HLS 23RS-922 ENGROSSED
2023 Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 39
BY REPRESENTATIVE MIGUEZ
ENVIRONMENT: Memorializes Congress to enact a trade policy that supports United
States businesses and workers while penalizing global polluters
1 A RESOLUTION
2To memorialize the United States Congress to take such actions as are necessary to enact a
3 trade policy that supports United States businesses and workers while penalizing
4 global polluters.
5 WHEREAS, Chinese government owned industry is an arm of the communist party
6and strives to increase its influence over the global economy by pursuing predatory, unfair
7trade practices designed to steal intellectual property and destroy competition from the
8United States; and
9 WHEREAS, China's dominance of key components of the global supply chain,
10including those related to critical minerals, represents a threat to United States economic
11security and economic and social development; and
12 WHEREAS, China, by far the world's largest polluter, accounts for approximately
13thirty percent of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and subsidizes its exports by not
14imposing or enforcing reasonable environmental and labor standards; and
15 WHEREAS, the United States has eliminated more carbon emissions than any other
16country in the last fifteen years, and its economy is forty-four percent more carbon efficient
17than the world average; and
18 WHEREAS, United States' manufacturers are more efficient in nearly every industry
19from steel to solar panels to automobiles and yet are forced to compete with companies in
20China and elsewhere that face few limits on how much they pollute; and
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HR NO. 39
1 WHEREAS, goods produced in China, on average, generate three times the CO2
2emissions of equivalent goods made in the United States, and goods produced in Russia emit
3four times the emissions; and
4 WHEREAS, minerals mined in China are more than twice as carbon intensive as
5those mined in the United States, the average carbon intensity of Russian oil is at least thirty-
6three percent higher than United States oil, and Russian natural gas is sixty percent more
7greenhouse gas intensive than United States natural gas; and
8 WHEREAS, many rural Americans are being left behind economically, suffering
9from severe poverty, poor health care, and few economic opportunities, making them
10increasingly vulnerable to crime and the opioid crisis; and
11 WHEREAS, the average per capita income for rural Americans is only forty-six
12thousand dollars, compared to roughly sixty thousand dollars for all Americans, and the
13poverty rate in rural America is fourteen and four-tenths percent, compared with eleven and
14nine-tenths percent nationwide; and
15 WHEREAS, United States rural communities have lower wages, property taxes, and
16land prices, which should give them a competitive advantage in attracting investments in
17manufacturing that provide revenue streams that help fund local schools and infrastructure;
18and
19 WHEREAS, manufacturing jobs play a more important role in the rural economy
20than in urban areas, accounting for a greater share of jobs and earnings; and
21 WHEREAS, United States' trade policy, which has given foreign polluters an unfair
22advantage over the past two decades, has encouraged economic restructuring across rural
23America that has resulted in manufacturing employment falling by close to thirty percent;
24and
25 WHEREAS, China has been the major beneficiary of this poorly designed federal
26trade policy, with the United States losing roughly five million jobs in the last twenty years,
27and half of those losses are the result of the United States trade deficit with China; and
28 WHEREAS, rewarding United States firms for their environmental performance
29would bolster domestic manufacturing and generate good paying jobs, particularly in rural
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HR NO. 39
1areas, and reduce dependence on imports from high emitting producers like Russia and
2China.
3 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
4Legislature of Louisiana does hereby memorialize the United States Congress to take such
5actions as are necessary to enact a trade policy that holds high polluting countries like China
6and Russia accountable for their pollution and promotes American economic development
7and the rebuilding of United States supply chains, particularly in rural communities, by
8rewarding American businesses and workers for their superior environmental performance
9while penalizing global polluters.
10 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
11presiding officers of the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Congress of the
12United States and to each member of the Louisiana congressional delegation.
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HR 39 Engrossed 2023 Regular Session Miguez
Memorializes the U.S. Congress to enact a trade policy that supports U.S. businesses and
workers while penalizing global polluters.
Summary of Amendments Adopted by House
The Committee Amendments Proposed by House Committee on Commerce to the
original bill:
1. Make technical changes.
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