February 08, 2005
“I would like to thank my colleagues, especially Congressman Sanders and Congressman DeFazio, for leading us in the fight to protect American workers against unfair trade policies.
“Five years ago, I joined 196 of my colleagues in the House to vote against granting permanent normal trade relations to China. Since then, we have lost more than 2.7 million manufacturing and technology jobs.
“These jobs have been outsourced by corporations that don’t care about people but only about filling their coffers. Yes, corporate greed is alive and well in this country and it is costing real people real jobs right here at home.
“PNTR is devastating to America’s middle and working class families – technological, textile, and steel manufacturing jobs are being lost.
“We need to encourage American companies to create jobs here, not make it easier for them to export work opportunities to other countries.
“This lopsided free trade policy is one of the greatest “sell-outs” that this country has imposed on American workers.
“The time is long overdue to repeal PNTR and to take a critical and honest look at all free trade agreements that are being negotiated, as we speak.
“I look forward to working with my colleagues to do exactly that.”
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Rep. Barbara Lee Calls for Repeal of PNTR with China
(Washington, DC) – Representative Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) attended a press conference to announce the introduction of legislation to repeal permanent normal trade relation (PNTR) with China. Rep. Lee is a cosponsor of the bill and offered the following statement:“I would like to thank my colleagues, especially Congressman Sanders and Congressman DeFazio, for leading us in the fight to protect American workers against unfair trade policies.
“Five years ago, I joined 196 of my colleagues in the House to vote against granting permanent normal trade relations to China. Since then, we have lost more than 2.7 million manufacturing and technology jobs.
“These jobs have been outsourced by corporations that don’t care about people but only about filling their coffers. Yes, corporate greed is alive and well in this country and it is costing real people real jobs right here at home.
“PNTR is devastating to America’s middle and working class families – technological, textile, and steel manufacturing jobs are being lost.
“We need to encourage American companies to create jobs here, not make it easier for them to export work opportunities to other countries.
“This lopsided free trade policy is one of the greatest “sell-outs” that this country has imposed on American workers.
“The time is long overdue to repeal PNTR and to take a critical and honest look at all free trade agreements that are being negotiated, as we speak.
“I look forward to working with my colleagues to do exactly that.”
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