mr. speaker , i yield myself such time as i may consume . 
mr. speaker , let me begin by mentioning that this is a tripartisan resolution , and i want to thank our cosponsors : the gentleman from oregon ( mr. defazio ) xz4001000 , the gentleman from tennessee ( mr. duncan ) xz4001160 , the gentleman from arizona ( mr. grijalva ) xz4001620 , the gentleman from indiana ( mr. hostettler ) xz4001870 , the gentleman from north carolina ( mr. jones ) xz4002091 , the gentleman from ohio ( mr. kucinich ) xz4002270 , the gentleman from texas ( mr. paul ) xz4003110 , the gentleman from wisconsin mr. speaker , i do not have any great illusions that this resolution will win today . 
when the gentleman from texas ( mr. paul ) xz4003110 offered it 5 years ago , it only received 56 votes . 
i hope , however , that as many members as possible will vote for it today for one simple reason . 
it is time to send the bush administration a message and a wake-up call that our current trade policies have failed and need to be completely rethought so that they represent the needs of the middle class and working families of our country and not just the ceos of large corporations . 
mr. speaker , international trade is a good thing , if implemented properly , but the evidence is overwhelming that our current trade policies , including nafta , including permanent normal trade relations with china , and the current roles of the wto are not working for average americans , they are not working for the environment , and they are not working for human rights . 
if we do not fundamentally change those policies , we can only expect more of the same . 
the wto was signed in 1995 , and our current support of unfettered free trade has gone on for some 30 years . 
and what has been the result of those policies for the middle class of this country ? 
let us discuss it . 
in a period in which technology has exploded , in a period in which worker productivity has significantly increased , we would think that the middle class would be better off . 
but the economic reality today is that what every american knows is that the middle class of this country is collapsing . 
poverty is increasing , and the gap between the rich and the poor is wider today than at any time since the 1920s . 
are our disastrous trade policies the only reason for this ? 
no . 
but they are an extremely important part of that equation , and that is for sure . 
mr. speaker , in 1995 when the wto was established , our trade deficit was $ 96 billion . 
today our trade deficit is a record-breaking $ 617 billion and is on pace to become $ 700 billion next year . 
our trade deficit with china alone is $ 162 billion . 
mr. speaker , while some of my colleagues are going to extol all of the wonderful virtues of unfettered free trade , perhaps they can explain why in the last 4 years alone we have lost 2.8 million good-paying manufacturing jobs , one out of six in this country . 
one out of six in the last 4 years . 
in my own small state of vermont , we have lost 20 percent of our manufacturing jobs in the last 5 years . 
many people know that general motors has just announced they are going to lay off another 25 , 000 american workers . 
gm is producing cars in china , and there is some reason to fear that in 10 or 20 years , detroit and automobile production in this country will be diminished as car manufacturing moves to china . 
when my friends come up here and they tell us how great free trade is for our economy , i want them to explain why real inflation accounted for wages in the united states today is 7 percent lower than they were in 1973 for the bottom 90 percent of workers . 
and why is it that million of workers today in vermont and throughout this country are forced to work two or three jobs just to keep their heads above water if free trade and globalization are all so great ? 
when my friends talk about the so-called robust economy that has been created , perhaps they can explain to us why 4 million more americans now live in poverty than just 4 years ago , 4 million more americans in poverty ; and why incredibly there are 24 , 000 fewer private sector jobs now than when george bush first took office . 
if our trade policies are so successful , how could we have experienced an unprecedented net loss of private sector jobs over the last 5 years ? 
the only new net jobs that have been created by the bush administration have been government jobs , 917 , 000 of them . 
maybe the republican party is becoming the party of big government and creating government jobs , but certainly it has not been private sector jobs that free trade is supposed to create . 
today the gap between the rich and the poor is growing wider . 
the richest 1 percent of our population now own more wealth than the bottom 90 percent , and unfettered free trade has only made that worse . 
the gap between the rich and the poor more than doubled from 1979 to 2000 . 
according to the institute for international economics , 39 percent of the increase in income equality is due to unfettered free trade . 
further and most ominously , if our present trade and economic policies continue , the likelihood is that the next generation will be the first in the modern history of the united states to have a lower standard of living than we do . 
according to a recent report from the department of labor 's bureau of labor statistics , over the next decade , seven out of the 10 fastest-growing occupations will be low-paying , low-skilled jobs that do not require a college education . 
is that what free trade is giving to our kids , jobs at wal-mart , jobs at mcdonald 's , while the general motors jobs , the general electric jobs are going to china ? 
mr. speaker , it is not only blue collar jobs that we are on the cusp of losing . 
millions of white collar information technology jobs are also on the line to go to china and india . 
andy grove , the founder of intel , predicts that the united states will lose the bulk of its information technology to jobs to china and india within the next decade . 
mr. speaker , the bottom line of this debate , and i want my friends to answer this , is that american workers should not be asked to compete against desperate people in china who make 30 cents an hour and who go to jail when they stand up for their political rights . 
that is not what we should be engaged in . 
the race to the bottom has been a disaster for the middle class . 
mr. speaker , i reserve the balance of my time . 
