quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. i appreciate -- appreciate the presiding officer's comments earlier in support of the currency exchange rate oversight act of 2011. the presiding officer and i both democrats joined by five republicans and three other democrats, were the prime sponsors of the currency

exchange rate oversight act of 2011. it passed last -- the motion to proceed -- we have rules in the senate that are sometimes a bit unpen trafnlt but the motion to proceed passed last night with 79 votes out of 98. so there's clear interest in this body debating one of the most important jobs bills that we've seen in front of us in our five years in the senate. almost five years in the senate. i think i've never seen a bill passed that was this -- i've not seen in my time here a jobs bill passed this overwhelmingly, this bipartisanly that was this important for putting people back to work. and let me sort of expand on that. first of all this currency exchange rate oversight act of then has broad support from business and labor. it creates jobs without spending taxpayer dollars. in fact, this legislation raises revenue and reduces our deficit clearly because when people go back to work, people that are now on unemployment benefits,

sometimes receiving food stamps, sometimes getting other subsidies, maybe trade adjustment assistance, which the presiding officer has been so involved in, instead people going back to work will be paying taxes and not be the beneficiaries of those. so it's a plus both ways in terms of reducing our government budget deficit. most importantly it's a response to an normal problem enormous economic threat brought on by the chinese party government. senators stabenow, burr, hagan and collins and i have been working closely to bring this bill to the floor. i thank the majority leader who usually sits at this desk for bringing this bill to the floor to respond to, say it pure and simple respond to china's protectionist trade policies. this isn't the u.s. turning inward and pointing fingers at other countries. this is a response to chinese protectionism, to chinese

economic policies and trade policies that have been unfair when the chinese have cheated and that cost us, america jobs. we know when we lose, when a factory closes, we've got 50,000 -- senator sanders said earlier today we've had 50,000 factories close in this country in the last decade or so. not all because of china. i don't blame them nearly for all of that. but when a factory closes we know what it does to a community whether it's in harrisburg, whether it's in eerie cleveland, akron or canton -plt i'm encouraged by my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who support this bill and see how china's protectionist trade policies cost america jobs. we all know the problem. for years china subsidized exports by adopting artificial manipulated exchange rates not based on market forces. as a result, china's export to the united states remain cheap. our exports to china remain more

expensive. in other words because they cheat on their currency, a product made in wuhan and sold in lima or dayton, ohio, will be cheaper because they have subsidized their production by weakening their currency. at the same time if a company in lima or dayton, ohio, tries to sell into china the cost of that item is 25% more because china has gamed the currency system. so by keeping the value of the r.m.b. or yuan, by keeping it artificially low china if i can say incentivizes corporations to ship production there. this continued evaluation, i use the percentage 25%. some economists say it may be as high as 40% but clearly it's in

that range. they are cheating, they are gaming the system 25% to 40%. think about it in pennsylvania and ohio, two states that have a lot in common. think about a producer, a company, think of two gas stations on opposite corners one pwaoeuz its oil -- buys its oil 25% or 30% or 40% less expensively, pays a lower price than the competitor across the street. guess what's going to happen? the competitor can't get the break and the subsidy is going to go out of business pretty quickly. it's that if phenomenon that caused serious harm to the u.s. economy and cost american jobs. in 1993 the chinese currency, the r.m.b., was valued at approximately 5.5 to one u.s. dollar. from -- it can mean one of two

things huge coincidence or blatant manipulation. our trade with china in 1993 was about $30 billion in that range. today we run a deficit almost eight, nine, ten times that of $270 billion. bilateral deficit, just our relationship with the chinese. according to a recent economic policy institute report, since china joined the w.p.o., the world trade organization, in 2001 2 point million jobs have been lost in the u.s. as a result of the deficit. that's hundreds of thousands in my state. it's tens of thousands in states as small as west virginia. it's hundreds of thousands in states as large as pennsylvania. currency manipulation is not the only reason china enjoys enormous trade surplus but it's a big part of the region. from 2005 to the middle of 2008 we started to fight back and we're headed in the right

direction however slowly. the senate overwhelmingly spourtd a measure offered by -- supported a measure offered by new york democrat senator schumer and south carolina senator senator graham that would put tariffs on chinese imports if the government did not let its currency appreciate. in other words to take away, tall did was wipe clean -- all it did was wipe clean the advantage that china had created by manipulating its currency. that bill passed the senate, but it did not pass the house. it was never signed by the president. what it did do was get china's attention. beginning in 2005 china began to do a slight currency appreciation which allowed for a few years of modest progress towards letting its currency appreciate. but then in the summer of 2008, china abandoned its feigned interest in fairness. it once again fixed the value of the r.m.b. of the suns dollar. in june -- of the u.s. dollar.

the peterson institute for economics found that despite the intervention appreciation, the r.m.b. is more undervalued today against the dollar than it was a year ago. that's the recent history of china's currency manipulation. the chinese, in other words when they know people are watching, when they see the u.s. government with our very, very, very strong economy even when we look weak internally and way too many people are unemployed, still obviously the major economic force on earth when they see us doing something they respond. they start taobgt a little -- they start to act a little better. a little bit like a naughty kid. we hope our kids don't break the law the way the chinese do, international trade law. when we watch them, they behave better. when we exert discipline on them, in other words we're going to change this law the way you've gamed the system on

currency they begin to let the currency flow and let it appreciate and do some better, more fair-minded things. new research by economists at m.i.t. shows just how much damage china's trade and export policies have done to our labor market and to our communities. the report shows china imports actually have effects on jobs but also increase use of federal programs like the social security disability insurance program. of course it does. when people get laid off all kinds of things happen in their lives. they apply for food stamps. they may lose their home, causing, if they're foreclosed on the value of homes in the neighborhood decline. the public schools don't have quite the support. they may lay off -- they may not be able to hire one teacher as a result of a handful of people losing their jobs. it can be all those things hafplt when the chinese -- happen. when the chinese game the currency system and jobs are lost in pittsburgh or in dayton, bad things happen in pittsburgh

and dayton to those families, those communities to those states. what's been our response when our trading partners use any means necessary low labor costs, direct subsidies currency manipulation to compete? what's been our reseasons it's been inaction. -- what's been our response? it's been inaction. we can no longer afford to do that. some like the presiding officer from pennsylvania and others around here have been beating this drum for a long time that these trade agreements aren't fair that they aren't fair to the american worker and to american particularly small manufacturers, bigger manufacturers take care of themselves and this kind of do it by moving production overseas. small manufacturers usually can't do that. we know what it does to our workers. bad tax law bad trade law bad currency policy. this bill is a modest measure. it's not as sweeping as i would like to do but it's a modest measure that gives our government the tools to fight back. with different parts authored by

several of my colleagues, this legislation is kind of, kind of grew into this -- this bill came from two other bills that we put together. the bill updates the process and tools the government would have at its disposal when it comes to countries who are currency manipulators, who are in some ways repeat currency manipulators. senator snowe from maine a republican and i a democrat, have worked on a part that would immediately designate unfair subsidies as an unfair trade practice. that means jobs for a number of industries. coated paper in southwest ohio, tires in findlay ohio. aluminum extrusion tubular steel in northeast ohio. it means more american manufacturers from autos to clean energy can petition the government against unfair subsidies from importing countries. that measure combined with comprehensive measures to reform the structural deficiencies in

our government's approach to combatting currency, that part of the bill was spearheaded by senators schumer and graham. it would improve oversight of currency exchange rates. senator stabenow was involved in that. it would ensure that the treasury department properly identifies countries that undervalue their currencies. under the omnibus trade act of 1988 the treasury department is required to formally identify countries that manipulate their currency for the purpose of gaining an unfair competitive trade advantage. in recent years the treasury has found that certain countries' currencies were undervalued. it was pretty clear and pretty obvious when reputable economists from the reagan administration, from the carter administration for years reputable economists are saying these currencies are undervalued 25%, 35% some have said as high as 50%, it was pretty hard for the treasury department to say anything other than these countries currencies were undervalued. however, based on the

