Mary Bono

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5910) to direct the Secretary of Commerce, in coordination with the heads of other relevant Federal departments and agencies, to produce a report on enhancing the competitiveness of the United States in attracting foreign direct investment, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials into the Record on H.R. 5910.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, as chairman of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 5910, the Global Investment in American Jobs Act of 2012. This legislation directs the Department of Commerce, in coordination with the heads of other relevant Federal departments, to produce an interagency report on enhancing the competitiveness of the United States in attracting foreign and direct investment.

This is a commonsense, bipartisan approach to creating new jobs in America, and I would like to thank my colleagues--Mr. Dold, Mr. Peters, Mr. Roskam and Mr. Barrow--for their hard work on this important legislation. I would also like to thank Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Upton, Ranking Member Waxman, and subcommittee Ranking Member Butterfield for all agreeing to bring H.R. 5190 to the floor. It has the strong support of leading business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Organization for International Investment, the Association of Global Automakers, and the National Association of Manufacturers.

Today, with our economy stuck in a dangerous quagmire--and with unemployment still above 8 percent for a record 43 straight months--we need to take a long, hard look at U.S. laws and policies which serve as barriers to foreign direct investment in our Nation here at home. The goal of the Global Investment in American Jobs Act is to produce a much-needed ``competitiveness assessment report'' to Congress, along with a list of recommendations to make the U.S. more appealing to global companies seeking to expand beyond their borders.

This legislation comes at a very critical time. The value of cross- border investment has grown dramatically around the world, but America simply isn't cashing in like it once did. Just a decade ago, the U.S. attracted more than 41 percent of all global foreign investment. Today, that number has fallen to 18 percent--a steep, costly, and unacceptable decline.

In many ways, we're being out-recruited by other nations. In a recent global ranking of the world's most competitive economies, the U.S. slipped from fifth to seventh--marking the fourth straight year in which our Nation has shown a decline, despite having the world's largest economy. This constant chipping away at America's ability to compete for foreign investment is contributing to our unacceptably high unemployment rate and adding to our exploding national debt. This legislation is simply one way to fight back.

International investment has long served as an engine for U.S. economic prosperity, and it can play an important role in our economic recovery in the years ahead.

Today, the U.S. subsidiaries of international companies employ 5.3 million American workers, account for about 15 percent of the country's manufacturing workforce, produce more than 20 percent of all U.S. goods exported, and fund more than $40 billion of annual research and development activities. These companies also support a diverse supplier network throughout our country, purchasing roughly $2 trillion in annual goods and services that help to sustain thousands of small and medium-sized American companies.

The Global Investment in American Jobs Act aims, for the very first time, to identify barriers to new investment and to produce a road map for attracting and retaining top-tier businesses from around the world. Strong investment promotion policy will not only spur international companies to create jobs here in the U.S., but it will also encourage other nations to open their markets to U.S. investment necessary to access foreign markets.

Simply put, this legislation sends an important message to the world: today, America is not only open for business, but it's also a great place to do business.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 5 minutes to one of the very hardworking authors of this legislation, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Dold).

No, I do not have any further speakers. At this time, I'm prepared to close.

Mr. Speaker, I'm just going to say that there's absolutely no magic bullet for putting Americans back to work again, but what we can do and what we should do is eliminate the endless roadblocks to job creation which are acting like a tire boot on the U.S. economy. Today we're simply going nowhere fast.

This bill will help to get America moving again by removing many of those barriers and by developing a much-needed plan for attracting top- tier businesses from around the world. Today, with more than 23 million Americans who are unemployed or underemployed, it's time to cut that tire boot off of our economy and to develop a new roadmap for prosperity. The Global Investment in American Jobs Act of 2012 is one way for us to start on that journey.

Mr. Speaker, again, I applaud my colleagues for their hard work, and I thank them very much for what they've done.

