firms here or somehow want to reach a Member of Congress on some very arcane amendment that they wanted. I am talking about the average person who will never come to Washington, who has a belief in this country, but it is starting to erode at the edges because their economic future is so uncertain. I want to call on a real fighter for the American people, who has been a stalwart protagonist of enormous dimension here for jobs in America and for the fair treatment of workers everywhere, Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, the ranking member of the Rules Committee. She is such a gifted member. Thank you for being here tonight.

Ms. KAPTUR. I want to thank the gentlelady, as busy as you are, for joining us this evening and fighting for jobs for America's workers from coast to coast. Thank you so very, very much.

Ms. KAPTUR. We appreciate your contributions this evening. Following on what Congresswoman Slaughter has stated, I can guarantee you that, according to polls done by the Pew Research Center, which is a national polling organization, over half of Americans say that free trade has been about U.S. job losses. They have experienced it. They know that whether it is NAFTA, whether it is the China deal, whether it is CAFTA--in Latin America or Korea, CAFTA has operated the reverse. Enough people have now, sadly, suffered. They have internalized what is going on, and they are wondering what has happened to this country. Not only have they lost their jobs, but because the economy hasn't grown as fast, we are seeing that there is a downward pressure on wages in this country. I see people being hired in plants in my district now in the auto industry, which is doing better because we refinanced it a couple of years ago, but before, people used to be able to go in there and earn $20, $30 an hour. Now, they are starting them at a little above minimum wage. They are working them 7 days a week, 10 hours a day. They are working two and three times as hard because there is this downward pressure on wages. I mentioned Norma McFadden having worked at Dixon Ticonderoga in Ohio. I can tell you two out of every five of the displaced manufacturing workers who were actually able to be rehired had wage reductions of more than 20 percent. Congressman Tonko.

Ms. KAPTUR. Congressman Tonko, thank you so very, very much for your comments. And obviously, New York has been battered, as so many other places in our Nation. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Youngstown, Ohio (Mr. Ryan). He fights every minute of every day for the people of our country, and certainly for the people of his district in northeastern Ohio, a leader here, a rising leader nationally, and we thank him so much for joining us tonight.

Ms. KAPTUR. Congressman Ryan, thank you so very much for your time this evening, for your leadership, for the great voice that you give to America's economic future and to all of those who work to make it possible. Thank you for the respect you show them and for the amount of time that you devote to Make It In America and toward manufacturing in America. Thank you so very, very much. Mr. Speaker, we have marvelous leaders who have joined us tonight from across the country, obviously, from our sister State of Minnesota, a Great Lakes State that has received its fair share of battering over the years, and a great, great Member, Keith Ellison, the leader in our Progressive Caucus, as well as, obviously, a leader in the Minnesota delegation. Thank you so very much for being with us this evening. I yield to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Ellison).

