Posted on 06/07/2004 10:19:51 PM PDT by Coleus
No. 703 Session of 2004
INTRODUCED BY CLYMER, ARGALL, ARMSTRONG, BELFANTI, CORRIGAN,
CRAHALLA, DALEY, DeLUCA, DiGIROLAMO, FABRIZIO, GEORGE,
GODSHALL, GOOD, HARRIS, HERSHEY, HESS, JAMES, KELLER, KOTIK,
LEH, LEVDANSKY, MARSICO, McGEEHAN, McILHATTAN, MUNDY, MUSTIO,
PALLONE, PISTELLA, READSHAW, ROHRER, SCAVELLO, SOLOBAY,
STERN, E. Z. TAYLOR, WILT, WOJNAROSKI, FREEMAN AND BASTIAN,
APRIL 15, 2004
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, APRIL 15, 2004
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
1 Urging the Congress of the United States to place a moratorium 2 on new free trade agreements, to investigate and review 3 current free trade agreements and policies of the United 4 States, to investigate and review participation of the United 5 States with international trade organizations and to ensure 6 that such agreements, policies and participation are in the 7 best interests of the citizens of the Commonwealth of 8 Pennsylvania and the United States.
9 WHEREAS, Since 1990 the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has lost 10 228,300 manufacturing jobs, half of them between 2001 and 2003; 11 and
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WHEREAS, Manufacturing has a spin-off effect of three to
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seven jobs created for each manufacturing job; and
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WHEREAS, Free trade agreements and policies of the United
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States with other nations have severely impacted American
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manufacturing industries and the workers they employ; and
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WHEREAS, Participation by the United States in international
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trade organizations may imperil the success of American 1 manufacturing; and
2 WHEREAS, Foreign nations, such as China, have engaged in a 3 wide range of unfair trading practices, including the 4 manipulation of currency, subsidizing industries and dumping 5 below-cost subsidized products into the United States market; 6 and
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WHEREAS, United States manufacturers cannot compete with
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foreign companies who pay a small fraction of the salaries paid
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to United States manufacturing employees, provide no health
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benefits to their workers, do not have to comply with any
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governmental requirements for the safety of their employees or
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for the protection of the environment, pay no pensions and are
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government subsidized; and
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WHEREAS, The citizens of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania are
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being harmfully impacted by trade agreements and policies
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between the United States and foreign nations, resulting in the
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closing of many of our manufacturing industries, negatively
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impacting our families, our communities and the Commonwealth at
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large when thousands of workers lose their jobs; therefore be it
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RESOLVED (the Senate concurring), That the General Assembly
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of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania urge the Congress of the
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United States to place a moratorium on all new trade agreements,
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to investigate and review all current free trade agreements and
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policies of the United States, to investigate and review
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participation of the United States in international trade
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organizations, and to ensure that such agreements, policies and
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participation are in the best interests of the citizens of the
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Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the United States; and be it
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further
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RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to
20040H0703R3778 - 2 -
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the President and Congress of the United States, to the
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presiding officers of each house of Congress and to each member
3
of Congress from Pennsylvania.Current PN: 3778 Text As Printed (PDF)How to Read a Bill About PDF Documents
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Thanks for posting. This resolution can be a model for other states.
Spiffed it up a bit:
Urging the Congress of the United States to place a moratorium on new free trade agreements, to investigate and review current free trade agreements and policies of the United States, to investigate and review participation of the United States with international trade organizations and to ensure that such agreements, policies and participation are in the best interests of the citizens of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the United States.
