A resolution relative to the death of Representative Charles W. Norwood, Jr., of Georgia.

Mr. President, I am pleased to again submit a measure to begin to address one of the central problems our Nation faces, namely the loss of family-supporting jobs because of our flawed trade policies.

Today's announcement that the U.S. trade deficit for 2006 rose to $764 billion, setting a record for the fifth consecutive year, is a stark reminder of just how seriously flawed our trade policies are. Those policies have far reaching consequences, and they require a multifaceted response.

One response must be to take on the trade deficit directly, and I have been pleased to join the Senator from North Dakota, Mr. Dorgan, to do just that.

But we also must change the agreements into which we enter with our trading partners.

The record of the major trade agreements into which our Nation has entered over the past few years has been dismal. Thanks in great part to the flawed fast track rules that govern consideration of legislation implementing trade agreements, the United States has entered into a number of trade agreements that have contributed to the significant job loss we have seen in recent years, and have laid open to assault various laws and regulations established to protect workers, the environment, and our health and safety. Indeed, those agreements undermine the very democratic institutions through which we govern ourselves.

The loss of jobs, especially manufacturing jobs, to other countries has been devastating to Wisconsin, and to the entire country. When I opposed the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Uruguay round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade,

Permanent Normal Trade Relations for China, and other flawed trade measures, I did so in great part because I believed they would lead to a significant loss of jobs. But even as an opponent of those agreements, I don't think I could have imagined just how bad things would get in so short a time.

The trade policy of this country over the past several years has been appalling. The trade agreements into which we have entered have contributed to the loss of key employers, ravaging entire communities. But despite that clear evidence, we continue to see trade agreements being reached that will only aggravate this problem.

This has to stop. We cannot afford to pursue trade policies that gut our manufacturing sector and send good jobs overseas. We cannot afford to undermine the safeguards we have established for workers, the environment, and our public health and safety. And we cannot afford to chip way at our democratic heritage by entering into trade agreements that supercede our right to govern ourselves through open, democratic institutions.

The legislation I am introducing today addresses this problem, at least in part. It establishes some minimum standards for the trade agreements into which our Nation enters. It sets forth principles for future trade agreements. It is a break with the so-called NAFTA model, and instead advocates the kinds of sound trade policies that will spur economic growth and sustainable development.

The principles set forth in this resolution are not complex. They are straightforward and achievable. The resolution calls for enforceable worker protections, including the core International Labor Organization standards.

It preserves the ability of the United States to enact and enforce its own trade laws.

It protects foreign investors, but states that foreign investors should not be provided with greater rights than those provided under U.S. law, and it protects public interest laws from challenge by foreign investors in secret tribunals.

It ensures that food entering into our country meets domestic food safety standards.

It preserves the ability of Federal, State, and local governments to maintain essential public services and to regulate private sector services in the public interest.

It requires that trade agreements contain environmental provisions subject to the same enforcement as commercial provisions.

It preserves the right of Federal, State, and local governments to use procurement as a policy tool, including through Buy American laws, environmental laws such as recycled content, and purchasing preferences for small, minority, or women-owned businesses.

It requires that trade negotiations and the implementation of trade agreements be conducted openly.

These are sensible policies, and will advance the goal of increased international commerce.

The outgrowth of the major trade agreements into which we have entered has been a race to the bottom in labor standards, environmental standards, health and safety standards, in nearly every aspect of our economy. A race to the bottom is a race in which even the winners lose.

For any who doubt this, I invite you to ask the families in Wisconsin who have watched their jobs move to China.

We can't let this continue to happen. We need to turn our trade policies around. We need to pursue trade agreements that will promote sustainable economic growth for our Nation and for our trading partners. This resolution will begin to put us on that path, and I urge my colleagues to support it.

Madam President, I thank my friend and colleague from Georgia for those very generous and kind words about our mutual friend.

I rise today to pay tribute to a guy who has been a great inspiration not just for the last 3 years when he has so bravely fought the deadly disease that ultimately got him--cancer--but Charlie Norwood and I were elected to Congress together in 1994.

Charlie was one of those individuals who came to Congress for the right reason; that is, to make this country a better place for our generation as well as for future generations to live.

Charlie worked every single day to make sure he could personally do everything he could as a Member of the House of Representatives to make this country better.

Charlie grew up a Valdosta Wildcat. Now, to people in this body that may not mean a whole lot, but to anybody who lives in our great State, growing up a Valdosta Wildcat and playing for the Wildcat football team is a very special asset.

