us pray almighty god heavenly father open our hearts to your movement in our midst as we trust your providence and cl to your promises give us the wisdom and spiritual to see you at work keep lawmakers from being intimidated by the challenges they face as you protect them by ordering their steps clothe them with the arma of integrity shield them with your truth and guy them with your power help our senators to please you by living blameless holy and peaceful lives lord give them a hunger for your words and a desire to apply your knowledge in their daily will we pray communication to the senate washington d c december third two thousand and seven to the senate under the provisions of rule one paragraph three of the staining rules of the senate i here by point the honorable jim webb a senator from the commonwealth as president there are two bills at the dust two for second reading r thirty seven zero three and act to amend section fifty one twelve p one a of title thirty one united states code to allow an exception for the dollar coin dispensing capability requirement for certain vending machines h r thirty nine ninety seven more in business or centers having ten minutes each to speak i will propose shortly an agreement with reference to the blue trade promotion agreement and agree would provide for purity would be today w the rose garden this morning it's hard to comprehend his words saying he wanted us to use the time left to support in this congressional here to support our troops protect our citizens and prevent harmful tax increases as president he also indicated in that same brief statement that he and we as a congress have little to show for our having been in a year we passed a budget first one in three years it was a balanced budget that we passed we implemented even though there were years and years overdue the nine eleven commission recommendations we passed homeland security funding we passed a pay raise for our troops we have consistently equipped our troops with programs and materials that the president did not ask for but we believe the troops needed and time as proven they were needed we provide health care for wounded soldiers and veterans we set benchmarks for iraq we focused on the neglected national guard and i'm glad we did that we passed ethics and lobbying reform we passed a c r that's funded the government will to the end of this year we shortly will be doing an energy bill we passed one here but we hope to have one that will be a bipartisan bill that we will pass here by the end of the year we completed a minimum wage bill that was ten years passed do we pass the american kinetic competitive fact we passed higher education bill mr president the most significant pi since the g i bill of rights dealing with higher education we also passed the elementary and secondary education funding act which was long past due we funded headstart stem cell research the president vetoed that we passed a very important piece of reform which was long overdue disaster assistance for small businesses we have certainly done good work regarding disaster assistance for farmers which was also long overdue three years past d with the scandal that occurred in the attorney general's office we were able to focus on the u s attorneys and change the law in that regard is present these are just a few of the things we've done but we feel good that we've done them and the president should not demean what we've done here these are pieces of legislation some of which he signed we want to work with present and we've tried to work with the president but the end of this administration the bush administration is fast approaching and frankly mr president he wants to talk about accomplishments one year of the departing democratic led congress compared to his seven years of the republican led presidency the comparison is quite stark he has to show for what he has done an endless war that we've been involved in we soon will be in that six year never shrinking middle class and a budget gone from record surpluses present bush calls and congress support our troops mr president and we've done that but it's a president who a stretch our military nearly to its breaking point editorials in today's newspapers certainly indicate how we are failing  supplying our military with the materials they need the equipment they need to maintain their readiness and this president has kept our troops abroad or two three and four tours of duty some of served five tours of duty worn a war i repeat soon to be in that six year war that general petraeus has said cannot be won militarily and we're getting no help from the iraqis to handle their get their house in order politically it's a president who has sent our troops into battle without proper protection i collected our veterans care when they return home i repeat it was this democratic congress frighted funds for body armor voted for a troop pay increase provide funds to fix the neglect at wal reed and other military health facilities so that our troops get the care they need when they return from combat present bush calls on congress to protect our citizens mr president it's president bush who has failed to capture bin laden who tonsils with new videos and new threats office but is this president who has allowed al qaeda to regroup and become stronger than ever but it's this president who has consistently underfunded the homeland security priorities that keep us save our cities and towns and it was this democratic congress i repeat that finally implemented recommend recommendation from the nine eleven commission long ignored by the president and his republican enablers which help secure most  recipients is our first responders the communication tools they need in an emergency and improve oversight of our intelligence and homeland security system president bush calls on congress to prevent farm harmful tax increases and responsibly fund our government but as president bush's reckless fiscal irresponsibility which is growing the national debt next downing rate mr president of one million dollars per minute for a total increase more than three trillion dollars on his watch president clinton mr president was actually paying down the debt by half a trillion dollars the last three years he was in office we were spending less money than we were taking in but as this president has increased our debt to foreign governments by more than all foreign press former presidents combined two hundred thirty years we've been a country all the presidents combined did not increase the debt like this president has done he's increased our debt to foreign governments lie more than all former presidents combined but it's this president who has stuck this bill for his failed policies squarely on the shoulders our children and grandchildren every person in this country a baby of one day a person one hundred years old those thirty thousand dollars to make up this almost ten trillion dollar debt this fast approaching and it's this democratic congress has put working families first with the first increas minimum wage in a decade to give hard working but least paid americans a little more they help ends meet mispresent remember the minimum wage affects a lot of people it's not kids flipping hamburgers up with donal's sixty percent of people got minimum wage that's only money they get for their families the vast majority of people on minimum wage are women who work and it's this democratic congress that provided health insurance to millions of more children low income children with the children's health insurance policy president vetoed this his present the president bush's veto will cut five and a half million children off the ability to go to the doctor when they're sick five and a half million we would wind up with tan after if we even if we extend the present bill we will lose five and a half million children wind up with four and a half instead of ten and it's this democratic congress that has made investments in headstart dude and financial aid so that all children regardless of wealth their parents can get start on the right track and have the option to go to college not like president bush we paid for our priorities and responsible way we have a pay go system if we increase a program to change a program that cost money we pay for this president and valleys in congress a leg congress better lead the american people down a very dark path this democratic congress in its first year has made america stronger safer and more prosperous but with president bush and the republicans fighting us a record number of filibusters fifty seven with empty rhetoric obstruction and vetoes we still of a lot of work to do and that's an understatement in this final work create of the year  we have to return our focus to finally ending the war in iraq that has cost our troops and country so dearly this president here i'd like to cite a statement from a republican running for here's what he said everything is much worse if we stay interactive right now they're very content to bleed us interact lead us financially and by killing americans we lose lives we spend money we don't have it furthers our financial crisis the longer they're the stronger al gets our being there is the greatest incentive conceivable to help the soma bin laden the evidence is very clear that's more al qaeda now than before which means we're in greater danger of being hit by terrorists than before besides who are all these people telling us there'll be a problem if we leave the same ones who said it would be a cakewalk what kind of credibility do they have this president i repeat as a republican not a democrat as president we want to take up the house passed bill that provides fifty billion dollars in emergency funds to our troops and requires a president to transition the mission from combat operations to security training and i terrorism over the thanksgiving holiday we began to hear the rumblings of what is sure to be an outrageous line of attack from the bush white house mr president the week we left here secretary gates told us that the army had enough money with the four hundred sixty billion bill we just passed had enough money to fund them until the first of march the marines until the middle of march that's what secretary gates told us but the spin machine of the white house is trying to overrule what secretary defense told the same we're going to lay people off there's not enough money for mine detection equipment and things of that nature that's totally contrary to what the secretary of defense has this occurred events has credibility compared to  predecessor secretary gates has credibility that's what he told us army is ok until the first of march the marines ok until the middle march but over thanksgiving we get rumblings from the spin machine at the white house president saying we're not sending money of the troops this is not true it's cynical politics at its worst the american people are too smart to fall for this mr president the facts are clear we just passed nearly a half trillion dollar defense appropriations bill the department defense is fully funding before the holiday we offered another fifty billion dollars funding package on top of the four hundred sixty billion to support our troops in combat provided heed the call the american people and change course the president and his supporters here in congress which are all republicans was where exception jack to that package the president said no to funding his own war unless he's given a blank check