October, 05 2020, 12:00am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Derrick Robinson (202) 909-6355, Rdrobinson@citizen.org
Matthew Groch (202) 454-5111, mgroch@citizen.org
During Trump Presidency, 200,000 Jobs Offshored and Corporations Involved Awarded $425 Billion in Federal Contracts
Public Citizen releases new report "promises made, workers betrayed: Trump’s bigly broken promise to stop job offshoring."
WASHINGTON
President Donald Trump has awarded more than $425 billion in federal contracts to corporations listed among those responsible for offshoring 200,000 American jobs during his presidency, according to a new report released today by Public Citizen.
In 2016, Trump promised voters in key industrial swing states that he would end job offshoring. He said he would deny firms that offshored from U.S. government contracts so that they would bring jobs back to America in order to keep billions in lucrative government business. Yet eight out of the top 10 firms receiving government contracts during the Trump presidency have been government-certified as having offshored jobs, the report reveals.
Public Citizen's report, which analyzes U.S. Labor Department (DoL) trade-related job loss and USASpending procurement data includes tables of firms, contract amounts and jobs offshored.
Key report findings include:
- To date, 311,427 American workers have been government-certified as losing jobs to trade during Trump's presidency, with 202,543 jobs explicitly certified as offshored.
- Under Trump, one-in-four taxpayer dollars spent on federal procurement contracts - at least $425.6 billion - went to firms offshoring jobs during his presidency.
- Half of the top 10 recipients of Trump-era contracts were certified by the U.S. government as having offshored jobs during the Trump administration.
- Trump is currently pledging to ban federal contracts to firms that offshore to China, but to date has awarded $113.9 billion to firms that did just that. Top-100 federal contract recipients, Boeing, General Electric, Dell, Honeywell and Merck collectively offshored 6,038 jobs to China during the Trump administration and were awarded $113.9 billion in government contracts starting in FY 2017.
- United Technologies (UT) was a top recipient of Trump government contracts, receiving $15.1 billion dollars from FY 2017 to FY 2019 even as it offshored at least 1,300 of the Carrier jobs that president-elect Trump pledged to save. Jobs of 600 workers at Carrier's Indianapolis plant and all 700 at Carrier's Huntington, Indiana plant were offshored to Mexico in 2017. Under Trump the DoL certified UT as offshoring a total of 1,572 jobs and previously certified 11,459 jobs offshored among the 16,981 jobs that the DoL shows that UT eliminated due to trade.
- Of the top 50 federal contractors, by dollars awarded in FYs 2017, 2018 and 2019, 28% were government-certified as having engaged in offshoring during the Trump administration, and of the top 100, 25% had offshored American jobs during his term. Many of the top 100 firms to which the Trump administration awarded government contracts offshored jobs during his administration and were notorious chronic job offshorers certified for tens of thousands of job losses.
- Boeing, General Electric and UT were among the largest recipients of government contracts during the Trump era even as they all offshored jobs. During the Trump administration, Boeing offshored 5,800 jobs; General Electric offshored 2,046; and United Technologies offshored 1,572 jobs - including many from its Carrier division, the firm whose workers Trump promised to save.
- The Trump administration awarded on average 2.5 times the amount, or $10 billion more, in contracts to firms that offshored during his term than to those that did not.
The report was released at a press conference (recording available here). Participating members of Congress discussed the report's findings:
Rep. Raul M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources said:
"Trump lied to America's workers when he told them jobs were staying in the United States. Under his watch jobs have left while he continues rewarding outsourcing corporations with millions of dollars in lucrative government contracts - in the middle of a pandemic. This latest report by Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch confirms the gaping hole between Trump's campaign promises and his failed leadership. Hard-working Americans who have dedicated decades to these companies are now forced to fend for themselves in an unstable job market that continues reeling from the impacts of COVID-19. Working families deserve better."
Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) said: "After promising Michiganders the moon, there's been a net loss of over 50,000 manufacturing jobs under Trump. And he's currently the first president in generations to oversee a net job loss. This report shows what workers in my state already know: the Trump administration awarded at least $425 billion in government contracts to corporations that offshored U.S. jobs. He may have promised workers to end job offshoring. But his actions show, he was really just paying billions to corporations who took away American jobs. Bringing the supply chain back to America strengthens domestic manufacturing and improves national security."
Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) said: "I first ran for Congress to put an end to the destructive trade deals that were shipping jobs overseas. In 2016, Trump struck a chord with voters in my district, and across the country, by promising to bring those jobs back - but he has done just the opposite. Since elected, President Trump has given tax incentives and awarded hundreds of billions of dollars in federal contracts to corporations that send jobs overseas. Enough is enough. It is past time to level the playing field and cut American workers in on the deal."
Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) said: "Time and time again, Donald Trump has proven that he will always put his corporate friends' profits over the lives of American workers. An administration that has promised to bring jobs back to our country - including Wisconsin - has given some of the largest government contract handouts to companies known for offshoring jobs. The people of Wisconsin are fed up with the endless broken promises from Donald Trump and job losses that have only gotten worse because of his failure to respond to this pandemic. Donald Trump has failed American workers."
Rep. Brendon Boyle (D-Pa.) said: "As a candidate in 2016, President Trump said he'd stop job offshoring and quickly. As President, his administration has overseen 200,000+ jobs offshored. Working families know this economy is stacked against them as American workers face stagnant wages, benefit reductions and unfair foreign competition. Many of the top 100 firms to whom the Trump administration awarded government contracts, are notorious & chronic job offshorers. President Trump simply failed in holding up his end of the bargain when he allowed these jobs to land in foreign countries."
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass. ) also commented on the report: "This report is more evidence that Donald Trump is the King of Offshoring. For his entire term in office, Trump has awarded billions in new government contracts to firms notorious for serial American job outsourcing, showered giant multinational corporations with tax giveaways, shrugged his shoulders while people get laid off and jobs are shipped overseas - and he keeps lying through his teeth about it all. We need a President and a Congress that will defend our workers and create jobs here at home."
Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch said: "This is straight up promises made, workers betrayed. Trump won in 2016 by pledging to voters in key industrial swing states that he would end job offshoring but 200,000 more American jobs have been offshored during his presidency. Trump said he would bar firms that offshored from getting U.S. government contracts so that they'd bring jobs back to America in order to keep that lucrative government business but eight out of the top 10 firms receiving government contracts during the Trump presidency have been government-certified as having offshored jobs with at least one of every four taxpayer dollars spent on federal procurement contracts - at least $425.6 billion - going to firms offshoring jobs during his presidency."
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power. We defend democracy, resist corporate power and work to ensure that government works for the people - not for big corporations. Founded in 1971, we now have 500,000 members and supporters throughout the country.
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Former US Lawmaker Finally Enjoys Social Policies He Fought for—In Europe
"I saw and felt what it's like to live in a community where everyone can go to the doctor. Where children aren't massacred by gun violence. It changes everything."
Mar 28, 2024
A former U.S. lawmaker who spent nearly half a century fighting for a nation that would have universal healthcare coverage and less gun violence is finally living in such a place—but he had to retire and move to Europe to find it.
In recent interviews with Roll Call and The Washington Post, former Democratic Congressman Jim McDermott, who also served in the Washington state Legislature, discussed life in France and the threat of former GOP President Donald Trump, who is set to face Democratic President Joe Biden in November.
"It was like I walked through an invisible door," McDermott told the Post's Elizabeth Becker about going to France. "Now I saw and felt what it's like to live in a community where everyone can go to the doctor. Where children aren't massacred by gun violence. It changes everything."
McDermott visited Civrac-en-Médoc in 2017, the same year he retired from Congress, and quickly bought a stone cottage. The 87-year-old keeps a residence in Seattle and remains an American—he is a member of Democrats Abroad and plans to vote for Biden. However, he largely lives in the rural French village, where he "doesn't need to lock his doors at night" and "loves that kids in the neighborhood don't worry about gun violence," as Roll Call's Ariel Cohen reported Wednesday.
"I spent 16 years in the Washington state Legislature trying to get single-payer healthcare. Then I spent nearly 30 years in Congress trying to get single-payer. Then I came to France and in three months I had single-payer. Was that mind-blowing? You bet."
France—which requires a psychological test for a gun license—has a population of about 68 million and each year sees 3.23 firearm-related deaths per 100,000 people, according to World Population Review. The United States, home to over 333 million, has 10.84 gun deaths per 100,000 people and mass shootings are on the rise.
During his decades on Capitol Hill, McDermott, a psychiatrist, supported stricter U.S. gun laws and nationwide universal healthcare. While progressives including U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) continue the battle for Medicare for All in Congress, McDermott is experiencing France's full coverage system, which was built over seven decades.
