[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 91 (Thursday, June 24, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7583-S7584]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               SENATE DENIAL OF SUPPORT FOR STEELWORKERS

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, on Tuesday, the Senate voted 57-42 to 
refuse debate on legislation that would provide some support to 
steelworkers.
  I think those of us who wanted to provide some protection to 
steelworkers and their families against the illegal dumping of steel 
from foreign exporters to our country lost mainly because of the White 
House, which used import data from the month of April and convinced a 
lot of Members that the steel crisis is over.
  Here we are, 2 days later, and there are new, important numbers out 
for May. We find out 2 days later that the steel crisis is not over. In 
fact, overall steel imports went up 30 percent from April to May. Most 
of the increase comes from the import of various kinds of semifinished 
steel, the very products that our taconite mines in Minnesota compete 
against. Imports of blooms, billets, and slabs are up a whopping 122 
percent. Let me repeat that: 2 days ago the administration was telling 
us there was no crisis; the surge of imports is over. Now we find out a 
30-percent surge of imported steel, the latest figures today, over a 1-
month period from April to May, and for billets and slabs and blooms, a 
122-percent increase in imports.
  This is a disaster. It is a disaster for the women and men who have 
lost their jobs on the Iron Range and may never get them back. It is a 
disaster for the workers who are hanging by a thread. It is a disaster 
for their husbands and their wives and children. For them the steel 
crisis is not over. If anything, the steel crisis is getting worse.
  The question I ask my colleagues who voted against our bill, who 
voted against even debating our bill, is: What next? To the 
administration, I say you were successful in defeating the Rockefeller 
bill. Now what do you propose? Are we going to simply give up on the 
steel industry?

  We cannot give up on the steel industry, and we cannot give up on the 
iron ore industry in our own country. We have to do something.
  I am troubled by the arguments that were made in our Senate debate. I 
am troubled by some of the newspaper opinion pieces, because they seem 
to be suggesting that we ought to just give up on this industry. They 
seem to be suggesting that the extraordinary surge of steel imports, 
the dumping of cheap steel, the illegal dumping of steel sold below 
cost of production in our country is actually good for the economy, 
good for the economy because it keeps prices down in other sectors of 
our economy.
  If that is the case, we should actually encourage foreign countries 
to dump on our markets. If we want to lower steel prices, then we 
shouldn't have any antidumping laws. We should repeal them all. We 
shouldn't even have any antidumping laws on the books. If that is the 
case, we ought to get rid of a section 201 law which provides for WTO 
legal quotas to import surges, the likes of which we have been 
experiencing. The fact of the matter is, we have had this surge of 
imported steel, and the argument is, it is good for the country because 
it keeps prices down.
  That means we are not going to have a steel industry. That means we 
will not have an iron ore industry. That means many of these workers 
and their families are going to be spit out of the economy. Our workers 
can compete with anybody, any place, any time, anywhere. But they 
cannot compete with a surge of illegally dumped imports. Our 
steelworkers, our iron ore workers are the most efficient in the world. 
They can compete with fairly traded steel, but they cannot compete with 
this.
  I am real worried, because I think this administration and I think 
too many of my colleagues in the Senate have sent the following message 
when it comes to trade policy: If it is a top contributor, Chiquita 
bananas, we are there for you. We will make sure that we put on a real 
strong import quota. When it comes to investments of Wall Street 
investors, when they go sour in Korea or Indonesia, Thailand or Mexico, 
Brazil or Russia, we will pick up the tab.
  But when the global economic crisis boomeranged on American 
steelworkers, the message from the administration and the Senate was: 
You get stuck with the bill.
  The crisis is not over. The May import numbers prove it. The question 
for all of you who oppose the Rockefeller bill, the question for this 
administration, a Democratic administration that is supposed to care 
about working people is: What do you propose to do now?
  Let me just repeat this one more time. I was thinking to myself, I 
wonder why the administration hasn't released figures, since they were 
making the case that the crisis was over. Surely they will release the 
May figures. They must have had them a few days ago. Two days ago, one 
of the major arguments used for opposing our legislation was ``the 
crisis is over.'' Now we find out 2 days later, overall steel imports 
are up 30 percent from April to May, and imports of blooms and billets 
and slabs, which compete against our taconite on the Iron Range, are up 
122

[[Page S7584]]

percent. We didn't get those figures from the administration 2 days 
ago. I think I know why.
  I say to the President, I say to the administration, and I say to 
Senators who voted against an opportunity to even debate this 
legislation: The crisis is not over. The statistics prove it. My 
question is: What do you propose to do now? What do you propose to do 
now?
  Mr. President--not the President that is presiding on the floor of 
the Senate, but Mr. President of the United States of America--what do 
you propose to do now? Your administration told us 2 days ago this 
crisis was over. Now we have the figures: 30 percent increase in 
imports of steel, 122 percent in imports of blooms, billets, and slabs. 
It is going to be an economic convulsion for the Iron Range of 
Minnesota. It is going to be an economic convulsion for steelworkers, 
illegally dumped steel. We will compete against anybody. But if you are 
going to make the argument that we should not do anything about 
illegally dumped steel, that we can't provide any protection for our 
workers, that we can't have an administration and a Government that 
negotiates a fair and a tough trade policy that provides protection to 
our workers, then what in the world are we here for?

  I speak with a little bit of--not bitterness but outrage. I heard 
what was being said just two days ago. Now the numbers have come out. 
Now we know we have this crisis. Now we know we have this surge of 
imports. It is illegally dumped steel.
  My question for the President of the United States of America is: 
What are you going to do? You defeated our legislation. What are you 
going to do now?
  I am not going to give up on this. I hope the steelworkers and their 
families won't give up on this. My suggestion is that we need to have a 
meeting with the President and the administration because I have to 
still believe that they are concerned and they will be willing to take 
some action. We need to talk about what kind of action we will take 
soon, because if we don't, there are going to be a lot of broken 
dreams, a lot of broken lives, and a lot of broken families all across 
our country, including in Northeast Minnesota, the iron range of 
Minnesota. I can't turn my gaze away from that. I can't quit fighting 
because of the vote a couple days ago.
  I yield the floor.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California is recognized.

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