to continue his failed policies now that us and the american know the current course has not brought their political reconciliation the president promised they realize that it makes no sense for president bush to blame democrats because he rejected the funding package that we offered this week will try again to give the present the opportunity to accept troop funding we will try to return to the house passed bill will give our republican colleagues another opportunity stand on the side of our troops in battle by passing legislation that contains additional funding and provides a strategy to bring the war to a responsible enemy but iraq is just one of the many funding priorities we must address in the weeks ahead we have to deal with the appropriations bills in large part because the president's been stubborn and unreasonable rather than work with us to resolve the differences that amounts to less than one percent of our budget the present threat to veto every appropriation bill before it is even written we've offered a compromise with president bush to split the difference you know so far it doesn't appear the president's ready do the right thing for the american people like accepting any compromise but i hope senate republicans will act more responsibly is present we have to do something about the alternative minimum tax corner joint committee on taxation  american families one hundred fifty thousand of adams will be forced to pay the m t a next spring if we don't take action before the year's up before thanksgiving the house passed a m t relief after their vote i offered and consent agreement mt they chose to follow obstructionism i can't emphasize enough how important it is move forward on this legislation i hope the republicans will end obstruction on this vital tax relief but we can move to a vote if they well have no choice but to file cloture so we can move to vote on the house bill and that's exactly what i'll do in the coming days mr president will have to turn to face of the foreign intelligence surveillance surveillance act earlier this year the president signed a flawed temporary along the subject that will expire in early february both the intelligence and judiciary committees have reported a bill that proves current law the house has passed its own version a full senate must debate this matter in december to allow sufficient time for negotiations with the house before the february deadline we need to give our intelligence professionals all necessary tools of same time protecting the privacy of law abiding americans and following our constitution their gross intelligence gathering should be accompanied by meaningful judicial review and strong congressional oversight feiss struck the balance well for thirty years now we can make it even more effective both of these senate committees of work together in a bipartisan manner chairman rockefeller and ranking member bon leahy and ranking member specter are so sorting through differences in the work of their two committees and i hope that under the leadership of those four senators will pass a bill that strikes right balance and makes our country safer later this work period will move to finish work on the energy bill in june the senate overwhelmingly passed a landmark energy bill to improve fuel efficiency and invest in renewable fuel technology the bill would save americans lots and lots of money at the gas pump and on their heating bills unfortunately mr president republicans wouldn't allow us to go to conference on this we continue to work toward a bipartisan resolution so that we can send a strong energy bill to the present death before the year's out but also attempt to turn again to the farm bill prior to the holiday we were unable to complete action on the farm bill because of the overwhelming number of amendments filed many of which had nothing to do with farming sir o'connell and i are working through these amendments come up with a reasonable list while we've been on the thanksgiving day break staffs been working and i think we're at a point where we should be able to do a farm bill with by unanimous consent i've outlined seven major legislative initiatives that we must address before the two thousand legislative calendar draws to a close we need to do this for the american people it's reasonable and necessary we began this year with great success we've restored integrity of congress we put working families first we've got teeth behind home security in veterans care but a funny and unfortunate thing happen next the president and his republican supporters here in the senate determine that while bipartisanship made good policy obstruction made better politics for nevertheless again and again the republican leadership blocked these votes from taking place most recently republicans blocked the transportation what appropriation bill which invest or invest in our crumbling roads bridges dams tunnels our infrastructure a block progress on the energy bill which would reduce the ever increasing cost american people pay to keep their homes and fill their gas tanks block the farm bill which would stabilize the nation's food supply and improve nutrition of our children block f h a modernization which would help families keep their homes and face of the ongoing mortgage crisis and all republicans have now blocked or priorities of americans by forcing fifty six cloture votes fast approaching an all time record of  for a two full two year session that was too many but most present fifty six not even halfway threw is really significantly headed neuron direction they've already nearly reached an all time two year obstruction record in less than a year that million like a ballplayer hitting seventy three home runs by the all star break and that's not good this isn't normal obstruction this is obstruction on steroids it's not too late for the republicans change course and work with us i find it hard to believe that republicans truly opposing him to fix if e j reform infrastructure investments and childhood nutrition i hope my friends on the other side i'll believe that they stand to gain politically by getting the most done for our country not the least not for our country i hope than a little time we have left this year so much left to accomplish and war march toward obstruction struction is on record can be cast aside and recess for the year and a few weeks i hope that we can add meaningfully to the bipartisan change that we have begun deliver this year but this can only happen if republicans decide work with us for the american people not th and we're now in the final days of this session and congressional democrats have left an enormous amount of work on done as we move into the final stretch let's take stock of the on fetish business on spending on troop funding thousands of american families will have sons and daughters fighting overseas this christmas and out of the constitution it falls on us to provide for them we may disagree about the mission but no one should disagree about getting these courageous men and women everything they need while they're fighting in the field congressional democrats need to get serious about the troops and get them the funds they need without any more games and without any further we've heard some remarkable reports from iraq in recent weeks sunni tribes and other militants who have turned against al qaida are now working with coalition forces to secure iraq in neighborhoods and towns refugees are returning to iraq in droves shops are reopening curve these are being relaxed al qaida in iraq we're told has been pushed to the brin americans like what they've heard and even some congressional democrats of acknowledge the positive report congressman murtha a hero of the ad war left says the new strategy is a success congressman dicks talk about a new feeling of normalcy in iraq thanks to the increase in u s forces on a smart and strategy we've seen a stunning reversal unfortunately talk of congratulations as scares among the anti war left rather stop for a minute to acknowledge what we're hearing from the field our friends on the other side now seem to be looking around for something that isn't going well so they can blame that on republicans according to press reports they've settled on gas prices and we do need to do something to lower energy cost but the bill our democratic friends are portably about to bring to the floor won't do that in fact the bill they're discussing would actually increase gas prices at the pump and electricity bills in states that don't have an abundance of one mills an energy bill that raises the cost of energy is not what we need today frankly i'm baffled by the congressional democrats position on the whole troop funding debate earlier in the year they said that sending more troops to iraq would lead to failure then they approve the funds anyway now they say things are going well and they want to cut off the funds that are needed to finish the job so they funded the war when they thought it would fail and now they want to defund it when they think it's succeeding does this make any sense at all reasonable people should be able to agree that now is not the time to talk about walking away from our troops in iraq yet this is exactly what democrats are planning to do the same your senator from massachusetts said he thinks democrats have an obligation an obligation to cut off funds for the war and now they're apparently following through with it just in time for the holidays they are forcing the and return home and success we have a solemn obligation to assure america's military families that their sons and daughters will get whatever they need let's not break that trust at this moment of optimism and hope and good news from the field at a time when even congressman murtha says the surge is working congressional democrats need to get serious about security at home it's no accident that we haven't been hit here since nine eleven we passed the patriot act set up the department of bill which is exactly what the democrats on the committee are proposing they want to make sure the trial lawyers are happy one way or another we need to protect the telecom companies that did their duty and the taxpayers not the trial lawyers who want to bring these lawsuits congressional democrats have neglected their duty on the twelve spending bills threaten to neglect to our troops in the field and to our security at home and now they're about to slap millions of americans with a middle class tax better known as the a m t well the american people have a right to know democrats found the time for sixty three iraq votes over the course of the past year some of them at midnight but somehow couldn't find an afternoon to fix a mistake in the tax code that's about to hit fifty million households if they didn't see it coming they have known about the problem all year treasury secretary paulson reminded us of its urgency an october letter back dated october twenty third reminding us that the problem was before us he warned that if congress didn't act early last  about twenty five million households would get mistakenly whacked with a major tax hike and he said if we didn't act by the middle of this month fifty million would face delays in getting their refund even if we acted today millions of tax returns will still be delayed we've already inconvenienced millions of american taxpayers by inaction oversight chairman reminded us about the problem again last to two hundred families it was never indexed for inflation it is a