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The Facts:

SHERROD BROWN: Before I ask for your vote, I owe it to you to tell you where I stand. I'm for an increase in the minimum wage and against trade agreements that cost Ohio jobs.

FACT: Sherrod Brown Has Been a Congressional Champion on the Minimum Wage.

Sherrod Brown co-sponsored ten bills to increase the minimum wage. [HR 2429; HR 965; HR 4256; HR 665; HR 2812; HR 325; HR 2211; HR 3100; HR 3510; HR 940]

He voted for an increase five times.

$1 Increase Over Two Years. [Roll Call 45, HR 3846, 3/9/00]

$1 Increase Over One Year. [Roll Call 43, HR  3846, 3/9/00]

90¢ Increase Over Two Years. [Roll Call 195, HR  1227, 5/23/96]

$2.10 Increase Over Two Years. [HR 5970 , Vote #425, 7/29/06]

90¢ Increase Over Two Years. [HR 3448, Vote #398 8/2/96]

He supports the Ohio ballot initiative to raise the wage, and has made the issue a central focus of his Senate campaign. [Toledo Blade, 8/30/06]

Brown- "Raising the federal minimum helps with worker performance, business productivity, and strengthens local economies." [Cincinnati Enquirer, 8/4/06]

FACT: Sherrod Brown Consistently Opposed Trade Agreements That Cost Ohio Jobs.

Sherrod Brown Opposed NAFTA, CAFTA, and PNTR with China. Sherrod Brown has consistently opposed bad trade deals like NAFTA, CAFTA, and PNTR with China. China that hurt Ohio, even breaking with his own party to do so.  He led the bipartisan opposition to CAFTA, working with conservative Republicans like Walter Jones (R-NC) and Virgil Goode (R-VA). [HR 3045, #443, 7/28/05; HR 4444, #228, 5/24/00; H.R. 3450, #575, 11/17/93; The Washington Post, 6/12/05]

Brown: Our Workers Can Compete with Anyone. Sherrod Brown believes that "there is no doubt that American workers can compete with anyone in the world on a level playing field" and he supports measures to guarantee that level field." [Akron Beacon-Journal, 6/27/06]

I support stem cell research, tighter borders, and a balanced budget amendment.

FACT: Sherrod Brown Fought to Expand Stem Cell Research.

Sherrod Brown Voted 4 Times to Expand Federal Stem Cell Research.  President Bush announced in August 2001 that he would allow the federal government to back the research, but only on stem cells that had already been created. Since Bush's announcement, many of the groups of stem cells that were thought to be available for research have turned out to be unusable, and others are now thought to be unsuitable for experiments involving transplantation into patients. Under the bill, the federal government could fund research involving embryonic stem cells no matter when they were created. The stem cells would still have to come from embryos donated by fertility clinic patients who no longer planned to use them to become pregnant. The bill would authorize research on embryos that would be discarded otherwise. [Los Angeles Times, 5/25/05; Chicago Tribune, 5/25/05; HR 810, #204, 5/24/05; Morning Star, 3/1/03; HR 534, #37, 2/27/03; Boston Globe, 8/2/01; Boston Globe, 8/1/01; Associated Press, 8/1/01; HR 2505, #302, 7/31/01; HR 3755, #307, 7/11/96]

FACT: Sherrod Brown Supports Tighter Borders.

Brown Voted to Implement 9/11 Commission Border Security Recommendations.  The recommendations included ordering the Department of Homeland Security to locate undocumented aliens that have been set free under the "catch and release" program and ensure deportation of all eligible criminal undocumented aliens serving sentences in state or federal correctional facilities.  It would provide state-of-the art surveillance technology, including cameras, sensors, radar, satellites, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in order to ensure 100% border coverage. [HR 4437, #660, 12/16/05]

Brown Supported Detention and Removal of Criminal and Dangerous Aliens. Brown voted for the Community Protection Act, which restores the Secretary of Homeland Security's authority to detain dangerous aliens, ensures the removal of deportable criminal aliens, and combats alien gang crime. [HR 6094, #465, 9/21/06]

