A house RESOLUTION

to URGE THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO TAKE SUCH ACTIONS AS ARE NECESSARY TO ENACT A POLICY THAT SUPPORTS UNITED STATES BUSINESSES AND WORKERS WHILE PENALIZING GLOBAL POLLUTERS.

Whereas, Chinese government-owned industry is an arm of the communist party and strives to increase its influence over the global economy by pursuing predatory, unfair trade practices designed to steal intellectual property and destroy competition from the United States; and

Whereas, China's dominance of key components of the global supply chain, including those related to critical minerals, represents a threat to United States economic security and economic and social development; and

Whereas, China, by far the world's largest polluter, subsidizes its exports by not imposing or enforcing reasonable environmental and labor standards; and

Whereas, United States manufacturers are more efficient in nearly every industry - from steel to pharmaceuticals to automobiles - and yet are forced to compete with companies in China and elsewhere that face few limits on how much they pollute; and

Whereas, goods produced in China, on average, generate three times the pollution of equivalent goods made in the United States, and goods produced in Russia emit four times the pollution; and

Whereas, many rural Americans are being left behind economically, suffering from severe poverty, poor health care, and few economic opportunities, making them increasingly vulnerable to crime and the opioid crisis; and

Whereas, manufacturing jobs play a more important role in the rural economy than in urban areas, accounting for a greater share of economic development; and

Whereas, United States trade policy, which has given foreign polluters an unfair advantage over the past two decades, has encouraged economic restructuring across rural America that has resulted in manufacturing employment falling by close to thirty percent; and

Whereas, China has been the major beneficiary of this poorly designed federal trade policy, at the expense of U.S. industry; and

Whereas, rewarding United States firms for their environmental performance would bolster domestic manufacturing and generate good-paying jobs and reduce dependence on imports from high-emitting producers like Russia and China. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives:

That the members of the South Carolina House of Representatives, by this resolution, urge members of the United States Congress to take such actions as are necessary to enact a policy that holds high-polluting countries like China and Russia accountable for their pollution and promotes American economic development and the rebuilding of United States supply chains, particularly in rural communities, by rewarding American businesses and workers for their superior environmental performance while penalizing global polluters.

Be it further resolved that copies of this resolution be forwarded to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the President of the United States Senate, and the members of the South Carolina congressional delegation.

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