Valdosta is a very unique town down in my part of the State, down in the very southern part of our State. The football lore of Valdosta is second to no other community in the country.

Charlie loved his Valdosta Wildcats. He and I used to sit on the floor of the House every now and then, particularly during football season, and talk about his days of growing up. My hometown of Moultrie is the biggest football rival of Valdosta.

Charlie loved life. He loved things like football. He also loved his family. He was the proud husband of Gloria Norwood, who is one more great lady, and he had two sons and several grandchildren.

Charlie used to take his grandchildren to Atlanta every year at Thanksgiving, used to take the girls. He would let those girls have the run of a very nice hotel in Atlanta to do whatever they wanted, including Charlie Norwood, a mean, gruff, old dentist from Augusta, GA, sitting down in the afternoon and having tea with his granddaughters. He was, indeed, a very special person, a guy who loved his country, loved his State, loved his family, and really cared about what is best for America.

One anecdote about Charlie I will never forget. He and I became good friends during the 1994 campaign. We both signed the Contract with America. We ran on the Contract with America. One provision in there was requiring an amendment to the Constitution calling for the Federal budget to be balanced. Charlie and I both felt very strongly about that. We were sitting on the floor of the House of Representatives one night together, as we were debating and voting on the amendment to the Constitution calling for a balanced budget, and as the numbers in favor of the bill grew and grew, the roar within the Chamber itself got louder and louder. It took 397 votes to reach the point where the balanced budget amendment would pass, and when it hit 350, the roar got louder. It hit 360. Finally, it hit 397. Charlie looked over at me and said: Sax, that is why we came here. He was that kind of person who truly cared about his country and the principles for which he stood.

He was a man who will truly be missed, as my colleague, Senator Isakson, said, for his ideas on health care. He truly believed that every person who received health care treatment in this country ought to have the ability to look their physician in the eye and make sure they had the right to choose the physician from whom they were receiving medical services. It is only fitting that Charlie's Patient's Bill of Rights was reintroduced in the House in the last several days. I look forward, hopefully, to Congressman Dingell taking up that bill and debating that bill. It was a controversial bill then. It will be controversial again. But just because Charlie Norwood felt so strongly about it, I am hopeful we will see some movement on that bill.

As I wind down, I have such fond memories about Charlie from a personal standpoint. But most significantly, the great memories I will always have about Charlie Norwood are about his commitment to America, his commitment to freedom, his commitment to the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States, of which he was one--he was a veteran of Vietnam--and about the great spirit Charlie Norwood always brought to every issue on the floor of the House of Representatives. He was a great American. He was a great Member of the House of Representatives. He was a great colleague. He was a great friend who will be missed.

I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 79, which was submitted earlier today.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Chambliss and I, from Georgia, be recognized for a few minutes to pay tribute to Representative Norwood.

Mr. President, first of all, I thank Leader Reid and Leader McConnell for bringing this resolution

forward in a very timely fashion. We learned during the lunch hour today that Representative Charlie Norwood of Georgia passed away, a victim of cancer.

Charlie had been fighting valiantly that disease for over 3 years, having a lung transplant, and, unfortunately--after the transplant's success for a year and Charlie doing well--cancer occurred in one lung and then transferred to his liver.

His wife Gloria has been an absolutely wonderful human being, seeing to it that Charlie continued to do his work in the House of Representatives, even though suffering greatly from the effects of the cancer that reoccurred.

Charlie Norwood was elected in 1994 and was a classmate and fellow representative with many of us here--Senator Coburn, Senator Graham, Senator Lincoln, Senator Chambliss, and myself.

On behalf of all of us who have had the chance to serve with Charlie Norwood, we today pay tribute to his life, the great accomplishments he made on behalf of his district, and his untiring effort to bring about quality, affordable health care within the reach of every single American.

He will be remembered for many things: his tenacity, his great sense of humor, his commitment to his district, and to his people. But from a political standpoint and a service standpoint, he will be remembered for Norwood-Dingell, the legislation that laid the groundwork for reforms in health care that even go on at this day.

So as a Member of the Senate from Georgia, as a personal friend of Charlie Norwood and his beautiful wife Gloria, and as one who is so thankful for the contributions he made to my State, to me as an individual, and to this body, I pay tribute to Charlie Norwood, pass on the sympathy and the condolences of my family to his wife Gloria and his many friends.

And again, I repeat my thanks to Senator McConnell and Senator Reid for their timely recognition of the passing of Charlie Norwood.

It is my pleasure now to, with unanimous consent, recognize Senator Chambliss from Georgia.