Date: 2007-09-06
Speaker: TIM MURPHY (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Pennsylvania

Mr. Speaker. what I am about to say iounced may not be politically correct and it may not make folks in the White laid on House or some of my colleagues in Congress happy. but every time I go home to my district. people ask me. when are we going to get serious about dealing with China? N For a long time. China has acted rnia. Mr. more like an enemy than a friend. Over 2007 I and over again. they have sold our famrior obli- ilies harmful and contaminated products. they have spied on us. and now we RECORD find out they are shipping weapons to voting. I our enemies in the Middle East to kill our soldiers. This is not the behavior of the an ally. but the behavior of an enemy. ing th They hurt our children. We have found toys containing lead .paint and ng to the bibs and vinyl lunch boxes containing lead. Just this Wednesday. toy manung to the facturer Mattel announced it is recalling 700.000 Chinesemade toys because ng to the they contain excessive amounts of lead paint. This is the third recall of Ching to the nesemade toys by the company in the past month. e of H.R. On August 1. Mattels FisherPrice announced it -was recalling 1.5 million preschool toys. including nearly 1 million in the U.S. And then on August 14. the company announced a worldwide recall of 19 million toys. We all know the dangers caused by lead paint. which is why it is not used in Americanmade toys or homes. As a child psychologist. I can tell you firsthand exposure to lead paint can lead to attention deficit disorders. brain damage and medical ailments in children and in later life. China has continuously sent us products that are harmful to our families. and even our pets. Their harmful products sold to Americans include contaminated pet foods. used chop sticks. tires that have caused fatal accidents. diapers containing a fungus. lipstick containing carcinogens. juices with unsafe color additives. baby bottles with ingredients that can alter a childs hormones. pacifiers containing chemicals linked to cancer. and teething rings with toxic chemicals. In addition. China has systematically manipulated its currency to create an unfair trade advantage over the United States and other global competitors. They have repeatedly allowed their workers to counterfeit American products and steal our patents. costing us billions of dollars of trade each year. thus destroying American manufacturing jobs. They have built power plants with cheaper outdated technology. causing excessive pollution and environmental hazards throughout the world. including the United States. and they have stolen national secrets from our U.S. energy labs. Congress and the White House have allowed China to continue its blatant disregard for our country. and as a result. China has become more and more emboldened. They have now begun to directly and indirectly attack our military. actions that have taken the lives of American soldiers.. Beijing appears to be the culprit of a cyberattack launched against the Pentagon this past June. While this attack was not with missiles or guns. it is nonetheless an attack on our sovereignty that should not be unchecked. Now we learn that China is supplying our enemies with weapons and ammunition being used to kill our soldiers. These weapons have included largecaliber sniper rifles. rocketpropelled grenades. improvised explosive devices. or IEDs. and shoulderfired rockets. Millions of rounds of ammunition have also been linked to China. And many of these weapons are finding their way into the hands of the Taliban and insurgents in Iran. As U.S.. Iraqi. and coalition forces try to prevent weapons from coming into Iraq. China has been directly aiding and abetting our enemies. For far too long. China has been harming our children. our families. and our economy. Now they are killing our soldiers. Well. enough is enough. China must be held accountable. If Congress cant act. the American people can. and Americans are saying no to China. From our food. to our clothes. to household goods. Americans are saying they will stop buying Chinese products. Unless China stops its practices that hurt Americans. kill our soldiers and kill our jobs. I believe the American people will continue to stop buying Chinesemade goods. But Congress must also demand that if China does not stop these practices that hurt our soldiers and hurt our citizens. Congress. too. must act. and do so quickly.