mistake that's never been permanently fixed and republicans are not about to let democrats impose a new tax on a lot of other taxpayers to pay for its correction americans don't need to be giving government an interest free loan and april by letting the i r s hold on to their they need to get their refunds when they expect them we need to fix the a m t with that new taxes and we need to do it now the number of families affected is staggering democratic dragging on the a m t threatens one point six million taxpayers in new jersey more than three million in new york and nearly four point five million in california that's more people in california alone and we have people in my state we need to block this middle class tax hike now before voters get stuck with it  senate democrats need to act on executive nominations including nominees to head the department of veterans affairs and the department of agriculture and the judiciary committee needs to do a much better job processing circuit court nomination christmas will be here before we know it and we've only had one hearing one on one circuit court nomination since the summer recess and we've only had five hearings for five circuit court nominees all year long the entire year two thousand and seven five circuit court nominee hearers during a comparable period in president clinton's last congress the republican controlled senate held hearings on  ten president clinton circuit court nominees including five after the august recess we've had qualified circuit court nominees up here for months satisfy the supposed criteria of the democratic majority there's no good reason for the judiciary committee to bring progress on circuit court nominations standstill it's time our colleagues on the other side acted on nominations and all on the ledge of the other legislative  that i've listed they've spent nearly a year now focusing on politics rather than a central and now they're trying to distract the public by shifting the focus at the finish line we need to pass the bills that keep the government functioning we need to stop taxes from being raised on the middle class we need to strengthen the laws that help us catch terrorists before they strike and we need to fund the troops and a failed it's now december the last month of the year and senate democrats have more to do in these last few weeks and they have already done all year it's time to stop the political show it's time to focus all want on the fundamentals  under the previous order the leadership time is reserved to the previous order there will be a period of mourning business with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each senator from massachusetts is recognize that withdrawal of american troops there i don't intend to restate to my positions on this war here this afternoon i came to the floor to address another issue but i will point out that one of the best votes that i've cast in the united states senate was in opposition to the resolution put forward supported by the senator from kentucky that brought us into iraq where american forces have been fighting for a longer period of time than all of world war two all of world war two and where we are seeing a continued loss of american lives some thirty seven american lives that lost last month and the billions of dollars thirteen to fourteen billions of american taxpayers dollars being of flooding into the sands of iraq and still there is not the reconciliation by the iraqi political leadership to develop and form some kind of government that could be the basis for some independence in the future and effectively effectively as our brave men and women are fighting gallantly and we've great balor over there they are entitled to a policy that was worthy of their valor and today they are effectively being held hostage by the iraqi politicians that refuse to negotiate among themselves and form a government now that might be satisfactory to the senator from kentucky but not to the senator from massachusetts evidently the senator from kentucky wants to give a blank check to the iraqi politicians continue your squabbles over there and we'll continue to see the loss of american lives and an american blood not the senator from massachusetts not the senate of massachusetts they've had their time what is going to convince the iraqi politicians that we're serious what will send the message is when we demonstrate that we are starting did withdraw american troops then they are going to say make the political judgments attempt political judgments for their survival but not today and if the senator from kentucky wants to continue an open ended commitment with american lives and american treasure that is his position it is not mine and i don't think that is where the american people are how long is it going to take how long is it going to take how long is it going to take for the iraqi politicians to get together they're not doing it now they didn't do it yesterday and they don't appear to be willing to do it tomorrow even though we've had all these assurances from the administration that success was just around the corner so mr president  this is a matter of enormous importance and consequence and we'll continue this debate is why i'm a strong supporter of what the our leader is appointed out here read to earlier today in talking about the proposal that has been put put forward in terms of what they call the bridge funding mr president i'm going to just take a few moments to talk about the state of our economy and i do so because the during the period of the break i had the opportunity to talk with a lot of the people in my own state of massachusetts and our state is not greatly different from many of the other states certainly up in the northeastern part the central part of our nation older industrial states but i think what to the conclusion of working families in the middle class is pretty consistent across the country and that is  the state of our economy in terms of working families is put working families in a good deal of fear now let me just review quickly mr president  do current our current situation is this is the vast majority americans are anxious about the economy these are the latest studies the latest polls in november of two thousand and seven seventy eight percent say the economy is getting worse the most negative outlook in the past sixteen in the past sixteen years and so we have to ask ourselves is this a a democrat independent or a republican view let's let's look just across the spectrum is the president it's eighty nine percent of the democrats feel that way that these are the representatives of working families independents seventy eight percent even republicans say it sixty five percent believe that the economy is getting worse now is this something that has been there for some period of time or is this sense of anxiety about the economy growing well look where it was in january of two thousand and one fifty six percent of the american people were concerned about the economy now look at seventy in two thousand and seven seventy eight percent it's gone from fifty six sixty six seventy six seventy eight percent are concerned about the economy now let's look at the how working families the future for the next generation their children effectively these are working families feel insecure about their children's economic future this is the current assessment of how working families view what is going to happen to their children to they twenty three percent of them believe that their children are going to be better off than they are the middle income families are today thirty percent feel that their children will  same future as they have it today and forty two percent believe that their children will have be worse off than today this is a really a defining aspect about what our country is about it's about the american dream it's about hope an opportunity not only for their themselves but also for their children and their children's children when you lose that hope you lose that opportunity then you begin to lose the working families view about the american dream this is an explanation a good dale of the reason that mr president about why this has really happened what we have seen is that we are growing further and further apart in terms of wages in terms of productivity for middle income families if you look back from forty seven to sixty two as we came out of a world war two as a product of it increased wages increased and the economy grow went along together all of the different quintiles of the american economy when a long together we all grew together and there was a sense of optimism and hope because we had a shared a condominium a shared future but look what has happened in terms of the real wages and productivity this has demonstrated that this product if any is escalated two hundred five times wages of effectively gone up about five percent over the period of the last fifteen years in terms of  real in real time and the rest of that productivity has gone to the wealthiest individuals now one of the principal reasons is because the skyrocketing wages of affectively remain stagnant we have seen what has happened in gasoline prices up sixty six percent we have seen the health care thirty eight percent education forty three percent we have the homeownership some forty percent and effectively stagnant at a five percent these are the things that families are concerned about how they're going to be able to get to work are they going to be able to afford their health care are they going to be able to send their children to school are they going to be able to have a  and this mr president is what all of us seen in than in many of the colder regions of the country as temperature drops home heating oil prices have gone absolutely up through the roof a dollar eighty  three a gallon in two thousand and one in two thousand and seven three dollars and twenty nine cents it's gone up thirty three percent in real terms mr president since last year so you have the home sort of gotten more expensive education has got more expensive fuel has got more expensive health care it's got more expensive heating oil is got more expensive and this has all contributed to the growth of the insecurity here is the price of food that has ri faster than the rate of inflation whether you're talking about a beef pound of beef whether you're talking about eggs inflation is fifty percent higher than the rates of inflation if you're talking about even milk is higher than the rate of inflation all of this has been happening while working families have been working longer and harder than any other industrial nation of the world here we have effectively forty million americans twenty eight percent of the workforce work more than forty hours a week one in ten workers were more than fifty hours a week this is their almost thirty percent work more than forty hours seven point nine million americans are working two or more jobs american working hours the second highest of any of the developed countries this is a good indicator mr president this chart about americans were have increased more than any of the and other industrial nations of the country countries of the world here it is twenty percent from one nine hundred seventy to two thousand to here is the united states workers are working longer they're working harder many of them are getting to jobs and the essential  elements that they are are necessary for their livelihood have far exceeded their wages and therefore they