I strongly urge all of my colleagues to adopt H.R. 5910. It is a bipartisan bill. It's supported by leading business groups. And when it comes to job creation, it's another piece to the puzzle that simply fits perfectly.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4212) to designate drywall manufactured in China a banned hazardous product, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials in the Record on H.R. 4212.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, as chairman of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade, which has jurisdiction over the Consumer Product Safety Commission, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 4212, an important bipartisan bill to help the Federal Government fight the problem of defective and potentially hazardous Chinese drywall.

I would like to thank my colleague, Mr. Rigell of Virginia, for all of his hard and thoughtful work on this important legislation.

Today, if something smells rotten in your home or in your business, Chinese drywall may be to blame. Scientific laboratory tests have identified emissions from some of this drywall to include sulfurous gases such as hydrogen sulfide, which leaves a stench muck like rotten eggs.

It's time to address this widespread problem, which exploded across our landscape after Hurricane Katrina. By some estimates, enough suspect Chinese drywall has entered the U.S. since 2006 to build more than 60,000 American homes, many of which are located in the southeastern U.S.

But here's the problem. The emissions from contaminated drywall worsen as the temperature and the humidity rise, causing copper surfaces, including pipes, wiring, and air conditioning coils to become blackened and corroded. As a result, many people have complained about respiratory problems such as chronic coughing, asthma attacks, and difficulty in breathing, and that's in addition to headaches and sinus issues.

Most of the companies which made this bad drywall are owned, at least in part, by the Chinese Government, and they have steadfastly refused to appear in American courts or to cooperate with the Federal Government's ongoing safety investigation.

In some cases, U.S. builders, to their credit, have stepped up on their own to remediate the problem, but thousands of others have had to sue or simply eat the costs of replacing this drywall.

H.R. 4212 is one way to help prevent this problem from happening again in the future.

But, at the same time, we're also trying to help people who've already been impacted. This bill directs the Secretary of Commerce to work with the Chinese Government in coming up with a fair solution to settle outstanding claims.

In addition, H.R. 4212 requires labeling of all drywall with the name of the manufacturer and the date of its manufacture. In the past, the lack of this critically important information has been a real problem because homeowners couldn't tell, in many cases, which company manufactured that bad drywall.

And finally, this legislation requires the Consumer Product Safety Commission to promulgate an important new standard to limit the sulfur content of drywall, unless industry comes up with an acceptable voluntary standard first.

Mr. Speaker, science has spoken. This isn't a case of we think we have a problem. Today, we know we have a problem. China chooses to ignore it, but America chooses to do something about it.

I strongly urge the adoption of this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

U.S. House of Representatives,

Committee on Foreign Affairs,

Washington, DC, October 5, 2011.

Hon. Fred Upton,

Chairman, Committee on Energy and Commerce, Washington, DC.

Dear Chairman Upton: Thank you for your consultation with

the Foreign Affairs Committee on the amended text of H.R.

4212, the Drywall Safety Act of 2012, given the referral of

that bill to our Committee.

I am writing to confirm the agreement of the Foreign

Affairs Committee to be discharged from consideration of H.R.

4214 in order to expedite its consideration on the House

floor. In agreeing to waive consideration of that bill, this

Committee does not waive any jurisdiction that it has over

provisions in that bill or any other matter. This also does

not constitute a waiver of the participation of the Committee

of Foreign Affairs in any conference on this bill. I ask that

you include a copy of this letter and your response in the

Congressional Record during floor consideration of the bill.

Thank you again for your consideration and collegiality in

this matter.

Cordially,

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen,

Chairman.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Rigell), my colleague and the author of this bill, a very hard worker.

As I have no further requests for time, in closing I just want to make one very important point here--and I think it's a great point to make right now--which is that Republicans and Democrats are united on this very important health and safety issue. ``Made in China'' is stamped on everything from kids' toys to consumer electronics, so let's just make sure it is stamped on our drywall, too. Let's also make sure that this is a safe product, that it's environmentally friendly, and that someone stands behind it.

