Bill requires U.S. withdrawal from NAFTA

[Confederate Kahanist]

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=127641




By Chelsea Schilling
© 2010 WorldNetDaily

A coalition of 27 lawmakers from across the political spectrum is sponsoring a bill to withdraw the U.S. from the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, in as little as six months.

Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., has introduced HR 4759, "To provide for the withdrawal of the United States from the North American Free Trade Agreement."

"NAFTA and similar free trade agreements have resulted in a 29 percent decline in U.S. manufacturing employment since 1993," Taylor's office said in a statement. "NAFTA discourages investments in U.S. manufacturing facilities and accelerates the erosion of our industrial base."

Taylor called the loss of manufacturing jobs a matter of national defense He pointed out that the U.S. had a trade surplus of $1.7 billion with Mexico in 1993, prior to its entry into NAFTA – and that number turned into a deficit that peaked at $75 billion in 2007 and dropped to $47 billion by 2009. Additionally, his office said the trade deficit with Canada in 1993 was $11 billion prior to NAFTA, swelling to $78 billion and dropping back to $20 billion with the decline of the economy in 2009.

"I voted against this legislation in 1993 because I knew that this trade agreement would lead to a decline in jobs and our industrial manufacturing base," Taylor said. "Just look at what happened when the Department of Defense needed to rapidly build Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles."

Taylor explained that the Department of Defense sought to increase the number of MRAP vehicles in Iraq in 2007 and purchased 17,700. He said because of diminished manufacturing capacity, it took nine different contractors working together to build all those vehicles.

"The decline in our manufacturing base left the contractors without a trained workforce to build these vehicles. This led to delays and choke points in production and overall delivery of the MRAPs," he said. "This was a logistical nightmare."

He continued, "Without a sufficient industrial base capable of mass production, we are forced to spend more tax dollars because each contractor had to train workers and re-invent the parts for production. In some cases, we were dependent on foreign countries. These contractors had to literally re-invent the wheel or purchase the tires from France and Israel."

Taylor's office said the U.S. has lost 29 percent of its manufacturing base since 1993 and that 5 million jobs have left the United States and never returned. Before 1993, U.S. manufacturing jobs were responsible for approximately 17 million jobs, it said. By 2009 U.S. manufacturing employment dropped to about 12 million workers.