Ms. KAPTUR. I say to the gentleman, these agreements are so powerful they actually should be treated as treaties because they involve so much more than just goods. When you get into the legal right to sue and you look at what has happened to our country under these trade agreements--I don't know about Minnesota, but in our part of the country, we have something called the emerald ash borer that has eaten through all of our ash trees. It is a multibillion dollar problem. Cities like Toledo and Cleveland are losing 10 percent of their tree cover--10 percent--and those all have to be replanted. And that critter got in here in packing material. But who gets taken to court from the other country for sending in dirty soil here? There is no legal recourse. If you look at the U.S. Department of Agriculture budget, in the invasive species account, you will find it skyrocketing as American taxpayers are being charged to try to clean up some of this mess that is happening across our country. It isn't just the emerald ash borer. It is critters like the Asian beetle, which came in on Chinese packing crate material and is eating hardwoods all across our country. The damage is enormous, and there is no court. There is no place where we can go to hold the importer and the exporter responsible within the laws of our country. What kind of a crazy system is this where we tie the hands of the American people? Under NAFTA, we were told that we would have 200,000 more jobs in our country. But when NAFTA was passed, we fell into trade deficit with Mexico; and actually, we lost nearly 700,000 jobs just to Mexico because of NAFTA. So these trade agreements, they say they are one thing, but they actually come back and turn negative numbers, negative numbers. I look at this Korean account. We were supposed to have 50,000 cars here, and all we have gotten is a handful--7,000. The Koreans have managed to sell over a half a million here. If you go to those countries and you look at how they keep our vehicles out and how they promote their exports of parts here--the automotive repair dealers were in here a few weeks ago. I ran into them in the hallway. Why were they here? Because when they try to repair a car and the part comes in from a foreign country--let's say you are putting the hood on. The car was in an accident and you have to replace the hood. The fit isn't as good. The metal is more thin. It isn't as good a quality metal, and they can't make it fit the repair. So then the customer in our country gets mad. These replacement parts are coming in from all over the world. It is an inferior product. It makes our repair dealers look like they are not doing a good job. It is not their fault, for heaven's sake. They are caught in this system that doesn't work for them, and it doesn't work for us. We have got to figure out a better way. I think Congressman Tonko wanted to add a remark. I yield to the gentleman from New York.

Ms. KAPTUR. Congressman Tonko, thank you for your passion, for the voice that you give to millions and millions of people across this country on the floor of Congress. We know we have our finger on the heart of where the American people are. It is just this city that is out of sync with where the public is, and we have to get them aligned once and for all. You would think that a place that has been amassing mammoth trade deficits because of trade policies over the last 25 years would not be brain dead, but, apparently, some people are brain dead over on the executive side, and they have allowed America's communities to sink further and further into debt--into trade debt--and job loss. They are completely connected. If you go to these other countries--and I had this chart up here about Korea, but Japan is the same. If you look at the number of vehicles coming here versus our vehicles going there, we are dealing with closed markets. It is not like these other places like our stuff. They figure out thousands of ways to block our products from going in. Oh, gosh. Twenty or 30 years ago, I went to Japan to figure out: Why weren't they buying U.S. cars and U.S. auto parts? I brought free spark plugs, and I said to the head of Toyota and to the head of Honda and to all of these companies, Please, we will give you free spark plugs. These were the best plugs we made in our country. Just try them out. In those days, the Japanese would only accept about 2 percent of automobiles in their market from anyplace else in the world, okay? When our market was open, over half the vehicles on our streets were from every place else in the world--made there rather than here, okay? Today, 30 years later, it is the same in Japan. They may be 3 percent of their market. They didn't even take Yugos, for heaven's sake, when those things were on the market. You are facing closed markets abroad. You are facing mammoth trade imbalances. The most important things those brilliant people over at the National Security Council economic division should do is pay attention to the United States of America for a change and ask themselves: Why isn't this formula working? Do you know what? Your decisions are hurting the American people, who are funding your operation over there on the executive side. Somebody had better pay attention to these mammoth, mammoth hemorrhages because I will tell you what--this recent election I don't view as an ideological one. The American people are trying to find a way to start getting a little traction in their economic way of life. They are having trouble, and this city isn't listening. The structures that are there to help the American people are completely out of kilter, and they have been out of kilter for a long time. It is not fair to the American people. It is simply not fair. We have to raise our voices here. I know there are living rooms out there that are listening to us tonight, and they are cheering what we are saying because they have lived it. They have lived the job loss. They have scratched and tried to get two and three jobs to try to hold their families and their households together. We have seen families split up because of the lack of income, and it isn't their fault. They are trying. They are trying to get a foothold. I remember one President. I didn't like what he said, but he said, Walk with your feet. If you have got a problem, move somewhere else. Do you know what? Where we live, our communities, our homes, our families, our neighbors--the communities we have built together--really mean something. It is us. We have invested our lives there--our parents, our grandparents. It isn't so easily cast away. I hope that is not an old-fashioned American idea, but people have labored for years to build our libraries, to build our museums, to build our zoos, our marinas, all of our parks. You just don't so easily walk away. Our homes mean something to us. It isn't fair to the people who have contributed so much to the betterment of this country to have it so rough, and it isn't their fault. For all of the people I meet who are homeless, for all of the people who have fallen on tough times, they want to work. These are workers. Why should workers have to go on food stamps, for heaven's sake, in the United States of America? What an embarrassment that is for this country. Then we have certain people here in the Congress who say, Oh, just cut them off. What are they supposed to do? Where are they supposed to go when their jobs have been royally outsourced elsewhere? This is not a few jobs but millions and millions. I have had the gift in my lifetime of being able to travel, to go follow the job. Go see what happened when Trico moved out of Buffalo. Go see what happened when Mr. Coffee moved out of Cleveland. When you start following these places, then, all of a sudden, it becomes clear: oh, somebody is making a whole lot of money off of the outsourcing of jobs. Do you know what? It wasn't the people in my community. It wasn't the workers. It wasn't even the small business people. It is the capitalists who take the money--those people who are rich enough to own these companies--and who then figure out they can outsource it so they can make more money, not work with the people in these communities who have given their lives, their sweat for these places. It is so disrespectful. It is un-American. It is un-American what they are doing.

