of Indiana workers is five to six times that of Mexican workers. 

 And the communications ease, the transportation ease, even the 

 local governmental services are very positive factors for manufac- 

 turing in Indiana, even if the wage rate is $2 in Mexico and $16 

 in Indiana. 



I think that is an important point that has to be made. These 

 are facts, not emotion. The emotion is to suggest a $2 wage rate 

 necessarily means with a great swoosh everybody goes to Mexico. 

 Some manufacturers have succumbed to that temptation, and as 

 the Wall Street Journal front-page story last week on manufactur- 

 ing in Connecticut pointed out, they have come back, because they 

 have found that manufacturing costs total, across the board, all of 

 it, are frequently less in Indiana, Connecticut, and in other States 

 of our Union. 



Now, with regard to agriculture, we face, in my judgment, Mr. 

 Chairman, the toughest 90 days that we are likely to have in this 

 century. NAFTA and GATT are both critical for the future of Amer- 

 ican agriculture, and I would just say to anyone who is interested 

 in agriculture — and I certainly am — if we do not have a robust ex- 

 port program, we are dead in the water. We will have corn and 

 beans up to our necks. 



Out in Indiana, Iowa, and in most other States, in many years 

 we have to move from a fourth to a third of all we produce now 

 in corn and beans. We have to knock down the Mexican barriers 

 to our exports, and that is what NAFTA does. We have to have ac- 

 cess to the European market, and that is what GATT does. 



If we fail on both of these, there is no recovery, in my judgment, 

 for American agriculture. There is simply an end to the prospects 

 of the exports to which we have become accustomed and which we 

 must have for upside potential. Though we will not be emotional 

 about it, we will just be poor. We will go downhill in the process, 

 and rapidly. That is why even though I am confident regarding my 

 steel and auto workers that we are going to gain jobs, with regard 

 to agriculture this is a desperate search for the end zone. And we 

 have to succeed. 



Let me just say finally that, indeed, exports are important for 

 other reasons, among them, of course, the overall growth of our 

 economy. We have had very tough debates in the Congress this 

 year on the budget and on the tax bill. There are differing views 

 as to whether deficit reduction will occur. But most economists be- 

 lieve that the tax bill that we have passed will have at least tempo- 

 rarily a depressing effect upon growth of jobs and growth in our 

 economy. To sustain a double loss by losing NAFTA in the same 

 year would really be fatal to growth and to jobs. We cannot sustain 

 that in this economy and expect to see 2- or 3-percent real growth 

 in this year or any time soon. 



And with regard to one further consideration, we have a foreign 

 policy opportunity with Mexico that is heaven sent. We have sat 

 around in the Senate debating our relationship with Mexico for 

 many years. We have never had such an opportunity to rejoice in 

 a progressive administration friendly to our country, eager to do 

 business, to liberalize its economy. Mexicans have extended their 

 hands in this respect for cooperation, and it would be an unparal- 