interpretation of the law's legal standard for finding manipulation the finding of the word manipulation, treasury has refused and continues to refute refute -- refuse to cite such countries asthma nip later later . it got 79 votes. three democrats voted against moving the bill forward yesterday. 16 republicans voted against it. it's got broad bipartisan support. but what's amazing is presidents of the united states in either party -- president bush was negligent in finding a manipulation. president obama has been negligent in finding manipulation. i'll give some credit to president obama in his move in some cases of actually doing real enforcement of trade rules and trade laws. it's turned immediately into job growth in the ma hoe ni value a new steel mill, in findlay in

southwest ohio, with paper. the treasury department has neglected i think to do their duty and that is interpreting, saying china has manipulated currency. the biepbl release of this statutorily required report to congress is almost a washington charade. last year secretary geithner announced he would delay the report's release. i care less about the exact timing of this report than i do about the administration's willingness to be open with congress and the american people about what it's doing and why it's doing it. here's why it's important. some argue the commerce department has the authority to treat currency manipulation as an export subsidy and apphraoeup countervailing duties. the commerce department tended to also kick these decisions down the road, duck the issue of currency manipulation when it investigates other subsidies. the bill puts it into that bureaucracy. i told the story earlier on the senate floor of a trade lawyer

representing a southwest ohio paper company told me that china did not even have a coated paper industry, the glossy paper that magazines are typically printed on. didn't have that technology until a decade or so ago. when they -- they started those companies in china they buy their wood pulp in brazil. they ship it to china they mill it in china they sell it back here. at the high cost of transporting something as heavy as paper and as bulky as paper for the price of paper ultimately, so it's a pretty expensive move to move it from brazil to china to the united states. the cost of labor is only about 10% of the production of paper. yet china has found a way to underprice ohio paper and underprice paper made in other parts of other countries. it's pretty clear that that's in part because they get a 25% 30%, 35% 40% basically add-on benefit for their price because of currency manipulation.

that's why in part they are able to do that. they probably subsidize their water and their energy and their land and their capital also that they can underprice us. that's why this is so serious. ohio workers have lost jobs because china has gamed the currency system. that's all we should need to know here. american companies have folded and gone out of business because china has cheated on its trade policy not following the rule of law in the world trade organization. that should be enough to get 100 votes in this body. it got us 79 yesterday. that's progress. our bill makes it clear that countervailing duties can be implied on currency manipulation as an export subsidy. the bill would establish new criteria to identify countries misaligning currency. we no longer can accept china and other countries allow them to do whatever it takes to make their exports cheaper. we can no longer accept that china continues to mount a

massive trade surplus with the u.s. we have trade rules on the books. it's time we enforce them. it's time the world trade organization enforced its rules. now, critics claim this bill would ignite a trade war with china. frankly, china declared a trade war at least a decade ago. if it's not a trade war critics assert this bill is not compliant with our world trade organization obligations. i've listened to many multinational companies. argue a bill will provoke retaliation by china. my question to these detractors is how can china impose retaliation against something that is, in fact, w.t.o. legal? but since reviving pntr status and the benefits of world trade organization membership, china has taken money from american consumers and american investors and american inventors without fully opening its market to american business and workers. the results are record trade deficits the results are millions of lost jobs. these arguments come from the same proponents of giving china pntr membership, world trade

organization membership, pntr stats -- status, world trade organization membership. they predicted they promised in 2000 when this passed that china would adhere to a rules-based trading system. they haven't been. people care about our exports. remember currency undervaluation makes our exports harder to sell also. yes, they have grown to china but while u.s. exports to china have increased, they have not come close to balancing imports from china but imports from china have grown faster. in fact, about three times as many imports as we export to china. look at our trade deficit with china versus the rest of the world. in 2000, china represented -- 2000 china represented 26% of our trade deficit. last year was just over 70%. so in the space of ten years look how this has changed. that's sort of the whole story too. currency is a big factor that can't be denied. while many multinational companies do not say it, i think

it's clear that even the most ardent proponents of china pntr are feeling a bit of buyer's remorse, finding themselves unable to do business in china because of china's aggressive protection of industry. others in criticizing a bill say there is nothing we can do to bring back the jobs we have lost. americans don't want to work at those places anymore anyway. that's a pretty naive view of american manufacturing. my state is number three in the country in manufacturing. only california three times in population than our state and texas twice our population make more than we do. if we don't act we're not just talking about jobs in textile or steel or tires those are really important. we're talking about jobs in clean energy and semi conductors and auto supplies. a trade war, world trade organization compliance, retaliation, we welcome this debate. i want my colleagues to come to the floor. some of the 19 that opposed moving this bill forward. when they say china will start this will start a trade war. they talk about world trade organization compliance, they talk about retaliation. the fact is china has been

playing that trade war for ten years. the american people have been patient as administration after administration continues to talk but fails to act. patience -- our patience is up as u.s. businesses are undercut, more u.s. jobs are eliminated. the bill is about our economic competitiveness where everyone is competing in the market by the same set of rules. that's all we ask. i have been to maybe 150 manufacturing plants in my state in the last three or four years. i know american businesses can compete, i know american workers can compete. just make the playing field level. s. 1619 will help us do that. mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. levin: mr. president, first let me commend the senator from ohio for his leadership on this bill. this has been a long time in coming. this is a long battle that's being fought over chinese unfair trade practices and one of the

most significant and damaging unfair trade practices the manipulation of currency by the chinese, and senator brown is taking the lead in getting this finally rectified and i commend him for it. i notice our presiding officer the senator from pennsylvania, who has also been a real fighter in this area trying to correct the unfairness that is allowed to exist when chinese currency is manipulated. senator casey is yaibl one of the -- not only has been a leader in this fight but is one of the original cosponsors, and i'm proud also to be a cosponsor of this bill. i have long supported the effort to take action against unfair currency manipulation by our trading practices. i think for at least the last eight years, we have had bills that have been introduced to address the issue of unfair currency manipulation by whatever country it takes. this is an unfair trade practice that contributes to large u.s. trade deficits and to job

losses. now, the reality is, mr. president, that when american companies do business in the global marketplace that they are not competing against companies overseas. they are competing against foreign governments that support those companies. and that's especially true when foreign governments like china and in the past japan and other countries manipulate the value of their currency to keep its value artificially low. currency manipulation makes china and their exports particularly their exports on fairly cheap and u.s. products more expensive than china displacing u.s. production and u.s. jobs. this is nothing short as senator brown has said, of a chinese government subsidy. we should be fighting against it and hard. trade creates new jobs when we export goods. trade results in the loss of jobs when imports replace goods

that were once produced here at home. and when trade deficits rise, we're losing jobs to imports. the reality is that we have been running massive unsustainable trade deficits with china. just the first seven months of this year, just in the first seven months, we had a trade deficit of more than $160 billion with china. now, that's four times larger than our deficit with any other trading partner. and last year, we exported $92 billion of goods to china we imported an astounding $365 billion from china. so their growing trade surplus which has illustrated by the charts and senator brown has been presenting to us, the growing trade surplus with the united states and the rest of the world has been fueled by massive currency manipulation, by subsidies and other unfair

trade practices. the estimates are that the chinese currency is undervalued by up to 40% which makes u.s. goods that much more expensive for chinese consumers and makes chinese goods artificially cheap in the united states and around the world and as a result, u.s. imports from china have increased and u.s. exports to china have been suppressed. now, senator brown has gone through some of these numbers and i'm going to repeat them because i think it's important that every american focus on these numbers and the growth of this trade deficit with china. in 2001, our trade deficit with china was $84 billion. it grew to $278 billion in 2010, and according to an economic policy institute study which was released in september this deficit resulted in the loss or displacement of nearly 2.8 million u.s. jobs over that period. the report blamed part of our

deficit with china on china's manipulation of its currency and it's just simply long overdue. we enact legislation to end that unfair advantage because the tools that we have to combat the problem have been so far unequal to the task. the international monetary fund has what are called articles of agreement. those articles prohibit countries from manipulating their currency for the purpose of gaining unfair trade advantage, but the words are hollow because the i.m.f. has no means to enforce that prohibition. current laws -- our current laws give the administration on paper the power to act to combat currency manipulation, but those laws are easily bypassed and too easily ignored. the republican and democratic administrations both have failed to take action. the treasury department is required to issue a semi annual report on international economic