have increasing apprehension about their own future and about the future of their future of their country this charge is a indicator about where we are in terms of the where we are in terms of the savings credit card debt is exploded cash available down an average family sixteen hundred dollars and the credit card debt has just gone absolutely up through the roof this chart here shows that americans now oh nine hundred billion dollars in credit card debt this is the escalation people are borrowing this money going more and more on their credit card and the fees that are being charged are x extraordinary mr president but americans will have to pay for it because they can't see their way any other way is this is  a indicator of where the savings have been going over the period of the last fifteen twenty years red line indicate that the savings have gone right down and continue to go down we're talking about working families virtually no savings extraordinary escalation in terms of the costs and all of this is happening at the same time this chart here mr president shows that millions of american families are facing losing their homes foreclosures are rising dramatically hundred seventy seven percent from two thousand and five pick up every any newspaper in the country today and you see that kind of pressure that is on working families with all the apprehension that they have can they afford the mortgage tickly at this time of the year christmas time can they afford the mortgage and can they afford to try and celebrate christmas with their with their children this is the mortgage woes that are creating the subprime christmas for consumers and stores use the harum family normally spend five hundred dollars they give this season couple as a wrenching choice celebrate christmas or keep their home out of foreclosure many many families have gone into that situation encreasing number of bankruptcies mr president this is the escalation now in terms of the number of bankruptcies that are taking place among working families in this country escalating escalating escalating and this is just by quotas this is two thousand and seven the first quarter the second quarter the third quarter continuing to escalate and grow and grow house being lost bankruptcies are being taking place this mr president is one of the very distressing charts this represents this couple here in the child middle class family middle income family the last generation which had been twenty years ago this is now this is what has happened to their children this is what the current situation to their children middle income families twenty years ago what is happening to their children you'll see one hundred percent rise to the top this is the economic ladder as seventeen percent fall to the bottom look what the total is thirty six percent of the children of middle income families rose somewhat and forty one percent of their children fell slightly or fell to the bottom these are the children middle income families the backbone of this country and our society of our country and this is what has happened to them these are the latest figures and families know that it's bad enough for the average mr president but it is been particularly damaging in terms of a number of  the minority groups in this case the african americans born middle class parents of fallen out of the middle class sixty nine percent in the last twenty years middle income their children effectively seventy seven seventy percent fell into a lower economic standing and this has been a true as well in terms of hispanic and other other groups who are growing further and further apart increasing poverty increasing uncertainty at a time when the safety nets ever affectively disappearing disappearing in terms of pensions in the disappearing terms of health care costs disappearing in terms of unemployment compensation all of those safety nets have been put into asters at a time when many working families and their children are in the greatest need this is the number of uninsured americans are familiar with the figures they use daily now close to forty seven million this is even in spite of the fact that the chip program was implemented during this period of time and actually provided  health care for up to six million children this mr president is interesting because we have too many working americans are lacking insurance look at this more than eighty million adults and children one out of every three non elderly spent some part of the last two years without health insurance without it eighty million eighty million and a country of three hundred million eighty million spent some time in the last few years without it and eighty five percent of them were working adults these are working men and women these are men and women that are working in many instances two jobs longer harder than any time in the history of our country working families are working and still they're facing this this mr president show half americans don't have any form of retirement savings this is work is not in a in a pension plan at work have no effect of a pension savings half of all the workers in this country rather important shift in change from recent times when it was up to probably seventy five percent had some coverage and it was growing now is going in the absolute wrong direction here was mr president three million fewer americans have pensions than five years ago and two thousand and forty six million had it now it's forty three and these numbers are going right on down they're not going in the right direction they're going in the wrong direction this is another way of saying now mr president only workers now have a defined benefit pension which will be give the workers some assurance that they're going to be benefits their others have before a one case that may be going up and maybe going down we've seen the period where they've been going down and they have lost their security in terms of their in terms of their future and that has been been happening over the period the last fifteen years increasing numbers of lost their security american workers lack access to the needed paid sick days what's happening in the middle class is there increasing numbers of children that need focus and attention because two members of the family a working they have the same child and because their parents are living longer they have families working families have more responsibility to provide care by care for needy members of the family but only as forty eight percent even have sick days without any pay and without and the chances are contaminate the other children as well unemployment has arisen under the president bush and failed economic policies increased by one point two million from january o one till october two thousand the increased number of unemployment but the long term unemployment mr president this is this is has gone up fifty nine percent this is support long term these are people that have lost their jobs and are unable to get their jobs back typically were participants in the job market and this figure here is one of the highest for the longest period of time we have had in recent economic history so mr president just a final few points that i want to mention here the majority of the unemployed workers did not receive benefits we used to think if you're unemployed you're going to get the unemployment insurance not anymore sixty four percent of unemployed workers receive nothing at all from unemployment insurance for those who do not collect benefits they're often inadequate average unemployment insurance is down to twenty eight percent this is an adequate id system and now workers who actually pay into there don't even eligible ineligible to get for a variety of different kind of technical reasons we're trying to work with the finance committee on the trade this mr president is the inadequacy in terms of childcare fourteen percent of eligible children have access to government assistance on health care so mr president at a time for these give you some idea why the working families of america have such apprehension in terms of the future and in terms of their own lives and in the lives and we need the program  to be able to deal with this and we have a number of recommendations and i'll just mention them very quickly here this afternoon and put additional kinds of information first that we need to safeguard the working from  the turbulence working families the turbulence the modern economy by for stronger and better support for the families we have our country is going through profound economic shifts so many workers are losing their jobs in the wake of these changes have been reduce bipartisan legislation the unemployment insurance modernization make sure that those who work hard paid in the system get the benefits they deserve and i hope the bill will see progress on this bill soon so that much more that needs to be done will be done to help american struggling to find a job we also need the aggressive agenda to help families facing the health care crisis we have seen the progress i believe in a universal comprehensive program that is going to be there and be available accessible to all americans in the meantime we can follow the examples of my own state massachusetts which has taken the lead in providing our residents access to quality health care it is absolutely essential as these charts pointed out that we're going to address this problem strengthening the safety net alone is not enough we need to redouble our efforts to restore the economic opportunity for families americans are working harder than ever and they need the additional kind of training in my state now we have two hundred seventy thousand unemployed we have seventy three thousand jobs there are good jobs and yet we have seen a continuing reduction in terms of training programs those people could be out and put onto the jobs and get the jobs and we taxpayers and be committed and productive members of the society but we have seen over the period this recent years including this last a budget request a continued reduction in terms of training programs by this administration we know workers have to have a continuing ongoing upgrading of their skills in order to be able to deal with these i think we need labor law reforms like the employee free choice act to protect the rights to organize so employees can stand up and fight what's fair i think we need to address again the earned income tax credit to help those at the bottom of the economic ladder who work hard and play by the rules we have to continue i think the progress that we've made in the increase in the minimum wage so that we're not going to have a falling back in terms of providing for working families a decent income laid to barbara jordan once said what the american people want is very simple they want an america as good as its promise and the promise of america is that it is truly a land of opportunity where every working family can share in the nation's prosperity where we all rise together and we can be confident that our children have a bright future for decades we enjoyed that vision of shared prosperity i'm confident we can make that promise a reality for american families again we owe it to all workers that have seen their bills go up while their paychecks go down we owe it to all the parents that conflict at night because they're worried about their children's future we owe it to all families that are struggling and need a reason as celebrate this holiday season we owe the