I applaud Mr. Rigell for his hard work, and I thank Mr. Deutch very much for bringing it to our attention and for working with our committee. I, too, thank the staffs of the subcommittee and the full committee for all of their hard work over these past many days.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I am going to ask that my colleagues support H.R. 4212, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6131) to extend the Undertaking Spam, Spyware, And Fraud Enforcement With Enforcers beyond Borders Act of 2006, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials in the Record on H.R. 6131.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, as chairman of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 6131, a bill to reauthorize the U.S. SAFE Web Act of 2006.

I would like to thank Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Upton for his leadership on this important issue, as well as Ranking Member Waxman. But a special thank you also goes out to my good friend and lead coauthor of H.R. 6131, our subcommittee's ranking member, Mr. Butterfield of North Carolina, for his strong bipartisan support.

When it comes to the future of electronic commerce, consumer trust and online privacy are trending topics that Americans care very deeply about. Today, the Internet serves billions of users worldwide with e- commerce in the U.S. topping $200 billion last year for the first time and up a remarkable 15 percent so far this year. But lurking online are hackers, cyberthieves, and even organized crime rings.

As someone who is deeply involved in online privacy issues, as well as consumer protection, I'm very concerned that e-commerce will cease to grow and flourish if Americans lose faith in their ability to be protected from online predators, jeopardizing future innovation, as well as our Nation's fragile economic recovery.

One important tool in combating crossborder fraud, spam, and spyware is this act, which is set to expire next year. H.R. 6131 reauthorizes important crime-fighting and consumer protection law for another 7 years.

By any measure, the U.S. SAFE Web Act has been extremely effective, allowing the Federal Trade Commission to better protect U.S. consumers from fraud, deception, spam and spyware, and crossborder cases involving threats originating both domestically and abroad. And to give you an idea of just how well it's working, no opposition to reauthorizing the law has been expressed from either the business community or by advocacy groups.

Most importantly, the U.S. SAFE Web Act enhances the FTC's investigative and enforcement functions by authorizing information sharing with foreign enforcement agencies, something the commission may not do without express authorization. The act only allows information sharing with countries whose law on data sharing is substantially similar to that governing the FTC, and the FTC may share data only under conditions where the information will be treated confidentially and a country will reciprocate information sharing with the FTC. Clearly, we would be fighting an uphill battle if these critically important consumer protections were not in place.

About a decade ago, the Federal Trade Commission began to highlight the growing problems that it encountered in effectively combating Internet scams and fraud directed at American citizens by foreign operators, oftentimes involving organized crime rings. By 2005, an estimated 20 percent of consumer complaints the FTC received involved fraud originating outside of the U.S., costing American consumers hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

In order to expand its ability to effectively fight online fraud, the FTC sent Congress legislative recommendations in 2005 seeking additional authorities. Without objection, Congress passed the U.S. SAFE Web Act on December 6, 2006, and it was signed into law 2 weeks later by President Bush. For American consumers, the U.S. SAFE Web Act has been a clear success to date, and it should be reauthorized before its expiration next year.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge the passage of H.R. 6131, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I just would like to say that today, with nearly 1.5 billion credit cards now in use in the U.S., nearly everyone has a stake in making certain that the FTC has the powers that it needs to combat cross-border fraud, spam, and spyware.

Rather than give the FTC more power, the U.S. SAFE WEB Act is simply giving the FTC the tools it needs to carry out its mission more effectively; and it's done so without increasing the cost to American taxpayers, without any new rulemaking, and without any new investigative authority. Reauthorizing the U.S. SAFE WEB Act as soon as possible will avoid disrupting ongoing investigations, allowing the FTC to continue to pursue cross-border fraud complaints and to continue important information-sharing agreements with foreign law enforcement agencies.

Again, let me just emphasize that this is a critically important consumer protection bill, it enjoys broad bipartisan support, it doesn't cost any additional money, and the clock is ticking. The law needs to be reauthorized now.

It's good for American consumers, and it's good for the future of e- commerce. It sends an important signal to the rest of the world that online crooks, no matter where they're located, will be tracked down and prosecuted.

Mr. Speaker, I urge the adoption of H.R. 6131, and I yield back the balance of my time.