and exchange rate policies in which it could conclude as almost every independent observer concludes that china is manipulating its currency. to date, the treasury department has never made such a finding since the 1988 trade act mandated their report. now, instead what it does, what the treasury department does is it hints it suggests, it sometimes threatens but it doesn't act. a couple examples. bush administration, in 2006, their report said the following following -- -- quote -- "china needs to move quickly to introduce change rate flexibility at a far faster pace than it has done to date. given our strong disappointment disappointment -- this is five years ago -- our strong disappointment and the importance of china to the world economy, the treasury department will closely monitor china's

progress in implementing its economic rebalancing strategy and will remain fullien gauged in every opportunity with china and will continue actively and frankly to press china to quicken the pace of flexibility." now, six years ago that's the bush administration. now, may 2011, now the obama administration. here is what the obama administration's exchange rate report said -- "treasury's view is that progress is insufficient and that more progress is needed ." and the report said -- "treasury will continue to closely monitor ." hey, those are the same words that were used five years ago. it must be they sort of took this on their computer and then moved it from 2006 to 2011. the treasury has been a -- is going to continue to monitor

according to the obama treasury, the pace of appreciation by china. it is a high priority for the treasury. really? that's good news. the trouble is that the facts don't support the statement. it's a high priority for the treasury. working through the g-20, the i.m.f. and through direct bilateral discussions to courage policies that will create greater exchange rate flexibility." close quote. the failure of administration after administration to do more than closely monitor rather than to take action is why congress must act to pass legislation to require action against foreign countries that are unfairly manipulating their currency. so the bill before us, senate bill 1619, the currency exchange rate oversight act, is a bipartisan bill combined

several earlier manipulation bills. it clarifies that u.s. countervailing duty laws can address currency undervaluation, giving american companies and manufacturers stronger tools to fight back against these unfair trade practices. it would replace the weak and flawed currency provisions and current law with a new framework based on objective criteria that will require treasury to identify misaligned currencies and require action by the administration if countries fail to correct the misliement. -- misalignment. under this bill, the administration would be required to take specific action if a country with a priority currency designation does not adopt policies to eliminate the misalignment within specified periods of time. for instance, if no policies are adopted, after 90 days, the legislation directs the administration to, among other things prohibit federal procurement of goods and services from the designated

country unless that country is a member of the world trade organization government procurement agreement of which china is not a member. after 360 days of failure to adopt a appropriate policy, the ustr the trade representative is required to request dispute settlement in the world trade organization with the government responsible for the misaligned currency. now, congress is on record in support of fighting currency manipulation. in 2007, a majority of senators went on record supporting a currency manipulation bill that was brought up as an amendment to a state department reauthorization bill. that bill would have imposed tariffs on chinese imports to compensate for currency manipulation by china but it was withdrawn by a sponsor in exchange for a prompt to develop and vote on a w.t.o.-compliant bill. well the pending bill is a w.t.o.-compliant bill.

the last congress, the house of representatives passed a bill, h.r. 2378, the currency reform for fair trade act. now, that narrower currency manipulation bill made it clear that the department of commerce was to fight the illegal subbization of u.s. currency by use countervailing duty laws. unfortunately, t the senate ran out of time and we did not take up the bill. s. 1619 will allow us to deal with any country found to be manipulating its currency, not just china which at the moment is the worst offender and mr. president, i ask that the balance of my statement be inserted in the record, which goes into the history of other countries with currency manipulation particularly japan manipulated their currency and this was a major problem for our manufacturers and put them

at an unfair competitive disadvantage vis-a-vis japanese manufacturers. so mr. president with both chambers now on record supporting currency manipulation legislation, there is no reason why we should not pass this legislation quickly and send it to the president for his signature. i hope that our colleagues will support this bipartisan legislation because it will finally, finally long overdue, years too late, address the very problematic and costly practice of our trade competitors who manipulate their currencies to create jobs in their countries at the expense of jobs here in the united states. i yield the floor and again i want to thank senator brown of ohio for his great work on this bill and i know he and the presiding officer senator casey and others, including my colleague from michigan have been working hard on this bill and hopefully in the next couple days it will come to a fruitful

conclusion. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: thank you. i thank senator levin. there's no better team in any state in the country than senator levin and senator stabenow with all the troubles they've had in that state with manufacturing, as my state does they are always on the right side of these issues, always advocating for local companies, especially small companies that feed into the auto supply chain and for the workers in those companies and i'm very appreciative of his leadership for so many years in all of this. mr. president, i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk clerk. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: may i ask that

the pending quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: thank you mr. president. i rise today to speak in support of the ciewrnz exchange rate oversight reform act of 2011, and by note the presence on the floor of one of its principal sponsors senator sherrod brown of ohio, who i've been very pleased to work with on this legislation. i'm proud to be one of the original cosponsors of this bill an important piece of bipartisan legislation that will help protect american workers from the trade distorting effects of currency manipulation. in particular, this legislation will allow to us fight back against policies that china has used to gain an unfair advantage over american manufacturers. our american trade deficit with china rose from $83 billion in

2001, the year that china joined the world trade organization to $273 billion in 2010. that trend is discouraging enough on its own but it is more troubling to consider that the growing trade deficit ultimately represents goods that are no longer made in the united states of america by u.s. workers. in fact, the economic policy institute estimates that the trade deficit with china has cost 2.8 million american jobs over the past decade. including nearly 12,000 jobs in my home state of rhode island. with so many families still struggling with unemployment in the wake of the recession, it is important that we examine just how we came to lose so many jobs to a single country and

respond accordingly. now, it would be one thing if the answer was that china's workers are just more talented, their products are of higher quality, that they simply bested us in the open market. but that is not the case. the evidence suggests another explanation, that china is gaming the international system. first, china provides subsidies to critical industries which likely violates world trade organization rules and gives chinese companies an unfair competitive advantage over american manufacturers. second by restricting exports of their raw materials china drives up the cost of making products here in the united states.

third, by turning a blind eye to or even facilitating the rampant theft of american intellectual property, china tbrefts what may be the beneficiary of the largest illicit transfer of wealth in history. finally, china appears to be intentionally manipulating the value of its currency. indeed through controlled purchases of massive amounts of u.s. currency, the chinese central bank has made the value of their currency, the yuan, artificially cheap relative to the u.s. dollar. economists estimate that the yuan is currently undervalued by as much as 28% against our dollar. the depressed value makes it 28% cheaper to buy goods from china than from the u.s. and it makes u.s. goods

correspondingly more expensive. it is essentially a subsidy for chinese products and a tax on u.s. products. and this is much more than a problem of abstract economic theory. the consequences of currency manipulation are deeply felt in households in rhode island and across the country. in the presiding officer's home state of pennsylvania, in the floor manager's home state of ohio all across the united states it is felt by families who for generations have contributed to our growth as a nation by going to work every day and building things from cars and boats to toys and electronics. these workers helped define our american character. from the start of the industrial refusal lawtion at slater mill on the banks of rhode island's blackstone river through the first decade of the 21st

century until today but they have watched in recent years as job after job has been lost to china. this unfair competition needs to stop. the advantage that the undervalued currency gives to chinese companies has put american manufacturers out of business and middle-class americans out of work. "the wall street journal" reported last week on a study that measured the impact of unbalanced trade with china on communities across the country. the research shows that areas with industries exposed to chinese import competition have higher unemployment rates and lower wages and that people in these areas are forced to rely more heavily on u.s. government safety net programs. that study ranked the greater providence, rhode island, area second among regions exposed to

competition from china. this comes as no surprise to rhode islanders. rhode island was once a world leader in textiles and jewelry manufacturing, but these industries have been hit hard by a flood of cheap imports from china, greatly straining our state's economy. if we regained the nearly 12,000 jobs estimated to have been lost to china over the past decade, our unemployment rate in rhode island would drop by two full percentage points. as i travel around rhode island, i've heard time and time again from workers and business owners about the costs of chinese currency manipulation. george schuster is the c.e.o. of the cranston print works a textile manufacturer that traces its roots back to 1807. he told me, "we know firsthand

the impact that china's disruptive policies have had as we've seen factory after factory close their doors around us. addressing china's manipulation of its currency would be a good first step to bringing our trade policy to where it needs to be, to help get american manufacturers moving in the right direction again." lesley tato is the c.e.o. of the nonprofit rhode island manufacturing extension service, and she came here to washington to listen to president obama's jobs speech. she has worked with a diverse set of manufacturers across the state to help them increase their efficiency and become more competitive. she told me this: "u.s. manufacturers are resourceful, agile, and fully capable to meet national and international demand. currency manipulation creates an uneven playing field that has