Brown Voted to Prohibit Construction of Border Tunnels.  Brown voted to prohibit the unauthorized construction, financing, or reckless permitting (on one's land) the construction or use of a tunnel or subterranean passageway between the United States and another country. [HR 4830, #469, 9/21/06]

Brown Supported the Assistance of Local Law Enforcement in Immigration Matters. Brown voted for the Immigration Law Enforcement Act, to affirm the inherent authority of state and local law enforcement to assist in the enforcement of immigration laws, to provide for effective prosecution of alien smugglers, and to reform immigration litigation procedures. [HR 6095, #468, 9/21/06]

Brown Voted to Authorize Border Fence.  Brown voted for the Secure Fence Act, which authorized 700 miles of fence along the U.S.-Mexican border. [HR 6061, #446, 9/14/06]

Brown Voted for Stiffer Penalties for Businesses that Knowingly Hire Unauthorized Workers. Sherrod Brown voted to increase the fines on businesses that knowingly hire unauthorized aliens. Brown also voted against protecting businesses who hire illegal immigrants. The bill set maximum caps on penalties for business who hire illegal immigrants.  It also provides a "safe-harbor" for contractors if they hire a sub-contractor who, without the primary contractor's knowledge, hires an illegal immigrant.  [HR 4437, #657, 12/16/05; HR 4437, #658, 12/16/05]

Brown Showed Foresight, Predicted NAFTA Would Increase Illegal Immigration.  In a 1993 editorial, Sherrod Brown wrote, "even the pro-NAFTA experts predict increased illegal immigration resulting from NAFTA. Both the Trilateral Commission and Hufbauer and Schott estimate that illegal immigration from Mexico to the United States will increase in the short-to-medium term - which is defined as ten to twenty years." In 1992, there were approximately 3.5 million illegal immigrants in the United States. Today, after thirteen years of NAFTA, there are approximately 12 million.  [Roll Call, 7/19/93; United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, http://www.uscis.gov]

FACT: Sherrod Brown Supports Balanced Budget Amendment.

Brown Co-Sponsored Balanced Budget Amendment to Promote Fiscal Discipline. In 1996, Brown co-sponsored the balanced budget amendment and voted for the version of the bill that passed the House. The amendment was opposed by the Clinton White House. [H.J.RES. 28; H.J.RES. 1, 1/26/95, #51; New York Times, 11/6/93]

ANNOUNCER: Sherrod Brown stood up to the President of his own party to protect American jobs, fighting against the Mexico and China trade deals that sent countless jobs oversees.

FACT: Sherrod Brown Stood Up to the President of His Own Party on Trade Deals with Mexico and China.

Sherrod Brown Opposed Bad Trade Deals Like NAFTA and PNTR that Were Supported by Clinton White House. He even broke with his own party to do so. [H.R. 3450, #575, 11/17/93; HR 4444, #228, 5/24/00]

FACT: NAFTA and PNTR with China Cost U.S. Countless Jobs.

Ohio Lost Nearly 50,000 Jobs Due to NAFTA Alone. More than 1 million jobs have been lost nationwide since NAFTA was signed in 1993. The growth of imports displaced domestic production that would have supported 2 million jobs nationwide. "No protections were contained in the core of the agreement to maintain labor or environmental standards. As a result, NAFTA tilted the economic playing field in favor of investors and against workers and the environment, causing a hemispheric 'race to the bottom' in wages and environmental quality."  [Economic Policy Institute Issue Brief. "NAFTA's Cautionary Tale," 7/20/05]

Ohio Lost Over 50,000 Jobs Due to Trade Policy with China. The rise in the United States' trade deficit with China from 1989 to 2003 caused displacement of production that supported 1.5 million U.S. jobs. Ohio lost 61,914 jobs to China in this period.  The loss of jobs due to the growing trade deficit with China has more than doubled since it entered the WTO in 2001. [U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, "U.S.-China Trade, 1989-2003," 1/11/05]

SHERROD BROWN: I'm Sherrod Brown – I approve this message.  It's time to put the middle class first.