TEXT: REP. BONIOR ON CONGRESS AND CHINA'S WTO ACCESSION
("We should have a say in that decision.")

Washington -- The U.S. Congress should be able to vote on whether the United States supports China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), according to Representative David Bonior (Democrat of Michigan).

Bonior, who as Minority Whip is one of the leaders of the Democratic Party in the House of Representatives, said at a press conference March 20: "This is not simply a decision about trade rights. This is a decision that will affect the lives, the jobs, and the paychecks of every single American worker for decades to come. As the elected representatives of the people of this country, we should have a say in that decision."

"Congress has constitutional authority over trade," Bonior said. "We have a constitutional responsibility to carry out that authority. And we should have a say in this decision."

Following is the text of Bonior's statement:

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STATEMENT OF CONGRESSMAN DAVID E. BONIOR (D-MI)

"CONGRESS SHOULD HAVE A SAY IN CHINA WTO DECISION"

Should China be allowed to join the World Trade Organization? That's the question.

But let's be clear. This is not simply a decision about trade rights. This is a decision that will affect the lives, the jobs, and the paychecks of every single American worker for decades to come. As the elected representatives of the people of this country, we should have a say in that decision.

For 20 years, this nation has engaged in trade with China. For twenty years, we have allowed multinational corporations to make all of the decisions.

Their argument has always been the same: if you just let us into China, the economy will grow, human rights will get better, and everyone will benefit.

For 20 years, we have listened, and what have we seen?

A record forty billion dollar trade deficit.

Hundreds of thousands of American jobs lost.

A list of human rights abuses that grows longer and uglier every day.

Priests and nuns who are being beaten, tortured, and thrown into jail.

A system of prison labor that continues to flood our market with cheap goods.

And a trade imbalance that sees 35 percent of China's exports coming to the U.S., but only 3 percent of our products reaching China.

The State Department tells us that today, there is not a single free dissident in China to speak out against these policies.

And according to Monday's Christian Science Monitor, the Chinese legislature just voted to extend its bloody reach beyond its own borders -- and target people in places like Boston, and Paris, and Hong Kong who use the Internet to speak out against China's abuses.

And yet, the United States -- the most powerful nation with the biggest megaphone, the highest pulpit, and the greatest leverage in the world -- is preparing to roll over and play dead.

But we believe that the workers being forced to compete against prison labor -- and the dissidents struggling to have their voices heard -- deserve better. They deserve to be heard.

We can't let multinational corporations make this decision.

Congress has constitutional authority over trade. We have a constitutional responsibility to carry out that authority. And we should have a say in this decision.

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