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 Kan-
sas, 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; 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
02:59 Feb 13, 2008
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR977.IH
HR977
bajohnson on PROD1PC77 with BILLS
•HRES 977 IH 
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 coun-
tries have grown from just 2.5 percent of the gross do-
mestic 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 poten-
tial 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 addi-
tional $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 foreign- 
made 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 prod-
ucts and services from American-owned companies, an 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
02:59 Feb 13, 2008
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR977.IH
HR977
bajohnson on PROD1PC77 with BILLS
•HRES 977 IH 
additional $10,000,000,000 will be infused into the econ-
omy; 
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 im-
ported 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 environ-
mental, labor, and human rights standards of the United 
States, putting American workers and companies at a 
competitive disadvantage: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives encour-
ages Americans to use their rebate checks from the stim-
ulus package to purchase American-made goods and serv-
ices from American-owned companies. 
Æ 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
02:59 Feb 13, 2008
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\HR977.IH
HR977
bajohnson on PROD1PC77 with BILLS