mr. speaker , i thank the gentleman from texas and the gentleman from vermont ( mr. sanders ) xz4003570 for bringing this joint resolution to the floor . 
mr. speaker , i come to the floor today because i believe that wto membership has been a disaster for the u.s. worker . 
since wto , 1995 , america 's annual trade deficit grew from $ 96 billion to $ 617 billion . 
my home state of north carolina has lost over 251 , 000 manufacturing jobs . 
the united states has lost over 2.9 million manufacturing jobs . 
mr. speaker , it was not too long ago that , i did not vote for it , but we gave trade promotion authority to the president of the united states . 
i was opposed to it when mr. clinton asked for it . 
i was opposed to it when mr. bush asked for it . 
and let me tell the members what has happened since trade promotion authority , august of 2002 . 
north carolina has lost over 52 , 000 manufacturing jobs , and the united states has lost over 600 , 000 manufacturing jobs . 
let me take just a moment to talk about how wto membership strips american sovereignty . 
if the united states does not change its laws to suit wto , then america 's businesses and consumers face trade sanctions . 
trade disputes are decided by international panels that are hand-picked by the wto . 
the identities of panel members are kept secret , and deliberations are kept confidential . 
these wto panels have ruled in favor of the united states less than one-third of the time . 
they have ruled in favor of the united states less than one-third of the time . 
wto panel rulings go far beyond trade . 
in fact , the wto panel recently found a utah law prohibiting internet gambling to be illegal . 
what will the wto do next ? 
let me quote from robert stumberg , a trade law expert at georgetown university , from business week , march 7 , 2005 . 
i quote : `` if bush successfully engineers the introduction of private social security accounts , wto rules would require the feds to let foreign money managers and insurers bid to manage them. '' how far do we have to go before we give up the sovereignty of this nation ? 
i do not know about you , mr. speaker , but i think letting the chinese manage american social security accounts is a bad idea . 
unfortunately , under wto , there is little we can do to prevent it . 
we have already outsourced 1.5 million jobs since 1989 to the chinese . 
we do not need to give control over to the chinese of social security accounts in america . 
mr. speaker , before i close , i want to make a real quick point . 
on my right , this chart shows on july 31 , 2003 , in north carolina we lost 6 , 450 jobs . 
it says , `` five north carolina plants close in the largest single job loss in the state 's history. '' just 3 weeks ago , mr. speaker , a plant in my district announced that 445 jobs would be going overseas . 
mr. speaker , i close by asking my colleagues that care about the american workers and care about the sovereignty of america to please join us in this effort . 
