Brown and Ryan push legislation on Chinese currency manipulation

Staff report

Newton Falls

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Avon, and U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, urged Monday for House approval of a bill that they say cracks down on Chinese currency manipulation.

The two congressmen visited Venture Plastics in Newton Falls to discuss Brown’s Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act of 2011, which already has cleared the Democrat-led Senate but has yet to come for a vote in the House.

Currency manipulation occurs when the Chinese government intentionally devalues its own currency against the U.S. dollar, resulting in artificially expensive American imports to China and artificially cheap Chinese imports to America.

“We’ve lost more than 2.8 million jobs in the U.S. already because of currency manipulation, including 100,000 in Ohio,” Ryan said. “How many more jobs have to disappear before we take action?”

Brown, whose bill cleared the Senate 63-35 on Oct. 11, said there is bipartisan support for the bill, but House leaders won’t put it up for a vote. “It’s time to put American workers first,” he said. “We cannot stand by and watch any longer as our factories close down and entire communities undergo total devastation.”