April 1, 2005: Headlines: COS - Dominican Republic: Politics: Congress: Bristol Press: Chris Dodd promises to reintroduce U.S. workers protection act
Peace Corps Online:
Directory:
Dominican Republic:
RPCV Chris Dodd (Dominican Republic) :
RPCV Chris Dodd: Archived Stories:
April 1, 2005: Headlines: COS - Dominican Republic: Politics: Congress: Bristol Press: Chris Dodd promises to reintroduce U.S. workers protection act
Chris Dodd promises to reintroduce U.S. workers protection act
Chris Dodd promises to reintroduce U.S. workers protection act
Dodd promises to reintroduce U.S. workers protection act
By SCOTT WHIPPLE, Special to The Bristol Press
04/01/2005
Email to a friend Voice your opinion Printer-friendly
NEW BRITAIN -- Stressing that manufacturing in Con-necticut plays an important role in creating jobs and providing national security, U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., said Thursday he will reintroduce the United States Workers Protection Act.
The legislation is aimed at ensuring that hard-earned American tax dollars remain invested in America’s jobs, the senator said. The bill restricts federal contract awards to companies that use overseas workers either on their payroll or through foreign subcontractors. It also limits federal taxpayer dollars from being sent to states if those states use those resources to send jobs overseas.
Advertisement
Click to learn more...
"Workers in Connecticut and across the nation are first-rate," Dodd told employees at Okay Industries. "It doesn’t make sense to ship jobs halfway around the world to save a buck. This legislation is a step toward stopping the needless export of good American jobs."
Dodd told Okay’s owner, Greg Howey, that his company’s success is proof American manufacturers can develop a skilled workforce to compete globally. Okay manufactures surgical devices, automotive and aerospace components, fire protection gear, motor parts and M-16 magazines.
The state’s senior senator toured the facility, greeted workers and answered their questions.
According to Dodd, in the last five years, the United States has lost 3 million manufacturing jobs. Forty percent of Fortune 1000 companies are currently using some form of overseas outsourcing and as many as 14 million white-collar jobs could be sent overseas in the next decade, causing billions of dollars in lost wages for American workers, he said.
Dodd said the proposed legislation allows for two exceptions: a presidential waiver on national security grounds and an exemption if the good or service being provided is unavailable domestically.
Last year, the legislation passed the Senate as an amendment to the JOBS Act of 2004 with overwhelming bipartisan support, 70-26. However, at the conference meeting to iron out differences between the Senate and House of Representative versions, Republicans voted to strip the Dodd amendment from the bill.
At Okay, Dodd said as soon as the Senate returns next week, this legislation will be his first order of business.
Frank Johnson, executive director of the Manufacturing Alliance of Connecticut, told The Herald, "To me, it’s common sense that you’d want taxpayer dollars to support American industries--not only from the economic, but from the security point of view."
Relating a story about security, Dodd told Okay workers about a company that obtained a contract to manufacture hand grenades for the war in Iraq. The company then outsourced parts of the contract to another offshore manufacturer. But, the second offshore manufacturer disagreed with the war and refused to supply the parts.
"Whether or not you approve of our policy in Iraq," Dodd said, "our troops are going be disadvantaged because we outsourced the job to a company that disagrees with us."
©The Bristol Press 2005
When this story was posted in March 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| The Peace Corps Library Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related stories in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can find hundreds of stories about what RPCVs with your same interests or from your Country of Service are doing today. If you have a web site, support the "Peace Corps Library" and link to it today. |
| Crisis Corps arrives in Thailand After the Tsunami in Southeast Asia last December, Peace Corps issued an appeal for Crisis Corps Volunteers and over 200 RPCVs responded. The first team of 8 Crisis Corps volunteers departed for Thailand on March 18 to join RPCVs who are already supporting relief efforts in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and India with other agencies and NGO's. |
| RPCVs in Congress ask colleagues to support PC RPCVs Sam Farr, Chris Shays, Thomas Petri, James Walsh, and Mike Honda have asked their colleagues in Congress to add their names to a letter they have written to the House Foreign Operations Subcommittee, asking for full funding of $345 M for the Peace Corps in 2006. As a follow-on to Peace Corps week, please read the letter and call your Representative in Congress and ask him or her to add their name to the letter. |
| Add your info now to the RPCV Directory Call Harris Publishing at 800-414-4608 right away to add your name or make changes to your listing in the newest edition of the NPCA's Directory of Peace Corps Volunteers and Former Staff. Then read our story on how you can get access to the book after it is published. The deadline for inclusion is May 16 so call now. |
| March 1: National Day of Action Tuesday, March 1, is the NPCA's National Day of Action. Please call your Senators and ask them to support the President's proposed $27 Million budget increase for the Peace Corps for FY2006 and ask them to oppose the elimination of Perkins loans that benefit Peace Corps volunteers from low-income backgrounds. Follow this link for step-by-step information on how to make your calls. Then take our poll and leave feedback on how the calls went. |
| Make a call for the Peace Corps PCOL is a strong supporter of the NPCA's National Day of Action and encourages every RPCV to spend ten minutes on Tuesday, March 1 making a call to your Representatives and ask them to support President Bush's budget proposal of $345 Million to expand the Peace Corps. Take our Poll: Click here to take our poll. We'll send out a reminder and have more details early next week. |
Read the stories and leave your comments.
Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.
Story Source: Bristol Press
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Dominican Republic; Politics; Congress
PCOL18130
46
.