Costs of all the provisions of this bill have now been run up to $140 billion dollars over ten years, nearly triple the original subsidy that supported American exporters.

And of that about $85 billion is to "aid U.S. multinational companies in their overseas operations."

Send Bill Thomas an e-mail and tell him what to do with an "American" Jobs Creation Act that creates jobs overseas.

In the meantime, the WTO sanctions do have to be dealt with and there are other alternatives.

In the Senate, we have the bipartisan Jumpstart Our Business Strengths Act (S 1637), co-sponsored by Republican Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Democrat Max Baucus. In the House, we have the bipartisan Job Protection Act of 2003 (HR 1769), jointly sponsored by Republican Phil Crane , Democrat Charles Rangel and Republican Don Manzullo.

Neither of these bills is perfect (the Senate bill was originally introduced as the "Corporate Tax Breaks for U.S. Manufacturers bill" before being changed to the more attractive and mind-clouding "Jumpstart Our Business Strengths Act").

But either of these bills is a far better choice than Bill Thomas' attempt to have taxpayers foot the bill for sending even more American jobs overseas.

If you're at all concerned, you might consider writing your Senators and House Representative and telling them you don't want to pay for off-shoring jobs.