american people our best efforts and i look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle the weeks and months ahead to put work family's back on track president consideration of calendar number four eighty h r thirty six eighty eight the peru trade promotion agreement at the statutory time be reduced to ten hours equally divided as provided for under the statute that when the senate resumes a major tuesday december for there be ninety minutes remaining for debate equally divided and that upon the user reeled in back of time the major be set aside until two fifteen p m and without intervening further in an intervening action or debate the senate proceed to vote on passage of h r thirty six eighty eight it to fifteen p m on tuesday this unanimous consent agreement has been cleared by both sides reserve mr president i ask unanimous consent that the following staff of the finance committee be allowed on the senate floor for the duration of the debate and vote on the peru free trade agreement and they are  without objections or mr president i rise this afternoon to speak in connection with the two thousand and seven farm bill which was being debated on the floor of the senate prior to  the time thanksgiving over the last several weeks and as i rise to speak about the farm bill i want to say thank you to my colleague and good friend from massachusetts senator kennedy for bringing again to the attention of the american public the importance of what happening economically across the spectrum of america today and that is that there is a great sense of concern and instability and nervousness among the american public about what is happening with their own economic life and whether their children will have access to higher education whether they will be able to afford health care health care insurance whether gas prices are going to essentially for some to not be able to afford the essential things of life and i think in all of that one of the things that senator kennedy so eloquently speaks to is this covenant of america that somehow we are all here as americans in a common mission to try to create a better world for our children and for our grandchildren and for the rest of humanity and the one thing that we cannot afford to do is to allow that covenant to be broken and we in this chamber in the united states senate working in a bipartisan way have an obligation to ensure that that covenant of america is something that we honor something that we give dignity dignity to in our efforts  work as part of that work one of the things that i think is very critical is that we not forget that part of america which in many ways has been the forgotten america and that those are the communities of rural america those are communities like the towns and the counties where i come from and they tout that county of canals county which is one of the poorest counties in the united states of america which now no matter how well the rest of america is doing always seems to be struggling on the line and so it's important for us here in the united states senate in the weeks and days ahead to do everything that we can to make sure that we pass a farm bill because it's a farm bill that's good for america the farm bill that's good for nutrition and as  good friend kent conrad and my good friend senator harkin have kept reminding the people of america that sixty seven percent of the bill that we're working on is for nutrition that that aspect of our legislation is and then it provide  assistance to those who are are most in need so i'm hopeful that as we move forward this week in the united states senate and next week that we as a united states senate will come together in a bipartisan basis to move forward with the farm bill that is so essential to the  security of the nation mispresent i want to thank chairman harkin and senator chambliss for their hard work on this farm bill that we have put so much time in for the last two and a half years i also want to thank baucus and ranking member grassley for their work on the finance committee because their contribution to this farm bill has been so essential to get us to a point where we have a forward thinking and balanced bill on the floor and as i speak here this afternoon  going under way with respect to whether or not we can narrow down the number of amendments to be considered here on the floor so that we can move forward to the consideration and hopeful final passage of this bill a lot of folks in this country are looking up to us here in the u s senate this week and next to see whether we have the courage to pass the farm bill in my view we must pass this farm bill it is a bill that helps the fifty million americans living in rural communities it's  helps kids who deserve fresh fruits and vegetables at lunch it's a bill that helps put healthy and safe food on the table of the people of this country and it helps us reduce our dependence on foreign oil to build a clean energy economy for the twenty first century which in my view mr president that clean energy economy will be the signature domestic and foreign policy issue of our future here in america a few days ago i was in the sun weasely with my family  our ranch our land which we have branched on for five generations is a just a few miles north of the new mexico colorado border in a county that reflects many of the challenges that are facing rural america almost a quarter of the residents of my home county of claflin one in four live below the poverty line with a median household income which is around twenty seven thousand dollars a year in the neighboring county cost the a county household income is about half the median in the united states the fact is it is an inescapable fact of america that rural communities across the country are struggling median income in rural counties nationwide is eleven thousand dollars lower than the national median that's eleven thousand dollars lower if you live in a rural community that means that you're going to be making a lot less money than if you live in a non rural community jobs and population are disappearing in these counties i want to just point out this map is a map of the united states of what's happened just in the last five years here in the united states of america the counties that are in red here on this map are counties that have all lost population in the last five years these are part of that rural america which we are trying to address in this bill by opening up a whole new chapter of opportunity that will give the farmers and ranchers and residents of these rural counties and states and communities an opportunity for the good way of life the rest of the way that the rest of america has that good way of life all of the counties on this are either red or yellow are counties that are losing population and are falling behind the national average many of those counties are counties like the ones that are in my state there you'll find schools with declining enrollment you'll find hospitals and health clinics across those counties that are closing down you'll find stores on main streets that are getting boarded up here is a picture of downtown brush mr president you know these towns and communities in virginia the way that i do in my state of colorado i go across the eastern plains of the west slope for the southern part of my state and town after town out in the rural areas of my state these main streets of america these main streets of america are being boarded up and are for sale because of the declining economic vitality in those communities these are places where the tractor dealerships the hardware stores the feed stores are closing down and you know that you know it from all the signs that you see out there that farmers and ranchers are struggling this is certainly been the case in colorado we've had a severe drought in my state now for the last eight years and we're now just pulling out of that drought in two thousand and two we lost thirty percent of our wheat on account of the drought the acres that were harvested had an average yield of twenty three bushels per acre not enough mr president to cover the operating and overhead costs of producing those twenty three bushels per acre and in two thousand and four it happened again where we lost six hundred thousand acres of wheat production in my state of colorado and in two thousand and six again our weight loss is amounted to around ninety five million dollars during that year alone but it's that just wait and corn it's also what's happened with respect to disasters in my state this picture is a picture in washington county named after george washington right outside of akron colorado where you see the results of drought which essentially have annihilated this field from any kind of eld or production in east on the up and they argue therefore that farmers are doing well and that perhaps a farm bill is not needed they use this is a grounds for attacking and blocking the bill that is before us this bill which is a bi partisan product but it is no secret mr president that the commodity prices in the business section aren't a very good indication farmers and ranchers are actually doing if corn prices are up that doesn't necessarily mean that farmers and ranchers ranchers and bucket county or yuma county colorado are doing much better i can tell you that the cattle business for one the cattle the cattle business which i know well well it's a whole lot more difficult when feed prices are high and there has where has washington been while our farmers and ranchers have been fighting to stay afloat for years in my view washington has turned a blind eye to the problems in rural america perhaps because we in rural america don't have the clout that urban america has in terms of their votes it is a neglect surfacing yet again among those who hold up this legislation going forward this neglect in my view is disheartening when you know just how much possibility and promise there is in the rural communities of america with modest investments rural america can be the engine of our clean energy economy feeling an alternative energy revolution that capitalizes on the hard work the productivity the entrepreneurship of our farmers and ranchers across our great land it can continue to provide a safe healthy food and it can continue to protect millions of acres of land and waterways that we value mr president here is a picture of one of the organizational education programs in my state for the equip program which is addressed in this farm bill this picture shows the farm villa work helping protect our land and our water while keeping our farmers the most productive in the world these are some of our farmers from the same rain in boulder creek watershed learning some new practice is that reduce tillage and increase the eels from our farms the field day which is shown in this picture was part of a three year equip conservation innovation grant that was done in partnership with a local conservation district with local farmers seed companies and farm equipment dealers at the end of the day these farmers these farmers went home with new ways to boost their bottom line protecting the land and the water of colorado in america the farm bill mr president has an enormous impact on this nation's land water you think about america the beautiful this great land well nonfederal agricultural and forest lands occupy about seventy percent seventy percent of the land in the lower forty eight states seventy percent of the land in the forty eight states is