cost the u.s. countless jobs and has dramatically increased our trade deficit. i equate it to telling a boxer to go into the ring with one hand tied behind his back and asking him to come out the victor. manufacturers in this country aren't asking for special consideration here; they just want it to be fair." mr. president, this is why i made addressing currency manipulation a central part of my making it in rhode island manufacturing agenda, and why i was one of the original cosponsors of the legislation that is before the senate today. the currency exchange rate oversight reform act of 2011 will strengthen the tools that we have at our disposal to counter the actions of countries like china that choose to manipulate their currency rates. this legislation will first improve the oversight of

exchange rates that allow us to identify currencies that are misaligned. and for countries found to manipulate their currency values or that fail to correct a misalignment this law will trigger tough consequences. our trade enforcement agencies will gain clear authority to eliminate the advantage created by currency manipulation by imposing tariffs on products imported from offending countries. this should send a clear message to china or any other currency manipulator that if they abuse the currency markets, they will not benefit. mr. president, simply put this legislation will help level the playing field for american companies. economists have predicted that a fair market for our exports would reduce our annual trade deficit by between $100 billion

and $200 billion. the resulting increase in production would add over $250,000,000,000 to our g.d.p. and create up to 2.25 million american jobs. are the chinese squawking about this? are the big multinational corporations who have no allegiance to any flag for nation squawking about this? yes, of course they are. america has for too long been taken advantage of, allowing the wiles of others to erode our wealth. the winners at a rigged game will always object when the other party gets wise to the fact that the game is rigged and begins to do something about it. but if we are to solve the problem of china's currency

manipulation and stand up for american companies american manufacturers, and manufacturer workers -- and american workers we should pass this legislation. i applaud my colleagues from both sides of the aisle for their work on this bill. i commend in particular senator sherrod brown of ohio, who is here on the floor managing the bill right now. i thank the chair, and i yield the floor. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. reid: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: yes. mr. reid: i ask consent it be

vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i have a cloture motion at the desk, mr. president. the clerk: cloture motion, we the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate hereby move to bring to a close the debate on s. 1619, a bill to provide for identification of misaligned currency, require action to correct the misalignment, and for other purposes. signed by 17 senators as follows -- reid of nevada, brown of ohio, schumer franken shaheen, hagan casey durbin, blumenthal conrad, whitehouse, harkin and inouye. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the amendment under quorum call rule 2 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to a period of morning business, senators allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to executive session and consider

calendar number 361. the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table with no intervening action or debate, that no further motions be in order to the nomination, that any statements related to the nomination be printed in the record, that the president be immediately notified of the senate's action and the senate then resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 361 francis joseph rigadone jr. of massachusetts, a career member to be ambassador of the united states of america to the republic of turkey. the presiding officer: is there further debate on the nomination? if not all in favor say aye. those opposed no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the nomination is confirmed. mr. reid: mr. president i ask unanimous consent the homeland

security and governmental affairs committee be discharged from the following post office naming bills en bloc and the senate proceed to their consideration en bloc. h.r. 771 h.r. 1632. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection the committee is discharged. and the senate will concede to consideration of the measures en bloc. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the bills be read a third time, passed en bloc, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table en bloc, there being no intervening action or debate and any related statements be printed in the record as if read. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the finance committee be discharged from further consideration of s. res. 266. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 266 supporting the goals and ideals of national save for retirement week including raising public awareness of the various tax-preferred retirement vehicles and increasing personal financial literacy.

the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid on the table there being no intervening action or debate and any statements relating to this matter be placed in the record at the appropriate place as if given. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i now ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it adjourn until tomorrow morning wednesday, october 5 at 10:00 a.m. following the prayer and pledge, the furnl of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day. following any leader remarks the senate be in a period of morning business for one hour with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each with the time being equally divided and controlled between the two leads or their designees. following the morning business, the senate resume consideration of s. 1619. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president cloture was filed tonight on 1619.

unless agreement is reached this vote will occur thursday morning an hour after we come into session. the filing deadline for first-degree amendments to s. 1619 is 1:00 p.m. tomorrow, wednesday. votes on amendments to the bill are possible during wednesday's session. if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that we adjourn under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until 10:00 a.m. tomorrow morning.

>> her argument is the first time the justices talk about a case together and so when justice scalia or justice ginsberg asks a question i can figure out what's bothering them about a case and where they are leaning. >> by law since 1916, the new supreme court term begins the first monday in october. each year they hear about 70 cases. this year cases include gps

tracking without a warrant and copyright protection. watch the justice the from recent appearances from around the country online at the c-span video library, all archived and searchable. c span, it's washington, your way. >> at the british conservative party conference monday, george osborne spooled supporters the current crisis in the year row zone required decisive action.

he said the zone needed to strengthen its banking decision and make a quick decision about bailing out greece who is the latest country in the 17-member euro zone sooking a bailout package to avoid default. they are meeting in lux up berg to discuss the bailout fund and releasing a second bailout pack yag to greece. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen please welcome the chancellor executor, george osborne. [applause]

[applause] >> today all around our country, indeed all around the world, people are anxious worried about their jobs, their families how they're going to pay the bills. i come to you with words of resolve, determination confidence and belief, belief that the british people will overcome this challenge as we have overcome so many before. together we will ride out the storm. [applause]

i don't want anyone to underestimate the gravity of the situation facing the world economy, but i also don't want anyone to think that the situation is hopeless that there is nothing we can do. yes, the difficulties are great but we should be careful not to talk ourselves into something worse, and we should never take our eyes off the prize. a british economy freed from its debt growing strongly spreading prosperity to all our people so we can fulfill that solemn promise to the next generation we will leave the world a better place than we found it. [applause]

our economic problems are not visited on this country by some cruel act of god or some blind force of nature. they were created by the mistakes of human beings, and the endeavor of human beings can put them right. what were those mistakes? there were three of them and they were all connected with each other. first, the last government borrowed too much money. [applause] they thought you could borrow without regards to ability to pay, spend without regard for value of money, all on the premise the boom would never end in bust. they sat led the country with the -- saddled the country with the worst debt crisis in our history. what a catastrophic mistake. let us make sure it never

happens again. [applause] economic adviser to gordon brown, i'm not sure i put that on my cb if i was him. [laughter] it's like personal trainer to eric pickles. [laughter] [applause] although, i have to say when it comes to chasing down counsel no one runs faster than our eric. [laughter] [applause] the second mistake was made by banks who ran up staggering debt of their own, buying financial instruments even they couldn't understand. the banks and those regulating them believed that the bubble would never stop growing, that the markets were always self-correcting, that greed was always good that the ponzi

schemes could never cleanse and the -- collapse and the message is clear, they let down their shareholders and this country. [applause] there was a third mistake our european neighbors plunged headstrong into the euro without thinking about the consequences. [applause] how could they believe that countries like germany and greece could share the same currency when they have vastly different economies and no mechanism to adjust. for generations to come people will say thank god britain didn't join the euro. [applause]

let us recognize the foresight and the fortitude the left lets and the can thatting in the -- [inaudible] there's one man where today who saw the cons -- consequences warned about them put his reputation on the line to oppose them, ridiculed for them, and was proved right my friend william hayes. [applause]

i've waited ten years to say that. [laughter] it's thanks to the leadership of someone else here today that we kept britain out of the euro zone out of the permanent bailout fund, our prime minister, our country's leader, david cameron. [applause] this is also my opportunity to thank my treasury theme greg hands, and, of course, danny alexander, they are diligent and dedicated to the service to our country. thank you. [applause] tomorrow morning i will travel to a meeting of european finance ministers in luxumberg.

