Fact
Sheet - Record on Jobs and Trade
Throughout his Senate career, U.S. Senator
Russ Feingold has been a strong advocate for Wisconsin’s
working families. His comprehensive efforts to prevent the
outsourcing of American jobs by opposing flawed trade agreements,
encouraging the purchasing of American-made goods, and helping
displaced workers retrain in growing fields to compete in
a new job market include the following.
Feingold on Trade
- February 15, 2005 –
Feingold introduced S. Con. Res 12, a resolution that establishes
some minimum standards for the trade resolutions into which
our country enters. He introduced the same resolution in
the 108th Congress, S. Con. Res. 69, on September 16, 2003.
- July 28, 2005 –
Feingold voted “No” on the Central American
Free Trade Agreement, known as CAFTA.
- July 15, 2004 –
Feingold led a bipartisan effort urging the President to
ensure that American dairy producers will not suffer undue
hardships under a proposed U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement.
- June 30, 1994 – Feingold
voted “No” on the General Agreement on Tariffs
and Trade, or GATT, which has resulted in the shipment of
thousands of American jobs overseas.
- November 20, 1994 – Feingold
opposed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
- Feingold opposed Fast Track
Trade Authority in 1993 as part of GATT and again
in 2002. Fast Track Trade Authority prohibits Congress from
offering amendments and limits debate when Congress considers
bills implementing new trade agreements.
- Throughout his Senate career,
Feingold has consistently opposed Most Favored Nation
Status (establishing permanent normal trade relations)
for China.
Feingold on Keeping Jobs
in the U.S.
- February 25, 2004 and
April 5, 2006 – Feingold cosponsored
the Call Center Consumer’s Right to Know Act, which
calls for U.S. corporations and their subsidiaries to inform
consumers of the location of customer service representatives
at the start of consumer calls.
- February 12, 2004 –
Feingold cosponsored S. 2090, the Jobs for America Act,
a bill that requires companies to disclose and report whenever
they lay off workers to send jobs overseas.
- June 5, 2003
– Feingold cosponsored S. 970, the Job Protection
Act, which would have helped domestic manufacturers by providing
them with a tax incentive to keep production here at home,
and encouraged those runaway plants that left our shores
to return.
Feingold on Supporting
Wisconsin Jobs and Protecting American Workers
- May 18, 2005 - Feingold
cosponsored S. 1062, a bill to increase the minimum wage
to $7.25.
- February 17, 2005 –
Feingold introduced the Community-Based Health Care Retraining
Act, which would help qualifying communities to retrain
interested workers displaced from the manufacturing or service
sectors for jobs in the health care professions.
- February 1, 2005 –
Feingold cosponsored S. 223, the Overtime Rights Protections
Act, to prohibit any weakening of overtime pay standards.
- April 28, 2005 - Feingold
cosponsored S. 944, the Protecting America’s Workers
Act, which would strengthen the Occupational Health and
Safety Act.
- April 14, 2005 - Feingold
reintroduced S. 798, the Military Families Leave Act, to
allow workers to use their Family Medical Leave Act benefits
for issues related to the deployment of a family member
actively serving in the military. Feingold worked with Sen.
Jim Jeffords to win Senate approval for a related amendment.
- April 9, 2003 - Feingold
cosponsored S. 840, the Fair Pay Act of 2003, to prohibit
discrimination in the payment of wages on account of sex,
race, or national origin. Feingold opposed the Bush Administration’s
proposal to change the bill and weaken overtime protections.
- August 7, 1998
– Feingold voted “yes” on the Workforce
Investment Act of 1998 (WIA), which replaced the existing
patchwork of federal vocational programs with a coherent
federal job training system and a more organized structure
for adult education and literacy programs.
Feingold on Supporting
Wisconsin Jobs and Protecting American Workers
- July 29, 2003 –
Feingold introduced the Buy American Improvement Act (S.1480)
to make sure that the federal government supports American-made
goods and domestic manufacturers by making it more difficult
for the federal government to get around the requirements
of the Buy American Act of 1933. Feingold reintroduced the
legislation in 2005.
- Feingold has consistently pushed for
Buy American reporting requirements to
be included in appropriations bills passed by the Senate.
Feingold has been successful in requiring most federal agencies
to report to Congress about instances in which they purchase
goods made outside the U.S.
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