<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en">
<html>
<b>Ok, Doug. Rub it in.</b>
<p><b>Here's the analysis of the House vote from George Becker:</b>
<br>To: All Steelworkers
<br>From: George Becker
<br>Subject: A Message From Pittsburgh
<p> Vote on PNTR For China in heavy Steelworker Districts. Congresspersons
<br>representing districts with the most Steelworkers voted by a large
margin
<br>against PNTR for China. Of the Congresspersons in the top 10
Congressional
<br>Districts as measured by number of members and retirees, 8 voted against
<br>PNTR for China. The 2 exceptions: Republicans Regula of Ohio
and English of
<br>Pennsylvania. In the next 10 biggest Steelworker districts 6
voted with us
<br>and 4 against. The 4 that voted against us were Democrats Sawyer
(OH),
<br>Bachus (AL) and Roemer (IN) and Republican Oxley (OH). The third
tier of 10
<br>was also 6-4 in our favor. Those who voted against us in this
tier were
<br>Republicans Gillmor (OH), Pitts (PA) and Gekas (PA) and Democrat Lucas
(KY).
<p><b> Money in Politics. The Business Roundtable, a DC based
lobby coalition</b>
<br><b>that includes some of the nation's largest corporations, spent $10
million</b>
<br><b>in advertising alone in passing PNTR for China. But that's
just the tip of</b>
<br><b>the iceberg. In all, the 200 members of the Business Roundtable
have</b>
<br><b>accounted for more than $58 million in soft money, PAC and individual</b>
<br><b>contributions to federal parties and candidates this election cycle,</b><b></b>
<p>
-33-
<p>Doug Henwood wrote:
<blockquote TYPE=CITE>[The China as devil thing doesn't play too well in
Peoria. From
<br>Gallup's weekly update.]
<p>* China Trade Bill Moves To Senate
<br>The China trade bill, which gives the world's largest country permanent
<br>normal trading relations with the U.S., has been passed by the House
in one
<br>of the most closely watched votes in years, and now moves to the Senate.
<br>The U.S. public ended up favoring the bill in a Gallup poll conducted
the
<br>weekend before the vote, by almost a 20-point margin, 56% to 37%.
That
<br>doesn't mean that Americans are oblivious to the critics of the bill,
and
<br>their allegations regarding serious human rights abuses in China.
In a
<br>Gallup Poll conducted this past weekend, 67% of Americans rated the
job the
<br>Chinese government does in respecting the human rights of its citizens
as
<br>bad, while only 18% rated it good. These numbers are essentially
unchanged
<br>from previous polls in 1999 and 1997. One clue to the public's
vote comes
<br>form responses to a question in the latest poll, which asks Americans
which
<br>is more important: Taking a stand on human rights in China, or
maintaining
<br>good relations with China. The public favors maintaining good
relations by
<br>a 54% to 34% margin.</blockquote>
</html>