my objective is clear. we need fire power. the year row zone needs to strengthen its banks and end speculation, decide what to do with greece and then stick to that decision. [applause] britain is not immune to all this instability. indeed, the resolution of the euro zone debt crisis is the biggest boost of confidence that could happen to the british economy this autumn. the time to resolve the crisis is now. they've got to get out and fix their roof even though it's already pouring with rain. [applause] their crisis in government, crisis in the bank, a debt crisis in the euro, we in britain are paying a high price for those mistakes, the price of

jobs lost of careers never started, of hopes dimmed, and our cove innocent with the british -- covenant with the british people is this -- we will not stand by and let it happen. we will do everything, work with anyone, overcome every obstacle in our path to jobs and prosperity so that together we will ride out the storm. each day, people suggest to me different things we should be doing. some say more spending or they say borrow more against cuts in taxes so you have to put taxes up more later. i'm a believer in tax cuts permanent tax cuts, paid forly sound public finances. right now, temporary tax cuts or

more spending are two sides of the exactly the same coin a coin that has to be borrowed more debt that has to be paid off. i know we are asking a lot from people, and i want them to know that when these arguments are put to me, i consider them carefully. don't think i haven't thought hard about what more we could do or i don't explore every single option. i do but borrowing too much is the cause of britain's problem, not the solution. [applause] let's say we added to the structural deficit with more borrowing. we'd be gambling the stability

on the debts of borrowing a few pounds more would make all the difference. we'd be hazarding our precious low interest rates on a change of course that would put those rates up. in the full knowledge that any extra billions of pounds of public spending would be wiped out by billions of pounds more in higher interest costs to family business and taxpayers. we'd be abandoning the deficit plan that brought us the state other nations crave for say 120 billion pounds more of spending with the illusion that such funds would transform the economy when we already spend 3 trillion pounds over the next four years. we'd be risking our nation's credit rating for a few billion

pounds more. when that amount is dwarfed by the scale and power of daily flows of money in the international bond market swirling around ready to pick up the next country that lacks the will. we will not take that risk. we are in a debt crisis. it is not like a normal recovery. you can't borrow your way out of debt. [applause] incidentally, the fact that the world is in the grips of a debt crisis has not undermind that argument. it has made it stronger. now, for too long britain has been running away from its problems. we have to face up to them. we have to confront them. we must fix them. we must deal with our debts. we can unblock our banking system. we will help businesses create

new jobs. here's how. first, we will help the bank of england keep interest rates at record lows while the economy is weak. in a debt crisis, it is the most powerful stimulus that exists and nothing would be more fateful for an economy indebted like ours than a sharp rise in interest rates. look at our neighbors today. in greece market rates are 20%. in portugal, they are more than 10%. in spain and italy, they are now over 5%. our budget deficit is bigger than the lot of them, but here in britain, our market interest rates are today just 2.5%. fiscal credibility is not some abstract concept. it keeps people in their homes people in their jobs. a 1% rise in the interest rate

today adds 10 billion pounds to family mortgage bills alone. .. in the national interest keeping

interest rates as low as possible for as long as possible is crucial to dealing with the debt crisis. but if those banks are damaged the world land of the current low rate and accelerate because the transmission of the tecum mechanism isn't working. this is the second part of our plan to get credit flowing in our economy it means investments and investment means jobs. we are making sure the british banks are strong enough holding enough capital to cover loans in an emergency and expanded fees' we have a deal with the lenders to increase lending week before businesses that 15% this year. but all of this may not be enough. of course the bank of england as

their own independent judgment to make has said many times before of my predecessor and the treasury approval. but there is more the government itself can do to get credit flowing and encourage investment. david cameron and i have always said we would be fiscally conservative and monitoring activists. everyone knows it is out of my determination the treasury to work in ways to get money directly into the parts of the economy that need it which is small business. it's more than credit easing. it's another form of activism. it's the national loan guarantee that we talked about in the position. it could help prevent another

credit crunch and over time help save that problem. malta enough investment into small business enterprise and if this party is anything is the party of small business and enterprise. [applause] this brings us to the question about the kind of economy we want to see and the kind of banking system we want to serve. we all know what kind of banking system we don't want. let's look at what happened in the world bank of scotland. a day or one individual was so focused on the loan to the self aggrandizement that it could risk the livelihood of the 200,000 people who work for the bank, the 15 million who

entrusted the bank to their life savings, the 60 million taxpayers who had to bail out the bank. that is what i mean by the responsibility in business. what i mean by your responsibility in government is to regulate banks controlled public finances and leave our country exposed to the international money market. so why ask ed miller band, you say you wouldn't bring back to run our banking system so why on earth would you bring him back to run our economy? [applause] the flood of there are businesses that are irresponsible and we will deal with them with a regulatory system that works but there should be to newly created texas

frankly ridiculous. one that produces and the labor chancellor like and when the chancellor doesn't like. imagine the chancellor sitting there 11 every morning in a copy of the financial times and in the other way in the corporate on some homemade scales of justice with a completely unworkable idea. i think it is the moment in the position to be either a producer or. [applause] there was a time when they seem to realize that to win the elections the had to accommodate to the new world such as business make peace. not now.

it's over. i taught elections against tony blair and i know the damage he did to our country but it wasn't just him they were booing the last week and that the four trips booing because they thought we were had changed and the business people because labor worked for them and all those people finally woken up to the world to all those people we realized aimed at them for all those people who aspire to a strong society and a strong economy, to those people abandoned by leiber today i would say the society would be your voice. [applause] said the damage of an age of

irresponsibility the something for nothing society that flourished during it. so yes those who work get more than those who fought refuse to but also introducing the first ever permanent bankers. the first ever higher levy the first ever treaty with switzerland to get back tax money owed to this country. i want people to create wealth and jobs to get the most out of society and support something that but i tell you what the conservative chancellor says the rich people who either taxes who will find you and we will find your money that is getting over that are absolutely over. [applause] the taxi vision to benefit to words we are all in this

together. [applause] and that includes the banking sector. yes we want britain to remain the number one international center for finance corporation employee and thousands of people across this country driving that business to hong kong would be completely self-defeating. islanders and the anchor people feel about what happened. i share that. but ramping up the rhetoric is not going to stop their failing. they've got to do the work to share britain's largest industry is no longer the largest risk. that's why we are abolishing the system hitting is back in charge of monitoring that the responsibility they should never have taken away from them. [applause]

it's why we've committed to the principles in the report we've commissioned to the branches to the risky trading floor of activities. we change our party for this moment. so we can tackle the banks without fear and speak truth to power and wealth and so the society and economy works for everyone. the finance keeping interest rates low giving credit to small businesses helping in the crisis, these are all essential for growth and that is the ambition for most governments but not enough for us. we have to help businesses create tomorrow's jobs. my children are 8-years-old and

10-years-old. i don't want them to read about how china just built the world's most advanced aircraft while i have to say to my children that used to be britain. i want britain to be the home of the greatest scientists and engineers and the greatest businesses and the land of innovators if russia could come in and we can be pitied the sacrifices we make. the determination and show, that is what drives me. tomorrows world as being shaped here in manchester. manchester, the first city of the industrial revolution. the city where the first computer was built and where they split the apple and the millo band of brothers split the labor party. [laughter] [applause]

akaka [applause] manchester home to the brilliant scientists i met this morning awarded the prize for physics with that prize was for the discovery of the strongest the best conducting material known to science to be used in everything from air travelling to microchips. the inventors could have gone anywhere in the world to conduct their research but they chose the university of manchester and the country like korea, america have lucrative offers to such entities but they want to stay here in britain. they think it is the best country in the world for them and their work. we've already protected the science budget and to date i am

confirming that on top of that we will fund a national program that would take the nobel prize-winning discovery from the british to the factory floor. [applause] akaka and fund a the frontier of highest performing computing as well to get the best tools to the designers and engineers. let's stop thinking that the only growth that can have vernon burton takes place in one industry in one corner or of the country. we've got to get britain making things a again. [applause] i've never believed the government should just stand on the sidelines but it has no role to play in fostering enterprise and creating jobs. i would intervene whether the

markets doesn't work and set it free where it does. we have been doing a huge amount in the past 16 months today britain opens the business. cutting business taxes to the lowest rate in the developed world, cutting the income tax bills for over 20 billion people and taking over a million of the most paid altogether at the time of deficit reduction we are actually increasing the spending and creating the broadband network in reforming the planning for the work for our economy and the countryside reforming the tax system and multinational coming to britain instead of leaving it replacing more a protest ship and the country has seen with the tax code to freezing rates and stopping in their tracks don't tell me this government isn't for growth and that's not it.

