[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 136 (Friday, September 27, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H11575-H11576]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    THE UPCOMING CONTINUING RESOLUTION MAY CONTAIN SPECIAL INTEREST 
        PROVISIONS, INCLUDING ONE TO AVOID ``BUY AMERICAN'' LAWS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Ohio [Ms. Kaptur] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I recall Speaker Gingrich's initiative this 
evening called Correction Days. The idea was to do away with 
congressional business as usual and make government more responsive to 
our people.
  Mr. Speaker, I fear today and tomorrow may be the opposite of 
Corrections Day. They could be renamed Special Interest Days. Maybe we 
will need another Corrections Day to undo the damage we think is being 
done as the House completes its regular business, passes its respective 
appropriations bills, and finally recesses.
  I am speaking in particular of the continuing resolution about to 
emerge from behind closed doors and being worked on by the leaders of 
one side of this Chamber.
  Mr. Speaker, the special interests know full well that Members of 
Congress are eager to wrap up and get back home and prepare for the 
upcoming election. So they have lined up, it appears, so they can speak 
their special provisions into law at the last minute in the continuing 
resolution, because they know we have to pass that in order to keep the 
Government running.
  We used to have Howard Metzenbaum as the watchdog over on the other 
side, but we have heard rumors, in fact, that patent law protections 
might be undermined by some provisions being inserted by one of the 
Members in the other body.
  This afternoon, and I am going to insert this in the Record for our 
colleagues, the Associated Press reported that certain companies are 
trying to skirt ``Made in the U.S.A.'' laws by sneaking special 
provisions into the continuing resolution. Let me read the first 
sentence, the lead sentence, in fact, to a story written by AP 
congressional writer Jim Drinkard.
  He writes:

       Lobbyists for one of America's largest toolmakers are 
     seeking a last-minute congressional deal that would allow 
     them to continue marketing wrenches and other tools forged in 
     foreign countries as made in the U.S.A.

  Let me repeat. This is from the Associated Press. It says that this 
particular toolmaker is seeking to put language in this bill that would 
allow them to continue marketing wrenches and other tools made in other 
countries under the ``Made in the U.S.A.'' label.
  That is not what is supposed to be in this bill. Not only is it 
nongermane to the continuing resolution, it is also false advertising. 
It is not only an abuse of the legislative process, sneaking through 
special interest provisions in the closing hours of the session, it is 
unfair to American workers, because skirting ``Made in America'' laws 
kills American jobs.
  Mr. Speaker, we have many skilled workers in our country whose future 
depends on strong and competitive machine tool industries. We do not 
want to be undercutting them just to cut a special deal for a special 
interest. But according to the AP, Stanley Works, headquartered in New 
Britain, CT, sells tools that were cast or forged in foreign plants.
  Federal courts have required that tools made in foreign countries had 
to bear markings showing where they came from, so someone from Toledo, 
or any other community who wants to buy some tools, will know whether 
those tools were made in our country by American workers or whether 
they were made in a foreign country.
  That was not good enough for Stanley Works, it appears. They want to 
sell their tools to the consumer without revealing the true origin of 
those tools. That is misleading to the American consumer, it is unfair 
to American workers, and special interests appear to be lined up to do 
an end run around our ``Made in America'' laws right in the continuing 
resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, ``Made in America'' laws help keep American workers 
employed. They help keep the orders coming in and jobs alive. They 
should not be eviscerated in a last-minute congressional deal to 
placate a special interest.
  Mr. Speaker, I include for the Record the article by Mr. Drinkard.
  The article referred to is as follows:

   Endgame of a Congress: Tightening the Screws on Federal Regulators

                           (By Jim Drinkard)

