Democrats fault Hulshof for trade deal
More proof that jobs are the big issue in the gubernatorial campaign:
The Missouri Democratic Party is blasting Republican Rep. Kenny Hulshof for his vote in May 2000 to grant permanent normal trade relations to China.
In a conference call with reporters today, a group of Democratic legislators blamed the trade deal for the loss of jobs at plants across the state, from Rolla to St. Joseph to Farmington to Ste. Genevieve.
In the St. Louis area, Sen. Rita Days, D-Bel-Nor, singled out the closing of the Federal-Mogul Corp. plant as a “devastating” result of the congressman’s vote.
“Not many of the families there can pick up and move to China and get these jobs,” Days said.
Democrats cited a study by the Economic Policy Institute, which estimated that 45,400 Missouri jobs were lost or displaced due to trade with China.
Asked whether some of these jobs would have gone to China anyway, given cheaper labor costs, Democrats said that by passing the permanent trade deal, the U.S. lost the leverage it had when annual renewals were required.
Hulshof “was in charge of getting us a good deal,” said Sen. Wes Shoemyer, D-Clarence.
Hulshof’s spokesman, Scott Baker, responded in an e-mail:
“Kenny believes that American workers can compete with any in the world, as long as the playing field is level,” Baker said. “Instead of offering endless criticisms, it’d be refreshing if Jay Nixon actually offered a new idea for a change.”
Hmmm. May of 2000.
Wouldn’t that have been under the CLINTON ADMINISTRATION?
Sure enough! October 10th, 2000 -Clinton Hails Senate’s Passage of China Trade Bill
This should be the talk of every dinner table for sure…
No doubt Jay has a copy of his letter of protest he sent to Bill Clinton. No? I thought not.
Democrats talking about trade make me laugh. They wanted and got NAFTA passed in the mid-90’s, but complain about Mexico’s dirty environment. Democrats are perfect for driving the directionless clown car - as long as it runs on batteries. And we know what happens to batteries. They eventually die. We can only only that many Democrat ideals die a quick death too.
156 Democrats voted against NAFTA so for you to claim that the Democrats wanted NAFTA is wrong.
Clinton was for China and NAFTA, I wish he was chasing Monica instead cause then those two would have been the only two screwed instead of the rest of us.
Ross Perot was right, about the “sucking sound”. NAFTA has been terrible for manufacturing.
What supprises me is that the first time Mitsubishi entered the US was when their planes bombed Pearl Harbor. Now they are flying up and down our highways with all you patriots driving them.
Germany = BMW, Mercedes, VW and so on,
North Korea = Hyundia, Kia and so on.
I can hardly wait to see Iraq’s new line of cars and see how many of you so called patriots buy their cars.
Get our American Flag off your Foreign made cars you hypocrites!
I am still undecided on the Governor’s race. I tend to vote R but I have been leaning towards Nixon. This doesn’t really want to make me vote for Hulshof but I have a couple of points.
1) Did Nixon complain about the deal when it was being made?
2) The whole argument behind free trade it is good for Americans overall. American business interests in China have been booming. Should Hulshof issue a press release accusing Jay of wanting Americans employed in China to lose their jobs?
I like the fact that Nixon doesn’t cow tow to the party line. I don’t like the fact he seems is a political opportunist.
If Matt Blunt hadn’t screwed everything up, I would vote for Hulshof. But someone has to be held accountable for Blunt and Hulshof just isn’t running fast enough away from Blunt.
I hate to agree with a guy named Bubba, but he is right! 156 Democrats voted against NAFTA and yat since Clinton was in office it was the Dems fault. The idea that boosting Chinas and Indias economy would help ours has proven to be unrealistic. According to the Economic Policy Institute Missouri alone has lost 45,400 due to trade with China since 2001-2007 not to include those forthcoming. What role did Congressman Hulsoff play? Congressman Hulsoff thought it better to give tax breaks to companies moving out of country rather than provide healthcare to children in need.4/9/2005 Allen Amendment H.Con.Res.95. Congressman Hulsoff voted to protect multinational commpanies from paying U.S. taxes until they come to the United States. General Electric has 62 Billion in “undistributed earnings”, ExxonMobil 58 Billion….this encourages investing outtside the U.S. not in it! Congressman Hulsoff also voted to “Normalize Trade with China,” H.R. 4444 This set the stage in 2000 to open the flood gates and Kenny was even sacraficing his own constiguents jobs. Congressman Hulsoff has a record to show his concern for my family and I. Jay all the way!!