During Tuesday’s House Oversight Committee hearing, Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) spoke about the need to strengthen the United States’ industrial base.
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00:00It's Mr. Higgins from Louisiana for five minutes.
00:03Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
00:04Mr. Bishop, from your perspective,
00:06what happens to the sovereignty of a nation
00:08when it loses its industrial base?
00:16Well, that's a softball question, I feel like.
00:21I mean, it is, and I appreciate it.
00:23It's set up for hard work.
00:24I imagine.
00:26No, and I'm slightly joking
00:28because you would think it'd be an obvious answer,
00:31but it seems like over many decades,
00:33no one has taken this as a softball question.
00:35It has either not taken it seriously
00:38or has come to the wrong conclusion.
00:39So clearly you concur that the sovereignty
00:44of a powerful nation will gradually disintegrate
00:48with the gradual loss of its industrial base.
00:55You cannot have one without the other.
00:57You cannot have one without the other.
00:58There you go.
00:59So the loss of American industrial base
01:04largely to China.
01:05Let's just talk about China.
01:09Would you concur that there's been
01:11some perceived price advantage
01:14for products on the shelves,
01:17that this has been a foundational,
01:20like, driving factor?
01:22Setting aside the details,
01:23basically people want more stuff and cheaper stuff, right?
01:26That would certainly have been the driving narrative.
01:27Clearly.
01:28So the price advantage,
01:30is that the result of the price advantage
01:33from goods manufactured in China
01:36and transported across the ocean
01:37to American ends up on American shelves?
01:40Is that price advantage?
01:42In some way,
01:43is that price advantage
01:44the result of some combination
01:46of subsidized endeavors from communists,
01:53child labor and slave labor?
01:55All of the above.
01:56All of the above.
01:58So there you go, America.
02:01I want you to think about this.
02:04Please.
02:05As a child of God,
02:07as a compassionate human being,
02:11do you really want
02:13a cheaper product on the shelf
02:15that's been subsidized by communists
02:17and produced with child labor
02:19and slave labor?
02:22This is what the Trump administration
02:25and some conservatives in Congress
02:28are pushing back against.
02:30We seek to establish the truth
02:36that cheap products
02:39produced in abhorrent conditions
02:43on foreign soil,
02:46subsidized by communism,
02:48and produced by child labor
02:50and slave labor,
02:51not only should they not be available
02:53for a cheaper price on our shelf,
02:55they shouldn't be available at all
02:57on American shelves,
03:00in the opinion of some.
03:05So we not only support
03:08the aggressive effort
03:10of our executive branch
03:12to push back against this worldwide,
03:16but particularly with China,
03:18we not only support it,
03:20we demand it.
03:23And some of us,
03:24I'm 63 years old.
03:26I've watched our industrial base
03:28disintegrate in my lifetime.
03:31And what we hope,
03:33and I'm going to ask you,
03:34Mr. Bishop,
03:35to address what this means
03:36for the next generation,
03:38I am prayerful
03:39that we can fix this thing
03:41and this Congress
03:42at least change the trajectory
03:44of trade imbalance
03:46by insisting upon
03:49core principled trade deals
03:53with nations like China.
03:54and we have to be aggressive
03:56and we have to be aggressive
03:56about it
03:57for the coming generation.
03:59Mr. Bishop,
04:00how would you,
04:01how would you see
04:03if we fix this thing,
04:05what happens
04:06for the next generation
04:08of Americans
04:08if we restore
04:10the industrial base
04:11of our sovereign nation?
04:14It's a golden era.
04:15I mean,
04:16you look for,
04:17I mean,
04:17you look at
04:18where the cities
04:19where we used to produce things,
04:21St. Louis,
04:22Cleveland,
04:22Pittsburgh.
04:24I mean,
04:24these were some
04:24of the richest cities,
04:25not just in the country,
04:26but in the entire world.
04:28We literally called it
04:28a gilded era.
04:31And what's happened
04:32over the last century
04:33and has certainly
04:33accelerated
04:34over the last two decades
04:36is something
04:36that's reversible.
04:37We have to get
04:37very,
04:38very serious about it.
04:39Do you believe
04:39a new golden era
04:41has been described
04:42as achievable,
04:45good sir,
04:46if we make
04:47the necessary
04:47corrections now?
04:50We're still,
04:51we still have time,
04:52but in my opinion,
04:54we have to get
04:55really serious
04:56right now.
04:57Well,
04:58Mr. Chairman,
04:58we are really serious
04:59right now.
05:00Thank you for
05:01convening this hearing
05:03and I yield.