       Washington (AP) Lobbyists for one of America's largest 
     toolmakers are seeking a last-minute congressional deal that 
     would allow them to continue marketing wrenches and other 
     tools forged in foreign countries as ``Made in the U.S.A.''
       It's an example of how in the frenzied endgame of a 
     congressional session, special-interest provisions that have 
     lain dormant for months suddenly take on new life as their 
     backers seek to attach them to any bill that moves.
       In this case, there is ``only one train leaving the 
     station,'' in congressional parlance the omnibus money bill 
     needed to keep the government running once the new fiscal 
     year begins Tuesday. That bill has become a magnet for pet 
     amendments ranging from gun control to banking regulatory 
     changes.
       The Stanley Works, based in New Britain, Conn., sells tools 
     that in many cases were cast or forged in overseas plants. 
     Customs rules for years have allowed them to be imported and 
     finished in the U.S., then sold without markings showing the 
     country where the parts originated.
       But a Federal court ruling four years ago upset that 
     arrangement. It required that some foreign-origin tools had 
     to bear markings showing where they came from, because the 
     final product was substantially the same as the imported 
     items. That triggered the current lobbying scramble.
       Lobbyists for Stanley began angling to attach their 
     provision to the money measure, and lobbyists for their 
     competitors laid trip wires around Capitol Hill to head them 
     off.
       ``This reflects an intra-industry war,'' said Rep. Nancy 
     Johnson, R-Conn, who has gone to bat for Stanley, a large 
     home-state employer.
       A lawyer for the company, Stave Weddle, said Customs is 
     ``particularly unwise to be making a change when the whole 
     area of country-of-origin labeling is being addressed by the 
     World Trade Association,'' which may reach a different 
     conclusion.
       The saga began several years ago, when National Hand Tool 
     Corp., a Stanley division, sought to import socket wrenches 
     made in Taiwan without stamping them with the name of the 
     country. The company argued that the tools were heat-tempered 
     and further machined in the United States, so they were 
     primarily U.S. made.
       But the Customs Service ruled otherwise, saying that the 
     tools had not been ``substantially transformed'' in the 
     United States. That meant they were required to be marked as 
     made in Taiwan. The tool company appealed, but lost in 
     federal court.
       Against that backdrop, Customs announced last year that it 
     planned to update its rules to codify the court's ruling and 
     make clearer which imported tools had to be marked with the 
     country where they originated.
       For Stanley, the announcement was like a hammer blow; it 
     had built a network of suppliers in several foreign 
     countries, relying in part on a series of Customs rulings 
     that permitted it to label the final tools as made in the 
     United States. Any change would threaten its marketing, 
     which emphasizes quality homegrown products.
       In the first six months of the year, Stanley paid a 
     Washington law and lobbying firm about $120,000 to advocate 
     its position on Capitol Hill, and paid another lobbyist 
     $12,100, according to lobbying disclosure reports.
       In May, Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, introduced a bill that 
     would have let toolmakers market their goods as made in the 
     United States, even if the metal parts were made abroad. It 
     amounted to a blanket exemption from the foreign-marking 
     requirement.
       Johnson inserted a similar provision into a catchall trade 
     ``technical corrections'' bill that passed the House. That 
     language would simply have barred Customs from issuing any 
     new regulations for at least a year while the entire spectrum 
     of regulations on labeling of imports is studied.
       ``If you change it for one product, it has enormous 
     implications for other products,'' Johnson said. ``Customs is 
     overreaching.''
       But Danaher Corp., a competing toolmaker with plants across 
     the United States, countered by hiring the law firm Hogan & 
     Hartson for $100,000, and the lobbying firm WinCapitol for 
     $220,000, both to help torpedo the provision.
       To strengthen its hand Hogan & Hartson formed the American 
     Hand Tool Coalition,

[[Page H11576]]

     which says it represents 10 companies with manufacturing 
     plants in 13 states.
       Johnson said she had enlisted high-powered help from Senate 
     Majority Leader Trent Lott and from the two lawmakers with 
     the most say on trade policy: House Ways and Means Committee 
     Chairman Bill Archer, R-Texas, and Senate Finance Committee 
     Chairman William Roth, R-Del.
       Using the threat of a legislative mandate as pressure, the 
     issue may well be resolved ``in a side discussion with 
     Customs,'' she said.

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