Mitch McConnell Creates Jobs... Overseas . The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee began running a new television ad today highlighting Mitch McConnell’s support for policies that send jobs overseas. Since 2001, Kentucky has lost nearly 70,000 manufacturing jobs on McConnell’s watch as McConnell voted for tax breaks for companies that shipped Kentucky jobs out of the country. “Kentuckians are worried enough about job security without Mitch McConnell encouraging companies to ship jobs overseas,” DSCC spokesman Matthew Miller said. “The CEOs and their lobbyists may want Mitch McConnell to reward them for sending jobs out of the country, but for Kentuckians that’s a fireable offense.” Narrator: Mitch McConnell says he’s created jobs. Where? McConnell: “We Created 5.7 Million New Jobs.” On Face the Nation in 2006, McConnell said “The economy is in good shape. The unemployment rate in America is lower now than it was in the decade of the 60s, the 70s, 80s, 90s. Weve created 5.7 Million new jobs in the last three years. Thats more than Japan and all the European Union combined. Look, this administration has been extremely successful. Were going to have to remind people in this fall election of what weve done and what [Democrats] would do if they were in the majority.” [McConnell on Face the Nation – 5:48, 9/3/06] McConnell Said He Helped “Secure Good Jobs” for Kentucky. In an op-ed in the Herald Leader, McConnell wrote “I will not apologize for helping to secure good jobs for the people of Kentucky.” [Herald Leader, 11/5/07] McConnell Credited Bush Tax Cuts For Millions of Jobs Created. In an op-ed in the Union Leader with Sen. Judd Gregg, McConnell credited Bush’s tax cuts with creating millions of jobs. Wrote McConnell, “Our economic success over the past several years only serves to underscore what a missed opportunity this is. Pro-growth tax policies enacted in 2001 and 2003 turned the economy around, generating five consecutive years of growth, more than 7 million new jobs, a low unemployment rate of 4.5 percent, and federal revenues that have outpaced CBO and Office of Management and Budget projections by nearly $300 billion. Tax hikes and massive new spending will only reverse those trends.” [Union Leader, 3/23/07] Narrator: McConnell supported unfair trade deals Super: Mitch McConnell Unfair trade deals. Source: Vote 395, 11/20/93; Vote 251, 9/19/00; Vote 170, 6/30/05 McConnell Voted for NAFTA. McConnell voted for NAFTA in 1993 and later said, “I was a vocal supporter of NAFTA and GATT, think were doing the right thing in both those areas.” [Vote 395, 11/20/93; McConnell News Conference, 12/12/94] McConnell Twice Voted for CAFTA. In June 2005, McConnell voted twice in favor of the Central American Free Trade Agreement between the U.S. and Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. [Vote 169, 6/29/05; Vote 170, 6/30/05] McConnell Voted For Most Favored Nation Status For China. According to the Washington Post, the McConnell voted “to normalize trade relations with China,” a vote that “sets the stage for Chinas accession to the World Trade Organization, possibly before the end of the year, as those advocating increased engagement with the communist giant overwhelmed critics who argued that the trade deal is an abandonment of democratic principles in the name of corporate profits.” According to the Post’s story, the trade deficit with China the year before the deal was $68 billion . It grew to $256.3 billion by 2007, according to the Economic Policy Institute. [Vote 251, 9/19/00; Washington Post, 9/20/00; Economic Policy Institute, 2/15/08] McConnell is an “Enthusiastic Supporter” Of China Trade. In a 2000 interview, McConnell said, “Im an enthusiastic supporter of permanent normal trade relations with China.” [CNN, 5/28/00] McConnell Argued Outsourcing Was “Miniscule.” In March 2004, McConnell argued that outsourced jobs were miniscule compared to the number of Kentucky jobs brought by foreign companies. McConnell said, “I cant give you the exact figure of what may have been outsourced overseas, but everybody Ive talked to thinks that it is a minuscule percentage compared to whats been insourced into the United States.” [FDCH Political Transcripts, 3/9/04] McConnell and His Wife Both Downplay Effects of Outsourcing. In 2006, Chao said that the impact of outsourcing jobs to foreign countries was small considering how many workers are in America. In 2004, McConnell also argued on the Senate floor that more jobs were being insourced than outsourced. [Courier-Journal, 10/20/06; Los Angeles Times, 5/2/04] Narrator: and tax breaks for companies that send our jobs overseas. Super: Mitch McConnell Tax breaks for companies that send our jobs overseas. Source: Vote 63, 3/17/05; Vote 83, 5/5/04 McConnell Voted To Maintain The Deferral Tax Subsidy For Companies That Offshore Manufacturing. In 2004 and 2005, McConnell voted twice in opposition to amendments that would repeal the deferral tax subsidy for companies that outsource production of goods for sale in the U.S. market. In 2005, Senator McConnell voted against a Dorgan (D-ND) amendment that would “repeal the tax subsidy for certain domestic companies which move manufacturing operations and American jobs offshore.” In 2004, McConnell voted to table, effectively killing, an amendment that would “partially repeal a tax deferral regulation for U.S. multinational companies by requiring those companies to pay federal income taxes on foreign factories when goods are reimported back into the United States,” according to CQ. [Vote 63, 3/17/05; CQ Floor Votes, 3/17/05; Vote 83, 5/5/04; CQ Floor Votes, 5/5/04] ◾Vote “Upheld A Subsidy In The Tax Code” For Companies That Offshore Manufacturing, Then Sell The Product Back The U.S. As described by the Kansas City Star, McConnell and a majority of Senators “upheld a subsidy in the tax code that enables U.S. corporations to defer taxes on profits resulting from sales by foreign subsidiaries in the United States.” The Dorgan amendment, which McConnell voted to kill, “sought to end deferral in cases where a