what is  heart at the heart of this farm bill seven out of ten acres in the contiguous united states are affected by the farm bill these lands provide the habitat and corridors that support healthy wildlife populations filter ground water supplies regulate surface water flows sequester carbon and provide the open space invest that we all love as i learned growing up on our ranch in southern colorado farmers and ranchers are some of the best towards of these resources they want to take care of their land because they know that taking care of their land and water is essential for their lively livelihood our farmers mr president also want to be very much of the clean energy future of america this is a picture mr president of an ethanol plant which is new in sterling color this ethanol plant produces about forty two million gallons of fuel year this is only one of three plants in our state has come up come on line just in the last two years in part as a result of the work that was done here in this chamber in the two thousand and five energy policy act it is part of the renewable energy revolution that is taking place across america and title nine of the farm bill addresses this renewable energy future for our country a fourth ethanol plant just like this one had just come online in colorado just in the last week but it goes beyond biofuels which are a central part of this section of the fall farm bill it goes to other kinds of renewable energy it goes to programs such as wind here is a wind farm in power scow anyway out in the eastern plains way out in that part of the forgotten america in the eastern plains of colorado that part that is all red in my state because we know that that's part of the area that was part of the great bowl which even at this point in time in two thousand and seven is a place which is so sparsely populated be it has so much potential for our future this wind farm empowers county is part of an effort that we have underway in our state or by the end of two thousand and eight we project that we will be producing over a thousand megawatts of power from wind in colorado that's equal to the amount of electricity produced by three coal fired power plants and we have been able to do that in a period of two years we planted the seeds for these kinds of projects in the two thousand and five energy policy act and in the energy bill which we passed earlier earlier this year which i hope we get to pass again and refurbish and make a lot stronger here in the next several days but the farm bill is also part of that two thousand and seven farm takes the next step by helping farmers and ranchers deploy renewable energy technologies that have been developed and lots of places around our country including the national renewable energy lab in golden colorado with the one point three billion dollars that this bill devotes to energy programs farmers will be able to apply for grants to develop bio refineries and to improve the handling harvest transport and storage of feedstock for bio fuels the bill includes tax credits for small w biofuel production and it stimulates research into the methods and technologies that will allow the most productive lands in the world to provide more and more of our energy the farm bill and title nine shows us how rural america will help us grow our way to energy independence mr president reducing our dependence on foreign oil will be the central security environmental security and economic security challenge for all of us in the coming decades it is also a tremendous opportunity the country that successfully replaces its imports of foreign oil with clean homegrown energy will reap competitive and technological advantages that will keep it out front in the world for decades to come mr president it is time to put the interests of rural america before the politics of obstructionism i urge my colleagues democrats and republicans here together to find a way forward in which we can narrow down the number of amendments have been filed in this legislation so that or the leadership of senator harkin and senator chambliss chambliss we can have an opportunity here to vote on a final farm bill as part of the christmas present that we should be delivering to the american people and it is my hope that as we move forward in that effort on the farm bill that we move lord with equal fervor and having the speak about that subject today and i will confess as i start that the old admonition never argue with some of that by saying by the barrel is something i should have learned long ago let me take issue with a company that buys ink by the tanker truck the washington post in this morning's editorial speaking of trade the washington post describes i think why there is not so much of a thoughtful debate about trade as there is a thoughtless debate about trade in this morning's washington post editorial they say this about trade as an attempt to criticize some of those who are running for president who are distancing themselves from the brand of free trade what the washington post says is that a candidate that said the following quote nafta was a mistake to the extent it did not deliver what we had hoped it would and that's why i call for a agreement is a mistake that's demagoguery but i don't know i don't quite understand the washington post the washington post says nasa did not cause the current u s trade deficit with mexico all really an interesting conclusion no facts to support that because there aren't any facts to support that conclusion i think i will show a chart that shows what has happened to our trade with mexico since nafta was signed the north american free trade agreement was signed and the evidence is pretty substantial about what happened with our trade between the united states and mexico just prior to negotiating a trade agreement with mexico we had a very small sir plus with the country of mexico one and a half  billion dollars now last year it went from a very small surplus to a sixty five billion dollar deficit and the washington post says about a candidate that said nafta was a mistake demagoguery i mean give us a break it's not demagoguery to suggest that something doesn't work when we've gone from a one and a half billion dollar trade surplus to a sixty five billion dollar deficit and the post also says that the agreements contributed marginally to the shifting of workers from some less competitive sectors to others that's a kind of using foreign language to describe what has really happened after  nafta the three largest imports from mexico to the united states are automobiles automobile parts and electronics such as the contention was made by those of supported nafta that this was only mean the migration of low skill low income workers to mexico it didn't happen quite that way automobiles automobile parts and electronics represent the product of high skilled labor in this country and those jobs have been lost i only wanted to point out that the washington post describe for us today why this debate has largely been thoughtless this debate about trade yes it's a global economy i understand it's a global economy there are many faces to the global to me some very attractive and some not so attractive i'm going to try to describe them both today the global economy has galloped forward at a very aggressive pace but the rules have not kept pace and so the result is we've got some very significant problems and  dislocations and we are drowning in trade debt in this country and i'm going to describe that what is before us is another free trade agreement this is called the free trade agreement with peru and let me say that i can count votes i understand what's going to happen in this chamber this chamber will support and vote for the free trade agreement with peru i have indicated previously and i maintain again today i am not going to vote for additional free trade agreements until there are benchmarks attached those agreements and accountability for those benchmarks that we had benchmarks with respect to the us mexico agreement that is nafta we wouldn't have gone from a one and a half billion dollar surplus to a sixty five billion dollar deficit we would have at some point said wait a second something is happening that is not right for our country but first of all i don't think we should be signing new trade agreements until we fix some of the fundamental problems in the old agreements number one number two i believe that the pr represents the expansion of a failed model it has failed before and will fail again and number three i don't think it contains what i know it doesn't contain any benchmarks or accountability or a mechanism for withdrawal should the trade agreement fail at least relative to what we expect the trade agreement to accomplish so i don't intend to support this trade agreement not because i don't support trade i support trade and plenty of i believe however it ought to be fair and the failed model that's been brought to us time and time again i will demonstrate today has failed this country it hasn't failed everybody but it has failed this country and is not in this country's best interest and this is the language i assume when the washington post w if they suggest that it is demagoguery for a candidate for president to say nafta was a mistake when all of the evidence demonstrates it was a mistake i assume that they may want to turn off their television sets when i'm speaking at this point because they will certainly consider that demagoguery it is however rather than a thoughtless debate it is a thoughtful debate from the standpoint of those of us that come to the floor of the senate and say we want trade we support trade we believe expanded trade is helpful to this country but we insist for a change that the model of a trade agreement be a model that is mutually beneficial and stands up for the interests of both sides to that agreement now that the agreement with peru by itself will not do damage to this country that's not what i allege today let me describe trade with china three hundred forty three billion dollars with mexico three hundred thirty two billion dollars japan one hundred twenty billion dollars peru nine billion dollars i don't allege that trade with peru which is about three tenths of one percent of our trade is going to be a serious problem because of the passage of a failed model we have very large trade deficit with china with japan with mexico with the european union with canada all of whom our major trading partners instead of doing something about those significant and growing problems china japan canada the european union mexico instead of doing something about that we bring the same failed model to the floor of the united states senate i recognize and admit that this model with respect to peru has labor standards in it that did not exist and environmental standards that did not exist in some other trade agreements i'll talk about that in a moment especially with respect to jordan but the fact is the foundation of this is the same failed model that we have seen in the now mr president i want to talk about that failed model i want to talk about the issue of china especially because when you talk about trade and we must talk about trade we have to talk about the five hundred pound gorilla here with respect to our trade problems mr president this represents what our trade with china looks like since one thousand nine hundred five through last year two thousand and six success now these red lines going down represent huge trade deficits