May 14, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 80 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Pages H3773-H3774]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     PROTECTING LABOR IN NAFTA 2.0

  (Ms. KAPTUR asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to voice my grave concerns 
surrounding the new NAFTA whose new rebranding as the USMCA masks its 
real content.
  The original NAFTA devastated the industrial Midwest and communities 
from coast to coast. Manufacturing communities were hollowed out. 
Factories closed. Jobs were outsourced to

[[Page H3774]]

Mexico for cheap labor. Mexico's peasants were uprooted. Plant shutdown 
after plant shutdown saw U.S. wages and benefits plummet.
  President Trump hit a nerve with these communities with his lofty 
promises, promises of which we should all remain skeptical, especially 
in the trade arena.
  We heard these hollow promises 25 years ago to pass the original 
NAFTA. Now NAFTA 2.0 stands to make many of the same mistakes based on 
false promises of returning quality jobs with life-sustaining wages.
  This won't happen without true labor enforcement, but the current 
text of NAFTA 2.0 falls far short of that target. That is why I plan to 
introduce legislation to set the mark on labor enforcement on this 
continent under NAFTA 2.0 and any future agreement. The workers of this 
continent deserve no less. We respect their dignity.

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