Senate GOP Kills Bill to Discourage Offshoring, Bring Back American Jobs

Ohio Senate candidate and Lt. Governor Lee Fisher joined CWA leaders Wednesday to condemn Senate Republicans for blocking a bill that would end tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas.

"Job creation is not a political game," Fisher said, describing how Republicans have abused the Senate rules to derail legislation that would help American workers and their families. "What was once a well intentioned rule to protect the minority party has become a partisan weapon of mass destruction."

Fisher spoke to the media on a conference call with CWA District 4 Vice President Seth Rosen and Local 4300 Vice President Ron Gay.

Rosen said that while abuse of Senate rules may "sound like an abstract topic, it's actually an issue with painful and real-world consequences" as Tuesday's vote against American jobs illustrated.

Gay pointed to Ohio's loss of tens of thousands of good, manufacturing jobs at companies such as Delphi and G.E. "Senate Republicans blocked a measure that would give companies a real incentive to keep and create jobs in the United States," he said. "They wouldn't even let it come up for discussion."

Adding insult to injury, Gay said, "my tax dollars are supporting tax breaks for the companies that moved our jobs offshore."

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, whose members have made billions exploiting cheap overseas labor, lobbied against the bill, making the wild claim that putting more Americans back to work wouldn't help the economy. "Replacing a job that is based in another country with a domestic job does not stimulate economic growth," the Chamber said.