anybody think that's a success i think it's a huge failure for our country to be so fundamentally out of balance in our trade relationship with china and it just continues and continues and continues now the question is what will we do about that well some of the cheerleaders for the free trade movement and the cheerleaders that would look at this would say well you need to understand something and obviously they would say senator dorgan does not understand it and here's what it is they said we have increased our annual exports to china by thirty nine billion dollars from two thousand two thousand six that's that that's what they would do they'd say look at this we've increased our exports by thirty nine billion dollars in just five and a half years they just won't tell you the rest of the story as paul harvey would suggest the rest of the story is yes we did increase our exports to china by thirty nine billion dollars but we increased our imports from china by a hundred eighty eight billion dollars isn't interesting the picture you get that is very different if you have both sides of the equation what will happen is those that support the free trade model who think it works who want to bury their head in the sand with respect to anything that represents something we should fix in our trade as they would only show you this only tell you this they will spread around thumbing their suspenders you know puffing on their cigars and we'll look at all this isn't this wonderful we had a a forty billion dollar increase in exports to the country of china in the last six years what do you think about that you think that's not successful we are dramatically increasing our exports to china how on earth can you suggest that that's not in this country's best interest they'd stop the story right there but if you pick up the story where it should be picked up to say yeah that's true we had almost a forty billion dollar increase in exports and good for us the problem is it was more than four times that amount an increase in import country which means that we had a net reduction in our trade relationship that is a net increase in our deficit with china of over one hundred forty billion dollars that's the rest of the story so for every six dollars of merchandise we buy from china the chinese buy one dollar of merchandise from us that's not me it's the beneficial trade and there are a lot of reasons for this surging trade deficit with china i might have the chart with china again the the the bar chart that shows the surging deficits there are many reasons for this but among them is that we have a pretty bankrupt trade agreement with china china is rampant with what is called intellectual property theft walk down the street in china and buy a brand new american movie cd piracy they manipulate their currency they have unfair barriers against u s exports they have an unfair relationship in which u s jobs go to china because of in many cases not all cases but in many cases sweatshop conditions in china and so we have these circumstances with china that contribute to this dramatic increase in the chinese t with china china has increasingly become a platform for manufacturing that used to occur in this country why because they're better manufacturers know it's because you can get things manufactured for a fraction of the price of manufacturing them in this country now mr president i indicated earlier about the situation with mexico i described the situation with china the tra deficit increases dramatically with china the trade deficit increases dramatically with mexico the same is true with canada the same is true with well with japan it has actually increased dramatically it's just always been large and has never changed because that's the way japan wants it in the wall street journal on october fourth of this year there was a very interesting story it said that in the headline quote republicans grow skeptical of free trade and the story described a poll now understand this is in the wall street journal that by a two to one margin republican voters believe free trade deals have been bad for our country's economy polled repub can voters agreed with the following statement foreign trade has been bad for the u s economy because imports from abroad every duce demand for american made goods cost jobs here at home and produced potentially unsafe products only thirty two percent of the polled republican voters agreed with the following statement foreign trade has been good for the u s economy because demand for u s products abroad as resulted in economic growth and jobs for americans here at home and provided more choices for consumers well this poll in the wall street journal suggests i think a dramatic change in the which in the way that americans view this free trade movement in december one thousand nine hundred nine the wall street journal only thirty one percent of republican voters thought free trade agreements would hurt our country but in this past months poll they found the number of republican voters went from thirty one percent to fifty nine percent these are republican voters and  that is where the substantial support has come from for these free trade agreements clearly the american people have seen the results of the free trade agreements they understand that these red lines these giant trade deficits aren't just red lines this isn't just some summer reading it represents lost jobs lost dreams it represents somebody coming home at night to their family to say honey i lost my job not because i'm a bad worker because i can't compete with twenty seven hour labor in shenzhen china so when nafta was debated in congress in the early one thousand nine hundred its proponents argued as i indicated earlier with respect to the mexican trade deficit that this could mean the u s deficit mexico the proponents argue that this would result in the creation of a couple of hundred thousand new jobs in the united states but it's widely acknowledged by any economist that knows anything that this didn't lead to the increase promise jobs the two hundred thousand jobs created and leave annually that was from a study by mr huff bauer and mr shot a couple of economists now i've indicated i've previously taught economics in college but i was able to overcome that experience half hour and shot gave us this this analysis of you know the best economists the analysis that we could find i guess and they said this will be a couple hundred thousand new jobs hundred seventy thousand new jobs by nine hundred ninety five and they rounded that up to two hundred thousand when it was sold to the congress we now know that at least four hundred twelve thousand jobs have been certified as lost due to nafta under just one program at the u s department of labor not many people know this but ten years after nafta had been approved i commissioned a study from the congressional research service which identifies the top one hundred companies that laid off u s workers as a result of nafta between hundred four and two thousand and two so when i asked the question the congressional research service tell us how many americans have lost their jobs due to nafta they went to the department of labor which has a program trade adjustment assistance it's a program that gives temporary benefits to those who are laid off as a result of nafta and this program requires companies to actually certify that they intended to eliminate u s jobs specifically because of nafta so the question of whether we've lost jobs due to nafta is here on this chart coming from the congressional research service that got the data from the u s department of labor and it tells you where these jobs came from where they were last vanity fair sixteen thousand jobs levi strauss fifteen thousand six hundred seventy six jobs these are certifications by the companies that they intend to lay off or did lay off these employees of nafta so you can just go down the list and this isn't me saying it these are the certifications they have made to the department of labor that these jobs are gone because of nafta and they want trade adjustment assistance for the workers that lost their jobs scarily lucent for the moon texas part of the loom underwear left i mean you know it's it's not that they've stopped needing or wearing underwear it's just they stop making america so afraid of the room was gone five thousand three hundred fifty two people that made underwear in this country lost their jobs that's certified by fruit of the loom to the labor department saying we lay them off so this is not a question of whether there has been a loss of jobs as a result of nafta just the top one hundred companies have certified to that the top one hundred companies themselves laid off two hundred one thousand s jobs due to nafta and if you look at all u s companies the total number of u s jobs certified as lost and nafta were four hundred twelve thousand and that's just under this program one program trade adjustment assistance i just want to focus on the top one hundred companies but we could have done all of them this is sufficient however to show you what has happened with respect to nafta some familiar products levi strauss i mean i don't know that there's anything more american than when a parent levi's right so we all buy levi's except that they don't make one pair of levis in america not one is it because we don't make good pockets we can't so good seems no not at all it's just that all those levis migrated outside of this country in search of cheap labor you know this company called nabisco you know the best score stands for national biscuit company nabisco is short for national biscuit company presumably nationalists in this country right except that the national biscuit company now belongs outside this country when it comes to making cookies and so fig newton cookies move america to mexico the national of companies big nose and cookies migrated to mexico is it because they can't shovel fake paste as effectively in new jersey as they can in mexico and no shoveling the fake page does the same all over the world issue if you can get somebody to shovel fig paste a whole lot less expensively in mexico than in this country and so the national biscuit company is no longer national at least with big noting cookies i mentioned fruit of the loom mattel  we hear a lot about mattel these days with toys from china they closed their last factory in the united states western kentucky plant to produce toys barbie playhouses and so on battery powered pickup trucks  toys again for thirty years they shifted production from the nine hundred eighty person plant in kentucky to factories in mexico john deere eleven hundred fifty workers on this  to mexico well we understand that the peru trade agreement is an agreement that is not going to threaten the economic interest of this country i don't assert that's the case i do assert however that it is a failed model and we've seen plenty of it and i have been on the floor of the senate many ok on many occasions saying why don't we fix that which is wrong in previous agreements before we bring new agreements before the senate but we never do that we just keep bringing new agreements to the united deal doesn't lose some labor protections that's true and that's a welcome development labor protections in the trade agreement don't mean very much if there's not the political will to enforce vigorously enforced when the deal was announced on may two thousand and seven the u s chamber issued a statement