[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 63 (Tuesday, May 4, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E841]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     ON THE CONTINUING STEEL CRISIS

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                          Tuesday, May 4, 1999

  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call upon the other body 
to pass H.R. 975, the steel import limitation bill. The House passed 
this bill by an overwhelming margin because the policy of this 
Administration has failed to protect the American steel industry and 
its workers from unfair competition. But a bill does not become a law 
without votes from both Houses of Congress.
  While America waits for the other side to vote on H.R. 975, steel 
imports have begun to climb again. This should be an important reminder 
that nothing the Administration is pursuing adequately limits unfairly 
low priced steel imports. Though the Administration is ineffective in 
preserving the American steel industry, the Administration is actively 
defending the American banana industry in a trade dispute with Europe. 
But does the banana industry employ 160,000 American workers? No. Does 
nearly every state in the Northeast and Southeast and Southwest have a 
banana industry? No. Are foreign bananas crowding out the American 
banana business in the U.S.? No. Those facts have not stopped the 
Administration from pulling out every stop to protect a banana industry 
that does not exist in America.
  Bananas did not build America. Steel did. The only practical solution 
to the steel import crisis is to make H.R. 975 into law.

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