WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Representatives Jan Schakowsky
(D-IL), John Conyers (D-MI), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Hilda Solis (D-CA) and
Barbara Lee (D-CA), and Edgar Romney, the Executive Vice President of UNITE
Here, today announced new legislation that would fight outsourcing and improve
the lives of American workers by providing incentives for corporations to invest
in the United States and to support their workforce. The Patriot Corporations of
America Act would provide tax breaks and preferences in federal contracting for
corporations that meet a number of standards, including workplace safety,
consumer protection, and environmental standards, providing adequate benefits
for their workers, and producing at least 90% of their goods and services in the
United States.
Representative Schakowsky’s remarks at today’s press conference are below, as
prepared for delivery:
Thank you for joining us today as we enter the 4th of July holiday weekend,
celebrating our Nation’s birthday. It is altogether fitting that we should also
recognize what I believe to be each American’s birthright, the right to life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
On July 4, 1776, the 13 colonies adopted the Declaration of Independence and the
United States was born. Since that time, our nation has benefited from the
great work and contributions of countless American patriots and the Congress has
always undertaken efforts to honor those men and women.
In honor of our country and the great American patriotic spirit that is renewed
at this time each year – and just a few days short of the 230th anniversary of
the 1776 Declaration – I am introducing the Patriot Corporations of America
Act.
It is time to rekindle the spirit of patriotism and encourage corporations that
commit to America and American workers. The Patriot Corporations of America Act
would do so by rewarding companies which invest in our nation’s economic
future. And, it would do so in a revenue neutral way.
If you want to make Americans of all stripes mad, tell them about the billions
of dollars in subsidies and tax breaks our government gives to companies that
outsource jobs and relocate to avoid giving back to the our great country. A
recent poll in Foreign Affairs magazine reported that nearly 90% of Americans
worry about losing their jobs to corporate outsourcing.
Tell them about Accenture, for example, which advises other companies how to
outsource jobs overseas while avoiding its fair share of tax payments by
incorporating offshore in Bermuda.
Like many other US corporations, Accenture continues to qualify for tax breaks,
and it currently has more than $500 million in government contracts – paid for
by taxpayers.
Meanwhile, urban communities and small towns are devastated by plant closings.
Often these plants are owned by profitable corporations like Maytag, which
moved its Galesburg, Illinois, plant to Reynosa, Mexico, in 2004, leaving 1,600
workers without their good-paying jobs.
To end this race to the bottom, to end the offshoring of jobs and research, Bill
Edley, a former State Representative in Illinois, and political scientist Robin
Johnson of Monmouth College, introduced a new idea of turning the tables around.
(I am pleased that Bill Edley is able to join us here today.)
Bill Edley asked, “What if we stopped rewarding outsourcers and tax dodgers, and
make corporations earn their tax incentives by investing in America and American
workers?”
The idea of the Patriot Corporations of America Act was born, and I am honored
to be introducing it in the US Congress – along with my colleagues, Sherrod
Brown, Barbara Lee, Hilda Solis, Lynn Woolsey, David Obey, Tom Lantos, Peter
DeFazio, and Major Owens.
Instead of providing corporations incentives to slash benefits, offshore their
finances, and outsource jobs, the Patriot Corporations Act would encourage
American corporations to meet standards that would create a rising tide for
all.
Those companies that choose to participate in the Patriot Corporation program
would be provided with preferential treatment in government contracting and a 5%
tax rate reduction for pledging their allegiance to our country by meeting a few
no-nonsense standards.
To qualify, Patriot Corporations would need to:
► They would need to produce at least 90% of
their goods and services in the United States and do at least 50% of their
research and development in the United States.
► Limit top managements’ compensation to no
greater than 100 times – or 10,000% – of that of their lowest-compensated
full-time workers.
Patriot Corporations would commit to their workers by:
► Contributing at least 5% of payroll to a
portable pension fund and by paying for at least 70% of the cost of health
insurance plans.
Finally, Patriot Corporations would:
► Comply with federal regulations regarding
the environment, workplace safety, consumer protections and labor relations,
including maintaining neutrality in employee organizing drives.
And, the incentives would be paid for by closing corporate offshoring loopholes
and reining in some of the new tax breaks for millionaires.
Patriot Corporations would be leaders in creating a new patriotic corporate
ethic in America – one that unites workers and their employers in the mutual
goal of building a stronger, more prosperous, more democratic business sector
that can vigorously and proudly compete in the twenty-first-century global
economy.
Patriot Corporations would create a new class of companies committed to uphold
the dignity and prosperity of American workers as well as to selling their goods
in the American market and around the world.
Patriot Corporations are an expression of the American spirit of our fore
fathers and mothers when they took that brave step of declaring our independence
and creating the United States of America.
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