WHEREAS, Since 1990 the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has lost 228,300 manufacturing jobs, half of them between 2001 and 2003; and
WHEREAS, Manufacturing has a spin-off effect of three to seven jobs created for each manufacturing job; and
WHEREAS, Free trade agreements and policies of the United States with other nations have severely impacted American manufacturing industries and the workers they employ; and
WHEREAS, Participation by the United States in international trade organizations may imperil the success of American manufacturing; and
WHEREAS, Foreign nations, such as China, have engaged in a 3 wide range of unfair trading practices, including the manipulation of currency, subsidizing industries and dumping 5 below-cost subsidized products into the United States market; and
WHEREAS, United States manufacturers cannot compete with foreign companies who pay a small fraction of the salaries paid to United States manufacturing employees, provide no health benefits to their workers, do not have to comply with any
governmental requirements for the safety of their employees or for the protection of the environment, pay no pensions and are government subsidized; and
WHEREAS, The citizens of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania are being harmfully impacted by trade agreements and policies
between the United States and foreign nations, resulting in the closing of many of our manufacturing industries, negatively impacting our families, our communities and the Commonwealth at large when thousands of workers lose their jobs; therefore be it
RESOLVED (the Senate concurring), That the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania urge the Congress of the
United States to place a moratorium on all new trade agreements, to investigate and review all current free trade agreements and policies of the United States, to investigate and review participation of the United States in international trade organizations, and to ensure that such agreements, policies and participation are in the best interests of the citizens of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the United States; and be it further
RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the President and Congress of the United States, to the presiding officers of each house of Congress and to each member of Congress from Pennsylvania.
Bill Information
Regular Session 2003-2004
House Resolution 703
Surprisingly, it's a bi-partisan bill. 18 Dems and 20 Republicans. hopefully it'll get past our Dem Governor
I lost interest here.
WHEREAS, Since 1990 the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has lost 228,300 manufacturing jobs, half of them between 2001 and 2003; and
I knew for certain it was a democrat hit piece here and stopped reading.
The concept might be ok but the bill needs to be re-written.
Thanks for the Info...
BOTH Bush AND Kerry are for Offshoring...Kerry said so to the Wall Street Journal in his most recent Flip [or was that a Flop?].
This so-called Free Trade Agreement would FORBID States to control Offshoring of State Contracting...
Someone has to get the attention of BOTH Parties that this is UNACCEPTABLE!!!
Thanks to Pennsylvania for the start!!!
Thanks, I didn't realize using html messed it up so much.
Since the subjects of Reagan and NAFTA are timely I spent time researching it. Not good.
I found that more critical analysts have been proved correct. NAFTA benefits large corporations at the expense of America as a whole. GATT supplemented NAFTA and now the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas will tie us to 30-some odd more countries.
Super-NAFTA, er, FTAA seems to allow corporations to sue governments for perceived lost profits. Do we want to institutionalize the Savings & Loan Bailout? Can you afford money from your taxes going to assuage greedy bastards because their profit margins slipped?
FTAA will also remove or critically hamper national standards for professionals. That means what passes for a doctor in Paraguay may be awaiting your next medical problem. Just put the lime in the coconut...
If you think I'm over the top just recall how we were told NAFTA would reduce illegal immigration to a trickle and practically eliminate drug smuggling. Exactly the opposite has occurred. How many times should we "buy the Brooklyn Bridge"?
What Presidents and Representatives take too lightly is the fact that every treaty enacted is a de facto extension of our Constitution. Legal scholars maintain that when a treaty has a conflict with the Constitution the treaty supersedes it.
Fair Trade helped see this nation to its status as a world power. Free Trade is reducing the populace to pauperhood while eroding our sovereignty just so the fat can get fatter.
Which legal scholars would these be?
I wonder what country would be first in line to sue us?
"Mexican trucks make about 4.5 million border crossings each year, according to the U.S. government. Mexico has said it has suffered billions of dollars in economic damages from the moratorium."
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=5361969
Good call and I thank you for it. That's what I get for listening to some "progressive" legal subversive yammering on C-SPAN when I should have been watching Fox News.
The following is from the Constitution.Org site regarding treaties.
"In addition to the written document and the Common Law, the Constitution also includes Treaties, which, although they are valid only insofar as they are not in conflict with the written Constitution, are superior to both the Common Law and to State constitutions and laws, to the extent that those might be in conflict with the Treaties. Thus, some of the Treaties that have been adopted extend and clarify some of the rights, powers, and duties provided in the written Constitution. For example, that is how "federal ground" is extended to include coastal waters out to a certain distance from shore, and the grounds of U.S. embassies abroad, and how the rights of the people are amplified by the Charter of the United Nations and by various bilateral and multilateral Treaties that extend civil and commercial rights to U.S. citizens abroad."
I was wrong and am extremely glad to be so. I should have known they couldn't put one over on the founders without drastic measures.
Not that the villains aren't trying.
The FTAA links are great......thanks for the post.
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