Ms. KAPTUR. Congressman Tonko, your service gives us hope, and I know it gives the people of your district hope. Thank you for joining us this evening. I am going to yield to Congressman Keith Ellison of Minnesota, who has spent the evening here with us. Thank you so much for working overtime on behalf of your constituents and all of America.

Ms. KAPTUR. I thank the gentleman so much for that excellent point. I take it, by the signal, our time has expired. We thank all of those for listening who are present. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, as we come to the season of Thanksgiving, a time to celebrate the precious gifts of family, friends, community, and country, please allow me to pay special tribute of gratitude to some outstanding northwest Ohio citizens whose lives made a significant contribution to building a better community and America.

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Assessment Act, an important bill to promote and preserve the sunken treasures of the Great Lakes. The rich maritime history of the Great Lakes is an integral part of the American narrative. Millions of immigrants who settled the region and started America's westward expansion arrived on Great Lakes steamboats. As cities grew, Great Lakes ships and barges carried the timber, coal, and ore that fueled America's industrial might. One of America's first great naval victories, the Battle of Lake Erie, was won on the Great Lakes. Today, much of this heritage remains, beneath the waters of the Great Lakes. Despite thousands of shipwrecks throughout the Great Lakes, the Thunder Bay Marine Sanctuary is the only designated sanctuary in the lakes. Located in Lake Huron, off the coast of Alpena, Michigan, Thunder Bay Sanctuary has been a major economic driver for the area, spurring tourism, research, and educational opportunities. We can build on the success of Thunder Bay by establishing additional sanctuaries across the Great Lakes. This bill would direct the Administrator of NOAA to identify underwater areas throughout the Great Lakes that possess significant historical and archaeological resources and recommend whether they should be designated as National Marine Sanctuaries. Preserving the cultural legacy of our region is an important component of caring for our Great Lakes, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to achieve this goal.