company moves operations overseas, makes the same product, then sells the product in the United States just as it did before going offshore.” The Kansas City Star was referring to Sen. Dorgan’s 2004 amendment to the corporate tax bill. [Kansas City Star, 5/8/04] Narrator: Fulton County lost over 300 automotive jobs to Mexico. Super: Fulton County: 300 jobs to Mexico. Source: Knight-Ridder News, 4/25/04 Dura Automotive: 320 Jobs to Mexico. According to Knight-Ridder, “At Denos Barbecue in Fulton, proprietor and customers talk about the good times before 320-job Dura Automotive Systems shut down Jan. 30, robbing their town and surrounding Fulton County of their largest employer. “They decided they could save $5 million by putting the people on the street and sending labor to Mexico,” said restaurant operator Henry (Deno) Minor, 50, an 18-year Dura worker and president of the plant union. “Its a sad thing about corporate greed in this world.”…Minor, the last hourly worker out the door, said the employees offered to forgo raises and pay more for their insurance, but the company opted to shift production largely to Mexico, where wages are cheap.” [Knight-Ridder News, 4/25/04] Dura’s Website Shows Two Locations In Mexico, Zero In Kentucky. An interactive map on the website for Dura Automotive shows two locations in Mexico, one in Queretaro, and another in Matamoros. There are no locations in Kentucky on the map. [Dura Automotive website, accessed 10/13/08] Narrator: Casey County? Nine hundred apparel jobs to Honduras. Super: Casey County: 900 jobs to Honduras. Source: Courier-Journal, 6/19/05 OshKosh B’Gosh: 900 Jobs To Honduras. According to the Courier-Journal, “When apparel maker Oshkosh BGosh sent nearly 1,000 jobs out of Casey County during the 1990s for cheaper pastures in Honduras, the county was left with a hole in its economy from which its still trying to recover. “I can say right now that (globalization) is definitely a minus for this area,” said Arlen Sanders, economic- development director for Casey County and Liberty, its county seat. “We have about 7,000 in the work force here, and we have around 3,000 leave every day to go into places like Danville and Campbellsville and Somerset for jobs.” That much commuting has a ripple effect, Sanders said. “When they buy their groceries, their gas, their supplies, usually they buy them there before they come home,” Sanders said. “It does have that indirect effect” on Caseys economy. Sanders said the county was able to persuade Oshkosh to turn its manufacturing facility into a distribution center, but the company now employs only 100 people there, Sanders said. “We had the largest Oshkosh plant here in the United States,” he said. “I have a real concern about what theyve done to American jobs by exporting them overseas.”“ [Courier-Journal, 6/19/05] Narrator: And thirty-three thousand Kentucky jobs lost to China. Super: Kentucky: 33,000 jobs to China Source: Economic Policy Institute: The China trade toll, 7/30/08 Free Trade With China Cost Kentucky 33,400 Jobs, Nearly 2% of Workforce. According to a study by the Economic Policy Institute, “the growth of U.S. trade with China since China entered the World Trade Organization in 2001 has had a devastating effect on U.S. workers and the domestic economy.” The study shows that between 2001 and 2006, Kentucky lost 28,100 jobs. Between 2006 and 2007, the state lost another 5,300 jobs. These losses amounted to 1.85% of the state’s total employment base. [Economic Policy Institute: The China trade toll, 7/30/08] Narrator: Mitch McConnell. He created jobs alright, just not here. Super: Mitch McConnell created jobs, just not in Kentucky Kentucky Has Lost Nearly 70,000 Manufacturing Jobs Since 2001. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in January of 2001, Kentucky had 318,100 manufacturing jobs, compared to 250,500 in January of 2008, a difference of 67,600. [Bureau of Labor Statistics Regional and State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) News Release, 01/01; Regional and State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) News Release, 01/08] Globalization Has “Ravaged” KY’s Apparel Industry, A “Staple Employer.” According to the Courier Journal, “the same global economy that has boosted exports also has ravaged the states apparel industry, a stable employer in some of the poorest rural regions for decades. Thousands of other jobs have been outsourced across the globe - further reducing job options in both states for everyone from software engineers to reservations clerks. Most of the 24,000 apparel industry jobs to leave Kentucky since 1991 also have gone overseas. Fewer than 9,000 remain in the state.” [Courier-Journal, 6/19/05] Headline: Kentucky’s Clothing Industry Unravels; Jobs Are Shipped Overseas For Cheaper Labor. According to the Herald-Leader, “The number of jobs at clothing factories in Kentucky has plummeted as companies have moved production to other countries where labor costs are far lower, or have consolidated operations at other U.S. facilities. The announcement last week that Jockey International would close its last three plants in Kentucky, cutting a total of 440 jobs in Carlisle, Mount Sterling and Maysville, was the latest example of the long downward spiral of the apparel and textile industries in the state. There were 32,200 people employed in apparel manufacturing in Kentucky in 1990; by 2003, that number had plunged by more than 70 percent to 8,900, said Carlos Craycraft, labor market analyst for the state Department for Employment Services.” [Herald-Leader, 3/7/04] Kentucky Lost Over 14,700 Jobs Because of NAFTA, Nearly 1% of Total Workforce. According to a study by the Economic Policy Institute, Kentucky lost 14,798 jobs from 1993 to 2004, or 0.82% of its total employment as a result of the agreement. Kentucky lost the 15th largest portion of it’s workforce among the 50 states. [Employment Policy Institute: NAFTA’s Cautionary Tale, 7/20/05]
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 14:51:02 +0000
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