"The system covers most costs for hospital, physician, and long-term care, as well as prescription drugs; patients are responsible for coinsurance, copayments, and balance bills for physician charges that exceed covered fees," according to the Commonwealth Fund. "The insurance system is funded primarily by payroll taxes (paid by employers and employees), a national income tax, and tax levies on certain industries and products."
McDermott told Cohen "I spent 16 years in the Washington state Legislature trying to get single-payer healthcare. Then I spent nearly 30 years in Congress trying to get single-payer. Then I came to France and in three months I had single-payer. Was that mind-blowing? You bet."
As Cohen detailed:
When he arrived in France, he needed to fill a few prescriptions but didn't have a French primary care doctor. The pharmacist looked at his empty pill bottles and refilled them, no questions asked. When McDermott finally got a French physician, he received a brand-new CPAP machine at no cost. A month later, someone came to make sure it was working properly.
"Coming to France is like a drink of cold water," he says. "Once you've had this experience, it's easy to see all the ways in the U.S. you're getting screwed—well, not screwed per se, but definitely overcharged."
McDermott's first electoral win was tied to healthcare—specifically, his support for abortion rights. He was elected to the Washington House of Representatives in November 1970, the same election in which the state's voters legalized abortion, three years before the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Roe v. Wade ruling.
In June 2022, the Supreme Court's right-wing majority—including three Trump appointees—overturned Roe, sparking a fresh wave of forced pregnancy bills across the nation. Meanwhile, the French Parliament earlier this month enshired abortion rights in France's constitution.
"The whole country stood up and said, 'Up your ass, we're not going your way, America,'" McDermott said of the French vote. "People have realized America is not the place you want to be on everything."
While U.S. legislators in over 20 states have imposed new restrictions on reproductive healthcare since the fall of Roe, Trump—who's now signaling his support for Christian nationalism by hawking $60 patriotic-themed Bibles—and many congressional Republicans are pushing for a 15-week federal abortion ban and various other far-right policies.
From France, Becker noted, McDermott keeps tabs on U.S. politics, conversing with friends and politicians, sending money to campaigns, and warning people against a Trump win in November.
According to the former war correspondent:
In private conversations with McDermott, they wonder how to gauge the seriousness of Trump's increasingly dire threats to the country's democratic underpinnings and, potentially, to them and their families. "I get calls from my friends now who say they are scared to do what I did but are scared to stay."
He tells them: "If you can afford it, buy a second home in France, or Spain, or Portugal, wherever… a second home that could become a safe house."
Still, McDermott has some hope for his home country's future, telling Cohen: "I still vote, I still got my house in Seattle. Just because I don't live there doesn't mean I've given up on the United States."
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The sweeping 2021 laws had ended same-day voter registration, eliminated the use of student ID cards as a form of identification for voters, banned the distribution of absentee ballots to teenagers who would turn 18 by Election Day, and prohibited third parties from collecting ballots and returning them on behalf of voters.
Indigenous rights groups and tribes including Native Voice, Montana Native Vote, the Blackfeet Nation, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation, the Fort Belknap Indian Community, and the Northern Cheyenne Tribe filed a lawsuit in 2021 to challenge H.B. 176 and H.B. 530, the two laws pertaining to same-day registration and ballot collection.
Chief Justice Mike McGrath noted that Native people were disproportionately affected by the two laws, writing that it is "much more difficult on average for people living on reservations to either get to a polling place on or before Election Day, or to mail an absentee ballot prior to election day."
The summary of the majority opinion said the laws "violate the fundamental right to vote provided to all citizens by the Montana Constitution."
The court upheld a district court ruling from 2022.
"Today's Montana Supreme Court decision is a great victory for our clients and all Native Americans in Montana, who have asked for nothing more than the ability to exercise their fundamental right to vote," said Jonathan Topaz, staff attorney at the ACLU's Voting Rights Project. "Once again, courts have struck down the Montana Legislature's attempts to unconstitutionally burden the constitutional rights of Native Americans across the state. We will continue to fight for Native American voters in Montana and across the country to preserve their fundamental, constitutional right to vote."
Jacqueline De León, staff attorney for the Native American Rights Fund, called the 4-3 ruling "a resounding win for tribes in Montana."
