Louisiana 2023 2023 Regular Session

Louisiana Senate Bill SR53 Enrolled / Bill

                    2023 Regular Session	ENROLLED
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 53
BY SENATOR KLEINPETER 
A RESOLUTION
To memorialize Congress to enact a trade 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, accounts for approximately
thirty percent of global carbon dioxide (CO
2) emissions and subsidizes its exports by not
imposing or enforcing reasonable environmental and labor standards; and
WHEREAS, the United States has eliminated more carbon emissions than any other
country in the last fifteen years, and its economy is forty-four percent more carbon efficient
than the world average; and
WHEREAS, United States' manufacturers are more efficient in nearly every industry
from steel to solar panels 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 CO
2
emissions of equivalent goods made in the United States, and goods produced in Russia emit
four times the emissions; and
WHEREAS, minerals mined in China are more than twice as carbon intensive as
those mined in the United States, the average carbon intensity of Russian oil is at least
thirty-three percent higher than United States oil, and Russian natural gas is sixty percent
more greenhouse gas intensive than United States natural gas; and
WHEREAS, many rural Americans are being left behind economically, suffering
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from severe poverty, poor health care, and few economic opportunities, making them
increasingly vulnerable to crime and the opioid crisis; and
WHEREAS, the average per capita income for rural Americans is only forty-six
thousand dollars, compared to roughly sixty thousand dollars for all Americans, and the
poverty rate in rural America is fourteen point four percent, compared with eleven point nine
percent nationwide; and
WHEREAS, United States rural communities have lower wages, property taxes, and
land prices, which should give them a competitive advantage in attracting investments in
manufacturing that provide revenue streams that help fund local schools and infrastructure;
and
WHEREAS, manufacturing jobs pay a more important role in the rural economy than
in urban areas, accounting for a greater share of jobs and earnings; 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, with the United States losing roughly five million jobs in the last twenty years,
and half of those losses are the result of the United States trade deficit with China; and
WHEREAS, rewarding United States firms for their environmental performance
would bolster domestic manufacturing and generate good paying jobs, particularly in rural
areas, and reduce dependence on imports from high emitting producers like Russia and
China.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
does hereby memorialize the Congress of the United States to take such actions as are
necessary to enact a trade 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.
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BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution shall be transmitted
to the secretary of the United States Senate and the clerk of the United States House of
Representatives and to each member of the Louisiana delegation to the United States
Congress.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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