saying it had received assurances that the labor provisions could not be enforced we are encouraged let me quote we are encouraged by assurances that the labor physicians cannot be read to require compliance with aisle conventions that's from the president of the u s chamber of commerce he was saying i'm comfortable as he thinks these are going to work he was referring specifically to a promise made by the u s trade representative's at the prove grimmett wouldn't require that u s workers be assured the minimal labor rights guaranteed by the aisle that is the proven workers mr president if the chamber had been assured the agreement will not be enforced with respect to the rights for these workers you can bet that the labor for business won't be enforced at all even during the negotiation with the and the administration made it very plain it has no interest in having labor protections in the trade deal in fact in two thousand and five the president of peru offered to include in the text of the original agreement a commitment to to comply with the international labor organization standards for basic labor rights that came from the president proved saying we will do this in fact the u s trade embassadors office quickly rejected it they quickly said no they vowed not to include a commitment to labor standards in the free trade agreement it was only after the two thousand and six elections in which a number of very interesting people were elected to this body on these very issues standing up for american interests for the american economy and for the rights of american workers only then the u s trade representative reeling realizing these trade agreements would not move forward only then did they decide to budge but i think the true colors were demonstrated the year previous when the administration turned down the request or the offer by the president of peru it's clear to me there's no interest in enforcing these labor provisions and i've just suggested the evidence and that you know it's interesting the only other previous trade agreement that included labor provisions was jordan and then the jordan agreement and i give the previous administration some credit again for including a labor provision in the door jordan trade agreement but those provisions have not been adequately enforced and the result has been the proliferation of sweatshops in the country of jordan the only country with whom we have a free trade agreement that includes labor provisions now our trade balance when we signed a trade agreement with jordan we had a trade surplus of about two hundred forty three million dollars that disappeared very quickly which is the case with all of our trade agreements that surplus disappeared by two thousand two by two thousand and five that two hundred million plus surplus that turned to a six hundred quest million dollar deficit and our balance with jordan got every worse every year since the agreement was signed let me say that again our trade balance with jordan has deteriorated every single year since the trade agreement was signed and in may of this year the new york times exposed how the free trade agreement with the country of jordan has been used to create sweatshops all over jordan and it  turns out that when the agreement was signed in one thousand nine hundred nine this is the story in the new york times it's titled the ugly side of free trade sweatshops in jordan when the trade agreement was signed in  hundred nine there began to be imported into jordan guest workers guest workers from bangladesh from suva lanka and elsewhere to work in factories and plants in sweatshop conditions if you ever heard of a forty hour work shift no i'm not talking about a forty hour week i'm talking about a forty hour shift that's happening in some of these plants have you heard of people working one hundred two hundred ten hours a week every single week seven days a week with one day off every three or four months have you heard of people working for a month the second month the third month and never getting paid and when asked to be paid being beaten have you heard of people that that spend three minutes making a colorful bikini for a lingerie shop in this country that's going to be sold for fourteen dollars and they receive just a pittance working in sweatshop conditions the story about the international labor committee just described such a circumstance with a widely known american company mr president no one despite the fact labor provisions existed in the jordan free trade agreement no one has sought to enforce those agreements and those requirements of those labor provisions mr president the other reason that i do not support moving ahead with additional free trade agreements is there are no benchmarks it seems to me and it seems to a number of my colleagues who've legislation with me that we ought to have benchmarks whether it is with agreements with china agreements with canada or mexico or japan we ought to have benchmarks to decide what is the sult of what we have just done it doesn't matter to people in this chamber family that you were just drownding in trade debt it gets worse and worse and worse and the worse the trade that becomes the more that they come to the floor of the senate crowing about how wonderful it is we have proposals to have a free trade agreement coming behind the proof greenman one is with panama one is with colombia one is with south korea all of them by the way are negotiated under something called fast track where the legislative branch generously decided that it would wear a straight jacket and promise that if an administration and the administration negotiated trade agreements in secret behind closed doors where others weren't allowed to venture and they were brought back after an agreement was reached to this chamber the folks in this chamber who supported that would agree that they would be prevented from offering any amendments so before the action started they now fortunately we won't have additional agreements negotiated under those circumstances because the fast track authority ran out june thirtieth and it will not be restored but these agreements were negotiated  let me describe to you if i might and i could do this with with the two dozen or a hundred products but i will do it this way because it demonstrates the complete incompetence of our negotiators and the complete incompetence of our negotiated product this represents this chart represents automobiles from korea and with respect to our trade with korea and automobiles it's worth about nine billion dollars a year so a lot going on with respect to korean automobiles and if you drive down the streets in this country you'll find out a mobility coming from korea in fact in two thousand and six seven hundred forty thousand korean made cars were put on boats and shipped across the ocean to be sold in the united states seven hundred forty thousand korean made cars were shipped to the united states to be sold well guess how many u s cars we were able to ship to korea to sell in korea no not seven hundred forty thousand four thousand five hundred so here's the way our trade with korea looks all of this white represents korean cars put on a boat to be sold in america and this little car down here that's the number of cars we were able to sell in korea ninety nine percent of the cars driven on the streets are korea are korean made cars because that's the way they want it they don't want foreign cars in their country but they want to ship their cars to america even as they keep american cars are there marketplace so we just negotiated a free trade agreement with korea you think we fix this you think there's a ministration negotiating in secret behind closed doors that the  you can't do this it's not fair trade you're protecting your jobs in korea and injuring our jobs the united states we won't allow you to do it you think this is correct and absolutely not not a word just fine keep doing it doesn't matter it's about high finance it's about the free trade model it works just fine yes it does do wear blue suit take a shower at the start of the day but if you're going to plant someplace making a car taking a shower at the end of a day because you work hard it sure doesn't work well for you because you're the one lose your jobs down here let me describe one other thing we negotiated an agreement with china that's even more incompetent than this this is incompetent i don't know who negotiated but this is gross incompetence in my judgment in china we have a bilateral agreement automobiles let me tell you what it is and as i do i was in a foreign country the other day and i drove down the street and i saw chinese cars advertise that are not being now going to be sold in that country or the chinese cars are coming to this country the country of china is wrapping up a very large and very significant automobile export industry and they're coming and coming soon small cars cost very little presumably efficient but they're coming here's what our country said to the country of china with whom we have a very large trade deficit we'll make a deal with you it's true we have a big deficit with you but we will allow you to ship chinese cars into the american marketplace and we will charge a two and a half percent tariff on each of your cars and we agree with you that if we send american cars to be sold in china you may charge a twenty five percent tariff on our cars sold in your marketplace a country with whom we have a two hundred thirty billion dollar trade deficit we said it's ok if you charge a tariff that is ten times higher than our tariff on mutual automobile trade in confidence sure ignorance you bet certainly ignorant of our economic interests i'd like to find one person that stands up on the floor the united states senate and says i support that absolutely fair i want just one i don't need two or three people to stand up and say that i want just one that has the courage to say with respect to bilateral automobile trade with china bilateral automobile trade with south korea we think this is just dandy we think makes a lot of sense i use this only to say i could do this in a dozen instances i do it with respect to automobiles we don't produce automobiles in north dakota but i do it to say that the it's a big job creating industry you know the automobile production is a job creating industry we trade a lot of that to mexico and nafta and so now the largest import for mexico's automobiles but look at what we're just look at what we are doing with south korea and we have just negotiated a new agreement with them and have done nothing to solve the problem look at what we are doing with china in bilateral trade and we will see the results of that even as we now have the largest trade deficit in human history with china even as that exists it's going to get worse because we're going to have a substantial avalanche of imports of chinese are move bills into this country in circumstances of trade that are fundamentally unfair to this country and to this country's workers and let me come back to the point at which i started and it is the washington post editorial of toda i don't know how the washington post editorial writers would view this i assume that they would ignore it because we certainly can't defend it and that which is not defensible as those who choose to try to ignore it not me and as i started today by saying that the editorial in today's newspaper that says a candidate that says quote nafta was a mistake unquote is engaged in