we are today extending mobile coverage for up to 6 million people and the right to buy housing david cameron announced yesterday would build 200000 new houses and safe for rendered thousand new jobs and new enterprises to helping unemployed people get jobs to the work program helping them start businesses with the enterprise allowance and reforming such transforming education and reforming the public sector pensions for their generous public servants also fair to tax payers. [applause] and let me say this to the union. to go on strike at a time like this when you are offered pensions far more generous than other people could ever afford

it will cost jobs it is totally irresponsible. [applause] we've made all these changes in the space of just 16 months but it's not enough and i know that. we need to do more. we need to make it easier for businesses to hire people. i know it's important to respect employment rights. it's the heritage of our party 136 years ago there was a conservative politician under the conservative government who introduced the act that brought the two of them from becoming swedes. unfortunately unlike today they have had the good fortune of

being supported by the liberals. [laughter] but we also respect the rights of the unemployed to get a job and not fight out of the labour market and we respect the right of those who respect our whole life serving of the business not to see that achievement destroyed by the employment tribunal. so we are now going to get much less risky for businesses to hire people in the double to two years the amount buchanan employs a monday for the risk of the plan. [applause] i can tell you today we are going to introduce for the first time never the seat for taking the case to the tribunal that only gets back. [applause]

we are entering a bet against new businesses. [applause] now we know. we know the environmental laws and regulations are piling up on the energy bills of households and companies. yes, climate change is a man-made disaster. yes, we need international agreements. yes, we must have investment in energy and that's why the world's first clean investment bank. britain takes less than 2% of the world's emissions to china and america to take. we are not going to save the planet by putting our country out of business. so let's of the very least results that we are going to cut the carbon emissions will were but also faster than our fellow countries in europe.

that's what i insist on. [applause] there's one more thing i can tell you we have to make difficult decisions about public spending, careful choices about what to protect so by relentlessly eliminating waste we can afford to protect funding for the conservative party is at the nhs. two years ago i stood here and said we would cut the cost to be served and somewhat skeptical of the politicians who said they could cut waste. but we are doing it in far ahead of plan. so i can tell you the next year we will again freeze the talks. [applause] when so many bills are going out, the housing tax can be the

one bill that doesn't and together we ride out the storm. with a goals determination, confidence and belief resolve that we will deal with our debt reshape our faith to living in our means determination we will see in the policy keeping rates low and get it flowing. confidence there are things you can do and measures we will take to get the economy moving again and create jobs and we do believe because we believe the country's best days lie ahead of it. we do this because we are optimistic for the future. we know the sacrifices the country makes will not be made in vain.

but the difficult choices we have made were not made for nothing. we do those for a better britain and a stronger economy to which everyone can contribute, on which everyone will gain and the economy that works for all i don't pretend to you that these are not difficult days and they are not difficult days ahead but together we will ride out the storm and together we will move into the sea beyond. [applause] thank you >> thank you very much. [applause]

♪ >> how big is this problem? cocaine sales and a number of others added them up and the total is less than is involved in the sale of these controlled substances. that's a big problem that we are beginning to address and we've learned more today how we can for the address it.

senate democratic leaders said today they expect to put off consideration of president obama's jobs bill until work is complete on the pending trade agreements. republican leader mcconnell would like a vote on the measure souter. your senators reid and mcconnell talking about the jobs bill.. this is 20 minutes. oba >> for two weeks president obama has been traveling calling on cal congress to pass what he calls cal ls his jobs bill right away. here's what people say in texas today if he has not said it already. jobs at leastbi put to develop for a entir vote so the entire country knows of congres exactly where every member ofdent i congress stands. to a i agree i think that he is vote entitled to a vote on his jobs bill and the suggestion senate j republicans are not interested in voting on his jobs bill is thinke's

e not true and feet that he is won entitled to't a vote. h over the west few weeks and give f ac him his vote in fact they'venalling been calling for this vote with a great prepetition. his press secretary said it onid october 3rd that the white house adviser said the same thing september 27th. david david axelrod strategist calledrategist c for us to have this vote on himlf l september 13th and the one, president himself, let me count the number of times, one, two three come from five come six 11, 12 come seven come eight, nine,

ten, 11, 12 times the presidentf th of thee united states himself few over the past few weeks has t called on us to have this votess as he put it i want congress to pass this jobs bill right away. pass i hope will not pass because i for don't think it's the right to direction for the country to take to begin to deal with the i joblessness issue but thete president makes an important point that he's entitled to a an vote so if i were to be given the opportunity i would offer thi the president's jobs bill which we think would be accurately sor t described as a stimulus to of the approach of the bill that we approved back in 2009 after which we had lost 1.7 million jobs. so, therefore, i would ask

consent to set aside the pendingnt motion and amendments to offer the amendment which i have just m described and hold in my hand atrity leade this moment.ct. >> reserving to object. i'm not going to do a longn dissertation on stimulus in the jobs bill. we did to in effect do so much about good for our country. i can't talk about the stateshat but i can talk about what the recovery act did for the state of nevada. t it basically saved the state of nevada from going into bankruptcy. hundreds of millions of dollars state to help state government stop a layoffsnd of teachers and create tens of thousands of jobs inrgy. areas like renewable energy soct. that is not on the americant f

recovery act.or i thought it was important and other senators can come and talk about at the state how it benefited. the mr. president, right away is a his jobs relative term. the president has been calling for this and rightfully so. for a why did he start calling for bill? those on his bill? was because there was again one of sen the long instructions that toatok place in the senate and the house what was that? funding the federal emergency th management agency's, these devastating floods, tornadoes,nd hurricanes and fires created the go situation seemed i was about tonke go cbroke. hean didn't think we could move on quickly pass about but no wehat couldn't because something we agreed on inlet july fiscal waso again brought because gover republicans are threatening to close down the government again

so the president was calling for g the jobs bill recognizing what the was going on here in the senate and in the house was a waste ofg time that is why we are spendingundi time unnecessarily on thef funding out of the essentials of who hav government that is taking carevastated by of people who've been devastated and by these terrible storms thatauseby caused by the republicans for get the the funding and something on currency. this lahoud census i have

announced in a number of speeches ithat have given on i the we floor that all i call believe bill. it's we should move to this jobs bill. some i'm sorry, i wasthin handed something that really of little bit here. ere i we need to move to this right away there is no question about that. but to have to send it to theitical s china currency manipulation t agency is another political stunt we all know that. kw, if we don't we should know. bng i'm telling everyone. i'm bringing the american jobsoarkd, act to the floor. so so my suggestion would be this:y obviously the republican leader, kentu wan my friend, the senator from bill.

kentucky wants to do something about the jobs bill.his i'm glad he does. my he wants us to move this forward so my suggestion would be toent modify my friend is unanimous and consent request and said just permissn that we have the permission for the lack of are better word of the republicans here in the senateld on the motion to proceed would be unnecessary as soon as we finish the two choices either as the soon as we finish the china currency legislation or the trade legislation which we talked about finishing that next week so i would move to modify the his consent agreement to the legislation of introduced on behalf of the president after we

finish the china currency legislation or after the trade bill whatever my friend would rather do. rublica >> this is a request from the republican leader. i b >> i've asked that it be modified. mod >> as he so modify reserving the right to object this is what my the mity l good friend of the majority leader had to say and he was deb talking about other matters debated at other times the first t stimulus bill which has a basic disagreement on i think i it waslure almost total failure he also talked a tbout the debate we have contig for the continuing resolution on a finally worked only bipartisan basis the those are things that'm occurred in the past and what her i'm trying to do today by job b

suggesting we vila president'sy job bill which the leader p previously introduced and i supports gather by way of introduction support that we honor the request of the president to vote on it now he's been asking us weeks to repeatedly over the last few weeks to vote on it now. he doesn if m'ty friend the majority leader request is saying he doesn't want to honor the request now but would like to consider voting on its can neck later he and i can discuss as we decide not to move forward with cementer business i think the president of the united su states whose policies generally i'mappy speaking don't support althoughtiatives o i am happy to support his b initiatives on trade bjs aarsele it is entitled to know where the he's b senate stands on his proposals he's been talking it over and

over again suggesting that wehat i'm are not willing to vote on it and what i am saying is we don't agree that it's the right policy picy, but we are more than willing tote on vote on it and what i hear my friend the majority leader say is that he supports it wants to vote on it some other time whilee the president iotshe saying heaying doesn't want to vote on it some on other time he wants to vote on us it now but my feeling is the least we can do for the president does give him the chance to have a vote on his proposal now as he has requested on numerous occasions subject to the modification and i will have further discussions when webill might move to the a president'sing.