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize, on the occasion of his 60th birthday, a true leader of our time and a transformative figure in the post-Soviet world, Alexsander Kwasniewski. Not only did President Kwasniewski lead Poland through a dramatic transition to freedom, he has remained an active participant on the global scale, contributing his experience and energy to helping others and fostering stability and cooperation in his region. On his birthday, it is important to recognize his contributions to Poland's rise on the international stage, its leadership in Eastern Europe and its relations with the United States. With today's geopolitical events in Eastern Europe concerning Russia and Ukraine, it is important to recognize and honor those who support the ideal of democracy and freedom for everyone who so desires it. Mr. Kwasniewski served two presidential terms from 1995 to 2005. During this time, he worked hard for European integration, leading the bid from Poland to join NATO and the EU and joining both in 1999 and 2004, respectively. Prior to his presidency, as part of the Social Democratic Party of the Republic of Poland, Mr. Kwasniewski participated in the Polish transformation in government from a communist nation to a democratic one in the famous Round Table negotiations in 1989. He has been decorated and recognized globally as a political thought leader, receiving the Jan Karski award in 2006 for opposing anti-Semitism and serving as an inspiration for international mediation efforts during Ukraine's 2004 ``Orange Revolution,'' which eventually led to Ukrainian democracy. The Congressional Caucus on Poland, which I have the honor to co- chair, focuses on promoting bilateral relations between Poland and the United States and raising the profile of issues that are important to both countries. That relationship is why today we honor Mr. Kwasniewski as someone who has been and still is a valuable contributor to peace, prosperity and civil liberties in Poland and the world.

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise on Veterans Day Week to pay tribute to our dear friend and longtime former colleague, Congressman Lane Evans. An honorable man and Marine Corps Vietnam veteran, Lane was elected in November 1982, and sworn in January 1983 as a member of a large freshman class that comprised the 98th Congress. He hailed from a working-class district and was a son of the working class. So few Members are grounded in that heritage. He was intelligent, committed, a true gentleman, and a patriot. The economy and social benefit programs consumed the attention of that Congress. Very high unemployment levels hung over our Nation, mired in the aftermath of a very deep recession following the first Arab oil embargo and economic policies of the Reagan administration that did not relieve the dire circumstances of unemployed workers. Extending unemployment benefits occupied that Congress as a lifeline to millions of workers that saw their livelihoods evaporate almost instantaneously. In the spring of 1983, Congress passed the historic refinancing of the Social Security program to assure the system would be sound for generations to come. Lane had fought to be a Member to fight for that, and he was a ``yes'' vote on that historic measure. During the first decade of Lane's service, we served together on the Veterans' Affairs Committee. After an extended fight, legislation was passed to allow Agent Orange-affected Vietnam veterans to receive benefits as a moral obligation to these veterans who had served. Today, Lane's legacy lives on as we continue to build on the foundation he laid. During his distinguished career, Mr. Evans led the effort to fight for veterans returning home with PTSD and TBI. His efforts in Congress laid the groundwork for a new chapter in the way American cares for those suffering from mental illness and the stress-related conditions of battle. Mr. Evans was taken from us far too soon. He was only 63 when he passed away last week after a very long, courageous, and difficult battle with Parkinson's. He will be dearly missed. Always true to the Marine Corps motto, Lane was ``always faithful.'' May God bless him. May he be elevated to a very high position in heaven. I feel so privileged to have had the opportunity to serve with him as a Member of the 98th Congress and those that followed.

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, today, NATO's Commander Breedlove said in Bulgaria, ``We have seen columns of Russian equipment, primarily Russian tanks, Russian artillery, Russian air defense systems, and Russian combat troops entering into Ukraine.'' In response, Ukraine has redeployed troops to the east to counter the insurgency. But these soldiers are severely undersupplied. Ukraine had an election just a couple of weeks ago, the most transparent, the most free, and the most pro-Western election in history. But pro-Russian parliamentarians received less than 10 percent of the vote. Today, once again, Ukraine faces war, as the ceasefire there collapsed as Russia attempts to reassert its influence by sinister and illegal means. Ukraine's young soldiers don't have proper boots or weapons or defensive equipment. How many times must Ukraine be invaded before we call it an invasion? I call upon the House to pass H.R. 5190, the bill I introduced with my fellow Ukrainian Caucus cochair, Jim Gerlach of Pennsylvania, to provide meaningful humanitarian aid and security assistance to Ukraine. The Senate has passed S. 2828 that does much the same. Let us stop the advance of this tyranny in the new century. Liberty is calling. Let us measure up in this lameduck session.