"Despite repeated attacks on their voting rights, tribes and Native voters in Montana stood strong, and today the Montana Supreme Court affirmed that the state's legislative actions were unconstitutional," said De León. "Native voices deserve to be heard and this decision helps ensure that happens."
Josh Douglas, a law professor at University of Kentucky, wrote at Election Law Blog that the state Supreme Court "put real teeth into [the] state constitutional protection for voters," recognizing that the Montana Constitution goes further than federal law in protecting voting rights.
As the state constitution reads, "All elections shall be free and open, and no power, civil or military, shall at any time interfere to prevent the free exercise of the right of suffrage."
"The court refused to follow federal precedent, noting that '[t]his court can diverge from the minimal protections offered by the United States Constitution when the Montana Constitution clearly affords greater protection—or even where the provision is nearly identical,'" wrote Douglas. "State courts have various tools within state constitutions to robustly protect voters. The Montana Supreme Court's decision offers a solid roadmap for how to use state constitutional language on the right to vote. Other state supreme courts should follow the Montana Supreme Court's lead."
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Ronnie Jo Horse, executive director of Western Native Voice, said the ruling "reinforces the principle of equitable access to voting services and the protection of the rights for all voters."
"We are very pleased with today's landmark ruling," said Horse. "It stands as a testament to justice prevailing in defense of the rights of Montanans, especially those of Native American communities."
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Critics of former U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday derided the presumptive 2024 Republican nominee for hawking $60 patriotic-themed Bibles, with one prominent progressive cleric warning that the so-called Good Book "exposes grifters who try to exploit it."
The
God Bless the USA Bible—which is actually a rebranded 9/11 commemorative Bible first offered for sale in 2021 by country musician Lee Greenwood of "God Bless the USA" fame—has been slammed by devout Christians for having an American flag emblazoned on its cover and for containing nationalist documents including the U.S. Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Pledge of Allegiance.
"You all should get a copy of God Bless the USA Bible," Trump said in a 3-minute video promoting the book—which is not connected with his campaign. "You have to have it for your heart, for your soul."
"Replacing the real Bible with Trump Bibles is a too-perfect symbol of what has happened to evangelical Christianity."
Critics from across the political spectrum slammed what Slate senior writer Amanda Marcotte called Trump's "newest grift to squeeze money out of his cult followers."
"The not-at-all subtle message of the video is that Trump doesn't believe any of this faith-in-God crap, but he definitely believes in using Christian identity as a weapon to make money and dominate his foe," Marcotte wrote.
Bishop William Barber, the founding director of the Center for Public Theology & Public Policy at Yale Divinity School and a co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign,
said on social media that "the prophet Ezekiel named it in his day: Greedy politicians make an unholy alliance with false religion that says God is on their side when God has said no such thing!"
Conservative political commentator Charlie Sykes on Wednesday
blasted Trump for "commodifying the Bible during Holy Week," while former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming said that "instead of selling Bibles, you should probably buy one. And read it, including Exodus 20:14."
The volume's release comes during Christian Holy Week, and as Trump struggles to pay a $175 million bond after a New York judge found that he and his company committed massive fraud.
"Religion and Christianity are the biggest things missing from this country," Trump said in the promotional video. "It's one of the biggest problems we have, and it's why our country is going haywire. We've lost religion in our country."
"All Americans need a Bible in their home, and I have many. It's my favorite book," he added. "We must make America pray again."
Some observers noted how Trump used Christianity and the Bible as a prop during his White House tenure, including the time in 2020 when he ordered the violent dispersal of racial justice protesters in the wake of George Floyd's murder by Minneapolis police so he could pose for a photo-op outside a Washington, D.C. church.
Despite facing 91 federal and state criminal charges, Trump is all but certain to secure the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Christian nationalists have been busily preparing for a second Trump term, in part by drafting Project 2025, which one watchdog described as a "far-right playbook for American authoritarianism."
While his words and deeds may be antithetical to Christian doctrine, Trump is wildly popular among Evangelical Christians.
"Replacing the real Bible with Trump Bibles is a too-perfect symbol of what has happened to evangelical Christianity," Marcotte wrote. "The mistake is in believing Trump's followers are confused or ashamed about their devotion to a godless creep who laughs at true believers. In Trump's hands, the Bible is not a text for prayer and reflection, it's just a weapon. It's much easier to beat people down with a book if it's closed."
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