bill and give him the vote he's been requesting. >> reserving the right to object 14 million people in this country are at work.we've d we're in the midst of important year. legislation we've known this entire year of china's currency manipulation and we now have as, proposal that is ridiculous on its face that is we go to on theill. president's jobs bill this isp senseless and on a fair to bringe're going this and we are going to get to this and do it either as soon asr after we finish the china currency or after we finish the w trade bill mov would ever like a workout with my republican colleagues so io can get the 60 votes to get to it. this legislation 60 to get to it and so this is nothing moret

than a political stunt. don't it's clear that we don't need a so i filibuster on this so i object to respect the objection isesiding ofcer: the heard. . mcco >> mr. president? >> mr. president if i we have had a request from the president on multiple occasions to vote on what he calls his jobs bill and to vote on it now. just to count again, 1-12 timespr es the president has asked us over the last few weeks to vote on what he calls his jobs bill people took now. he's if he wants an extensive debate about it and he's saying he wants a vote might and i want to

disabuse the notion that they propos are unwilling to vote on this. we are more than happy to vote t on it. understand why my friend theng majority leader may have some reservations not going forward of criti on this.qu i've read a number of critiques in this legislation by democratic senators in one partvenhough of it or another. but look even though there's bipartisan opposition to the president's jobs proposalin k bipartisan opposition to it i entitled think that he is entitled to a we vote.e able i'm sorry there appears we wille that not be able to achieve this bothed for over the president as repetitious the asked for over the last few weeks i'd like to give him thatjority lear vote and we will be talking to about when we might have an opportunity to vote on hist'sroposal, w proposal, the president'sced, which proposal which the majority leader introduced. >> of the leader. js

>> the president introduced aepublica jobs bill. the republicans continue theires own destruction on issues very here, simple there are things going on here you can't automatically move to things.re. we know the procedure in a piece of legislation the president ispublican in calling upon congress and republ icans in congress to allow foard. the jobs bill to move forward. shouldn have its all the time i repeat hung up on funding because it down threatened shutting down the able government and we are ultimately doing that. it took a long time.wants

when the president said he wanted to move to theisolutely legislation candid and forthright and he wanted toe're going t do. clear that if that is what we b will do.woulde allin would be willing to do if my friend would be willing is il perceived to the jobs bill wehat. couldwe do that and interruptedslat this legislationio right here to the trade bill's we could vote on a motion to proceed to the jobs bill.or simy asking >> is he has the consent agreement or asking a question? the bis o >> i could to get it all beforee it needs 60 votes if the the mot

republican leader would agree to the motion to proceed to the say to jobs bill if he i am prepared to do that some other time and other voting on it some other day and off t would be happy to talk about that off the floor as we do wit frequently on everh.y issue that we deal with. immediate >> i'm sure that in the immediate future of the american repu people willbl siceane once again theings the shoul republicans are filibusteringering, things t they shouldn't be filibustering, this time a jobs bill. m >> i would add i think my good i friend's problem and i

sympathize with him, there is prop opposition to theos president's proposal.ear my >> i heard my friend say that and it. didn't want to get into the dissertation about theoppositi opposition. there's 53 of us.l a majority democrats willobs bill. support the jobs bill. >> the majority lea der confirmed what i was saysasing which is thatd there is bipartisan opposition discuss and we will discuss at what point the majority leader is with comfortable going forward withson this proposal.today my only reason for offering t today is to respond to the question to the president'snd request that we vote on and propose to do that if we can't do it today we will be happy to discuss the as weal always do andit would the agenda of the senate sea toopriatete vote on some other time.

>> i do know for 53 i've told everyone here to get a majority of the senate not a democrat butet a a majority of the senate that's biparti not a very bipartisan opposition of this bill. leader, >> i can only support my good friend of the majority leader who repeatedly has said most the recently in the early 07 that in case the senate it's always been the case you need 60 votes this is slated for the majority leader when he was the majority and he said repeatedly when he was in majy the minority or the majority requires 60 votes on things that are controversy all so it's not at all unusual that the that president's proposal had this preside consequence the we've raised

taxes and spend half a trillion a dollars on a second stimulushieve 6 bill would have to achieve 60 votes that is when virtually all business is done in the senate certainly not extraordinarily orhe american peo unusual. >> american people will see verytates soon as a majority united states senate supports. >> it will allow sanctions against china if the treasury department finds china is manipulating its currency. next we hear from senator sherrod brown of ohio on thet to dis legislation. this is 20 minutes. appe >> mr. president, i appreciate the presiding officer's commentsency e earlier in supporting theht currency exchange rate of 2011 the presiding officer and i bothe democrats joined republicans and three other democrats where thechange rat sponsors of their great of 2011

passed the motion to proceed we somet of rules and the senate the motion to proceed with 79 votes out of 98, so there is a clear interest in the body debating one of the most important jobsfront o bills that we've seen in theears in front of us and our five years in the senate almost five yearshe in the senate and i think i've never seen a bill passed in not seen in my time here in the jobsverwhelmingl bill passed this overwhelming w bipartisan supportor supporting m people back to work and let me that sort of expand. on that. first to all the currency exchange rate of 2011 has broad. it support for business and labor w it criteates jobs without spending taxpayers' dollars and theeduces legislation raises revenue against the deficit clearly because when people go back to work now on unemployment

benefits sometimes receiving food stamps and getting other subsidies may be treated just pring offi assistance whicceh the presiding officer has been involved in work will instead people going back to work paying taxes and not be the beneficiaries of that savitt is way a plus both ways in terms of budget reducing the budgets government deficit.ormal it responds to the enormous problems and economic threat brought on by the chinese communist party government senator schumer to mukasey, snow and burke and collins and i havens and been working to get this bill to i bio the the floor and think the largerusually leader who usually ssiits at this br desk will bring it to the floor to respond to secure a simple response to the protection of policies this isn't the u.s. rd and turning inward this is the response of protectionism to theicies chinese economic policies that

have been unfair when the chinese have cheated and that us, cost american jobs and we know a when we lose one if it closes the 50,000 senator sanders said earlier today 50,000 factories 50,0 closing the country the last this decade or so not all because of china i don't blame them but a what it doe factory closes with a with a distinct community whether it is in harrisburg or ury or clevelan borat current or canton andi'm encouraged by my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to see how a protectionist trade policies undermine businesses and ultimately most importantly cost american jobs we all knownow the problem for years to subsidize the exports bydo adoptingpt artificial manipulated bad on exchange rates not based on a market forces as a result china's exports to the united states remain cheap and exports mor to china remain more expensive in other words because theyurrency,

cheat on their currency and product made on a served in o dayton ohio because they've ch ea subsidized theirpe production byion by weakening the currency but the in same devotee company in a line or dayton ohio trust to sell o into china the cost of that itemecause is 25% mark because china gannet the currency system so by keeping the value of the r&d forb. or the chinese currency by tippingally them china if i can say incentivizes the foreign s corporations to shift production because of a this is the price co of investing in china and makes exports cheaper. this continued evaluation i used the percentage 25% some say it may be as high as 40% but in clearly is in that range of

their cheating their gaming the system 25 to 40% think about it in ohio and pennsylvania that have a lot in common.ommon. speak about a company think of to gas stations in oppositeone corners one buys its oil 25 for 30 or 35 or 40% less extensively to the price of the competitor th across the street that is what is going to happen to a guhat' competitors will go out of business and that is what has b us caused the phenomenon harm in the u.s. economy and cost american jobs. in in '93 the currency was valuedued approximately 5.5 to one u.s. one u.s. dollar. then from 1995 to 2005 was valued about 8.28 without change during that period that can be -- it one of two things. o

a huge cut incidents of manipulation the trade deficit manip with china of 93 was about 30 or $30 $40 billion in that range todayrange. we run a deficit eight or nine or 10 tons of the to do $75 billion bilateral deficite just the relationship with the a chinese. according to the recent economic policy institute report since china joined the wto world trade organization in 2001 2.1 million jobs have been lostobs have or displaced in the united states as a result of the u.s. trade deficit that hundreds ofat's hun thousands indred my state and tens of thousands in the state's as small as west virginia and hundreds of thousands and as large as pennsylvania. the the currency manipulation is not the only reason china enjoys the enor trade surplus but it's certainly a big part of the reason so from 200 2005 to the middle of 2008 we and started to fight back but we right were headed in the rightve direction however slowly.

