IV 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 977 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that rebate checks 

would better stimulate the economy if spent on American-made products 

and services from American-owned companies. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 12, 2008 

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa (for himself, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Ms. 

SUTTON, Mr. WELCH of Vermont, Mr. BOSWELL, Mrs. BOYDA of Kansas, Mr. ALTMIRE, Mr. KAGEN, Mr. WALZ of Minnesota, Ms. KAPTUR, 

Mr. ARCURI, Mr. HARE, Mr. LOEBSACK, Mr. WILSON of Ohio, Mr. OBEY, 

Mr. MICHAUD, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. SHULER, Mr. KLEIN of Florida, and 

Mr. MANZULLO) submitted the following resolution; which was referred 

to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 

rebate checks would better stimulate the economy if 

spent on American-made products and services from 

American-owned companies. 

Whereas many economists believe the economy of the United 

States is entering a recession; 

Whereas the economy lost 17,000 jobs in January 2008 and 

191,000 in 2007; 

Whereas the manufacturing sector lost 269,000 jobs over the 

past 12 months and 28,000 jobs in January 2008 alone; 


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Whereas manufacturing employment now accounts for less 

than 10 percent of the job market for the first time since 

data began being collected in the 1930s; 

Whereas in January 2008, 18.3 percent of those unemployed 

had been out of work for 27 weeks or longer, up from 

16.2 percent a year earlier; 

Whereas manufactured goods imported from developing countries have grown from just 2.5 percent of the gross domestic product in 1990 to 6 percent in 2006; 

Whereas annually, total housing starts decreased in 2007 to 

1,353,700, which is a 24.8 percent decrease from the 

2006 estimate of 1,800,900; 

Whereas Congress and the President responded to the potential recession by passing into law a bipartisan stimulus 

package that provides rebate checks of up to $600 per 

individual and $1,200 per married couple, plus an additional $300 per child; 

Whereas the stimulus legislation will put money back into the 

hands of low-income and middle-income Americans, those 

who need it most; 

Whereas the stimulus legislation will be most effective if the 

rebate checks are spent on American-made goods and 

services from American-owned companies; 

Whereas American-made goods are the best in the world; 

Whereas every dollar from the stimulus package spent on an 

American-made good or service, rather than a foreignmade good or service, will result in more than a dollar 

increase in the short-term gross domestic product; 

Whereas if rebate checks are spent on American-made products and services from American-owned companies, an 


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additional $10,000,000,000 will be infused into the economy; 

Whereas the annual trade deficit has grown to the 

$700,000,000,000 range in the past decade, up from the 

$100,000,000,000 range in the early 1990s; 

Whereas buying American-made goods would not add to the 

size of the growing trade deficit, which many economists 

contend is unreasonably large; 

Whereas there have been concerns about the safety of imported goods, spurred by the fact that 60 percent of 

product recalls in the past year involved Chinese-made 

toys, food ingredients, and other products; and 

Whereas many countries do not follow the same environmental, labor, and human rights standards of the United 

States, putting American workers and companies at a 

competitive disadvantage: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives encour2 ages Americans to use their rebate checks from the stim3 ulus package to purchase American-made goods and serv4 ices from American-owned companies. 

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