The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was implemented in 1994, before I came to Congress. Since then, factories have shut down across the country, including some in the Third District of Tennessee, and moved to Mexico, exploiting cheap labor and leaving thousands of dedicated American workers in trouble. Our once vibrant communities have suffered immeasurably and countless Main Street businesses have closed their doors.

NAFTA included a job retraining program to cope with the NAFTA-related job losses. But, this program completely misses the point. In many rural and inner-city areas when a factory shuts down there are no jobs to retrain hardworking people for. People who live in these communities don?t need to be retrained for jobs that do not exist - they need actual jobs.

We have to give employers a reason to locate in these communities and hire local workers. That's why I cosponsored, H.R. 1819, the Free Trade Community Relief Act. It tackles this problem by authorizing the Secretary of Commerce to designate NAFTA-impacted communities. These areas would then be eligible for business tax incentives, much like Enterprise Zones.

America must continue trading fairly in order to grow our economy but we must also protect our workers and our communities.