he supported the offer by new york democrat senator schumer yet and south carolina republicansc senator gramm to woul t chinese imports if thehinese government did not let itser currency appreciate it othere words to take away all the did the was clean the advantage china treated by manipulating itshe currency that passed the senate but did not pass the house and was never signed by the was president but what it did do is get china's attention beginning005 inch 2005 china began to do aiation wch all slight currency appreciationowodest which allowed modest progress o towards currency but in 2008 the abandoned its interest in fairness and fixed the value against the u.s. dollar thanf june 2010 and a lot of the dol currency to flood against the

dollar and other foreign currencies. insti for the peterson institute for the economy of economics found despite the interventionm.b. appreciation r&d is moret the dr t undervalue the today against the dollar than it was year ago ofurre the manipulation.hinese, inther so, the chinese in other words. when they know people are watching and they see the government without our verymy very strong economy, even when we look weak and many believeloyed, the way to many people workiously under the economic force when they see us doing something with th a respond in start to act bettere -- it's like a kid with the parents a lit are watching the act a little better and when the chinese law th built brick the law the way they do the international trade law they but when we watch then they behave better and we exemptin other w discipline on e'them in other law words we are going to change the syste law the way you gave the system let

on currency they begin to let it some flow and to proceed and do better fair minded things. new research by economists at china mit show just how much damageone to the policies of fun to the to ou labour market and the rort communities. shows it shows china imports actually have an effect on jobs but also but als increase the use of the federal the programs like the social security disability insuranceof coue it program.when of course it does when people get laid off all kind of thingslive happen in their lives. they apply for food stamps, theye may lose their home for close to the homes in the neighborhoodport. declined public schools don't may have the support they may lay handful off and a handful of people what can be all those things happened t so when the chinese gained the currency system and jobs are lost in pittsburgh or dayton bad things happen to those families, familie

to those communits,ies and to been our those states what's been our trading response when the partners use any means necessary directubsidies subsidies, currency manipulation what's been the response? it's been in action. we haven't done jury much. it's been to the status quo in we can no longer afford to do th that.siding offer some of us are now here it's tim been called a long time these trade agreements aren't fair their fair to the americanan worker and americans particularly small manufacturers nufacturer bigger minute factories take care of themselves and do it by moving production overseas small manufacturers usually can't do macture that, and we know what it does to the workers. bad trade the vat tax law, a trade law and this currency policy. measure. this builds a modest measure.s i w it's not as sweeping as i would like to do but it's a modest govement the measure that gives our government the tools to fight back with a different parts of it why several of my colleagues

in this legislation kind of into this bill came from two other bills that we put together thes t bill updates the process agent when it comes to countries who are currency manipulators who are in some ways repeat currencyne a manipulators senators know from dem oc the the republican and dhaka, democratic working apart that would immediately designate the a fair subsidies as an unfair at means trading practices that meansries. jobs for a member of the industry's current pay in southwest ohio tigers and finley o ohio, aluminum to tubular steel in the m northeast ohio andmanu it needs more americann energ manufacturers from although to go clean enervegy can petition the government against unfair subsidies from importing countries. c it is wcombined with measu comprehensive measures to inform the structural deficiencies inourover the government's approach to to

combating currency that part ofhat part the bill was sp earheaded by schumer senator schumer and grants. would it would improve oversight of the currency exchange rates andrren i would ask senator stabenow involved in that it would involve in improve the currency exchange rates and it would ensure that the treasury department properly underv identifies countries that crencie undervalue their currency. under the omnibus trade act of 1988 treasury department isdentify required to identify theipe countries that manipulate the p currency to the purpose of gaining an unfair competitive traded and hedge. in recent years the treasury has found certain countries' currencs currencies were undervalued putative was pretty clear and rutable pretty obvious when theter economists from the reagan for administration and the carterble econts are administration for years ares saying these currencies are 35% undervalued 25% 35% of theit senate some as high as 50% it's departmt hard for the treasury department tha to say anythingn other than these countries' currencies were were undervalued. however, based on the

interpretation of the law and legal standard for the manipu manipulation, the finding of then, word manipulation, the treasury has refused and continues to refuse to cite such currency manipulators. our legislation is bipartisan a the the republicans, five democrats are the prime sponsors that got 79 votes, three democrats voted against moving agast the bill forward jester de 16 republicans voted so it's got a b broad bipartisan support. wha but what is amazing is presidenttes of the united states in eitheras party, president bush was negligent in finding a manipulation. president obama has been negligent in manipulation. to i will give credit t o president obama and his move in some cases acty of actually doing real trade rules enforcement of the trade rules and trade law that it's turned j immediately into job growth in the valley in the steel mill in findlay and tires in southwest

ohio with paper the president and treasury department havetment h neglected to do their duty and d that is interpreting evidenceduty saying that china has manipulated currency. aashi it's almost a wngashington sure aid.ry secretary geithner announced he exact would delay the report. i care less about the report do than the administration's willingness to be open with congress and the american people iortant. about manipulation as a subsidy of up like countervailing duties commerce the commerce department tended to also kick things decisions onk the the road and stop the issue ofstigates other the currency manipulation when it investigates other subsidies but build puts an end to that bureaucratic and repeated te flo briefly of the trade lawyer ino

this list representing selfless ohio paper company told me that china didn't even have a code oflossy paper industry that glossy paper til a printed and didn't have that until a decade ago.anies in when they started those companies in china they buy their wood pulp in brazil andhi shipped t to china and sell itat the h cost back here. at the high cost of transporting something as heavy as paper and bulky for the price of paper it's it's a pretty expensive moved for brazil to china to the is united states. the cost of labor is only about 10% of the production of papero and chyba has found a way toaper made underprice ohio paper and ofth underpriced paper made in other parts of the country. it's pretty clear that that isecause in part because they get a 2430 4 0% 35 40% basically add-on benefit for their price because of currency manipulation that's whyto

d in part theyo would be able to dowater andheir that for their water and energy c and landap in the capitol faugh that's why this is s a serious ohio workers have lost jobs sys because china gave the currency systulem that's all we need to know here. h folde american companies have gone out of business because china has its cheated on its trade policy not following the law and that should be enough to get 100hould votes in the body we have a 79 yesterday that's progress. us the bill makes it clear thell duties can be applied with unterv importing goods benefits to currency manipulation as an export they establish new bill criteria to identify countriescriteria misaligned in the currency and trigger tax consequences for those who engage in unfair cries practices. we can no longer are except china and other countries to allow them to do what ever it t takes to make the exports cheaper we can no longer accept china continues to mount aith the

massive trade surplus in the res o n u.s.. we have rules in the book it's t time we enfoherce them and it's on nization the world trade organization to enforce the individuals. critics claim the bill with a trade china frankly they declared a dade trade war at least a decade ago. it's not a trade war the critics assert the bill was not o compliant with of the trade many organizations. i've listened to many old and c national companies offer a bill to provoke the retaliation by china. my question to these detractors is how can china imposed theinst somethi retaliation with something that is in fact wto legal.ntr the centuries are rising at the status of the benefits of wto membership china is making money from ameri from american consumers and an american investors and inventors without are thoughtfully opening its market to american business and a workers and offer millions of t lost jobs.same these arguments come from this a proposal giving china the mbershi membership in the the wto

membership so it predicts they said they promised in 2000 whenn this past china would adhere to the rules of the trading system. they haven't been. they care about the exports. remove e per currency requesters picks exports harder to sell but incre while u.s. exports to china increased the have not come fr close to balancing imports with f china but in parts of china have as grown faster to three times as many imports as we export toeficit with china.ch we got the trade deficit within of china and the rest of the world china represented 26 26% over deficit last year was just over 70% but how this has changed story that's the whole story come toe mike. currency is a factor that can't be denied through the company's they do not say