Sen. Olympia Snowe proposes assistance for communities instead of corporations.
WASHINGTON – Sen. Olympia Snowe introduced legislation on Thursday to help towns on the losing end of global trade.
The proposed act would take revenue collected from unfair trade practices – such as antidumping and countervailing tariffs – and give it to communities nationwide for economic development.
The revenue, estimated at $300 million each year, currently goes to the corporations affected by trade. But the World Trade Organization recently said that system violates its regulations. Snowe, R-Maine, crafted her proposal as an alternative, along with Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Saxby Chambliss, R-Georgia.
It could translate into new opportunities for towns that have lost jobs because of foreign competition.
Several towns in Androscoggin, Oxford and Franklin counties would likely qualify for aid, including Lewiston, Auburn, Lisbon, Farmington, Jay and Rumford, as well as many others.
“I hope this legislation will help fishing, mill, mining and farming communities hurt by trade, to regain their footing,” Snowe said in a release.
In the past, federal assistance has been directed only to the affected workers and companies certified by the Department of Labor. A program called Trade Adjustment Assistance offers retraining, job searches, cash allowances and other benefits for eligible workers.
But the affected towns have struggled in the wake of layoffs.
“In small towns, where the livelihood of the local economy can often depend on one industry, one plant or one company that is suffering under trade liberalization,” Snowe said, “a community can be devastated when that steel mill, paper mill or textile mill shuts down.”
Snowe gave as examples Great Northern Paper in East Millinocket and C.F. Hathaway in Waterville.
Communities that have had firms certified for TAA in the past few years would probably be eligible for development grants under the new legislation, Snowe said. Dozens of companies in western Maine have been certified, including G.H. Bass, MeadWestvaco and Bates of Maine.
For years, Snowe has backed TAA and other programs to help displaced workers. She is a member of the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees trade.
Directing funds to the communities themselves would represent a major shift in policy.
The Department of Commerce would oversee the new program. It would work like this: Communities request assistance; the department determines what impact trade had on the community; strategic plans are developed; and grants are disbursed, based on need and available funds. The strategic plans aim at creating and retaining jobs, and diversifying local economies.
“My legislation,” Snowe said, “will also bring the United States in compliance with its international obligations by targeting funds to the communities, rather than a corporation.”
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