By a wide margin, the U.S. Senate this evening passed a bill to hold China accountable for its job-killing practice of currency manipulation. The 63-35 vote on S.1619, the Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Act of 2011, is a good step toward creating U.S. jobs.

The U.S. Senate today will vote on a bill (S. 1619) to hold China accountable for its job-killing practice of currency manipulation. According to new data, 2.8 million American jobs were lost or displaced over the past decade due to the growing U.S. trade deficit with China—fueled by Chinese currency manipulation. (Call your senators today and urge them to vote for S. 1619 or click HERE to e-mail your senators.)

A bill to hold China accountable for its job-killing practice of currency manipulation passed its final procedural hurdle in the Senate this morning 62-38 and is expected to pass in a final vote later today.

Next week, the U.S. Senate will take up consideration of a bill to address Chinese currency manipulation. The Republican-controlled House is holding up its version of the legislation, even though it passed the House with overwhelming bipartisan support in 2010, with 99 Republicans supporting it.

The U.S.-China trade deficit has eliminated or displaced nearly 2.8 million jobs, mainly in manufacturing, following that country’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, according to a study released today. View an interactive map of jobs lost throughout the United States here.

This is a cross-post from the House Ways and Means Committee Democrats:

Currency manipulation costs the United States hundreds of thousands of jobs, yet the Republicans fail to act.

With free trade agreements between the United States and Panama, South Korea and Colombia set to hit the congressional floor as soon as this month, lawmakers should check out recent polling which shows American voters are overwhelmingly opposed to trade deals that end up sending jobs overseas.

If China increased the value of its currency to its real level, the resulting growth in the United States could create 2.25 million new U.S. jobs, according to a new report.      

The Benefits of Revaluation, released today by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), explains that if the value of the Chinese currency, the yuan, and satellite currencies, such as those in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia, were increased by 25 percent to 30 percent against the dollar, the U.S. gross domestic product would grow as much as $285.7 billion, creating up to 2.25 million U.S. jobs. Creating that many jobs would reduce the U.S. unemployment rate by at least one full percentage point.

The U.S. government, American businesses and consumers all can play a role in combating China’s unfair trade policies that are weakening the nation’s economy, stealing jobs and giving China unparalleled economic advantages.

Here’s some good news on the trade front: U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Ron Kirk announced today that China has ended certain wind power equipment subsidies that gave its companies an unfair advantage in the global market.