[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 18 (Wednesday, February 27, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1236-S1237]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 STEEL

  Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, today I come to the Senate Chamber to 
stand up for steel. There is a crisis in America's steel industry. The 
next few weeks will determine the fate and future of that industry and, 
I believe, the fate and future of our steelworkers today and our 
retired steelworkers.
  I commend President Bush for initiating the section 201 investigation 
on steel. That means an investigation by the International Trade 
Commission on whether or not we are facing unfair dumping. I am now 
calling on the President to impose an effective remedy; that is, a 
remedy of 40-percent tariffs across the board on steel.
  Since 1997, 31 steel companies have gone bankrupt, putting at risk 
over 62,000 jobs. Why is this? It is exactly what the International 
Trade Commission found: Subsidized foreign steel companies dump their 
excess products on the United States market at below market prices. 
They come into the United States and flood us with their imports at 
fire sale prices.
  In response to this unprecedented crisis, President Bush did take an 
important step of initiating an investigation under section 201 of the 
trade act. The ITC unanimously found that these imports have caused 
serious harm to the American steel industry. Now the President has to 
act before tens of thousands more jobs are lost and retirees face the 
threat to their pensions and their health care. He must take meaningful 
action, not just some half measure that doesn't meet the challenge of 
the crisis.
  Steel is in crisis. Last year, 17 steel companies filed for 
bankruptcy protection, 14 steel mills shut down, and nearly 30,000 
workers lost their jobs.
  Why does steel matter? This is not nostalgia for our industrial past. 
This is about our national and our economic security.
  If we are worried about dependence on foreign oil, we should 
certainly be worried about dependence on foreign steel. We need steel 
to build America, whether it is our bridges or our automobiles, and 
also for our national security. In my own home State of Maryland, 
Bethlehem Steel made the steel plate to repair the U.S.S. Cole. It is 
American steel that is building Navy ships, Navy subs, American planes, 
the kind of steel we need for those bunker-buster bombs we need.
  Are we going to rely upon Russia, China, and other countries and be 
steel dependent? I don't think we should do that.
  What about our steelworkers and our steelworker retirees? There are 
over 300,000 people currently working as steel and iron workers. There 
are now over 700,000 retirees and surviving spouses. All told, there 
are more than 1 million Americans, both retired and on the job now, who 
depend on steel for their livelihood, their pension, and their health 
care.
  What caused this crisis? Is it because American steel was 
inefficient, because the unions wouldn't cooperate with management, 
because we didn't use new technologies or new processes? Absolutely 
not. The reason American steel is in such dire straits is unfair trade. 
Foreign steel companies, subsidized by their government, dump excess 
steel in our market at those fire sale prices.
  The United States of America does not have excess capacity. The 
United States and Canada have been net importers of steel. If you want 
to look at examples of these subsidies, let me give you one: Russia. 
This comes from the Bloomberg Business Report. This does not come from 
Barb Mikulski. The Bloomberg Report last week talked about how the 
Russian Government keeps 1,000 unprofitable steel plants open through 
Russian subsidies. That is not 1,000 workers; that is 1,000 steel 
plants. Because of those subsidies, they are able to stay in operation.
  How can we compete with Russian subsidies where they have comrade 
health care, all their health care is paid for, they get subsidies in 
steel, and at the same time we are expected to compete?
  What is the solution? We need a level playing field by reducing 
excess steel capacity abroad.
  The way we also send them a message to stop the dumping is by 
imposing a 40-percent tariff. That would level the playing field. Half 
measures will not do. We need that 40-percent tariff and we need it 
without exception. The effects will last much longer than the 3 or 4 
years because America's steel industry will have a chance to get back 
on its feet.
  America's steel industry is the best in the world and I can't 
emphasize how competitive we are. It is the most efficient, uses the 
fewest man-hours available per ton, thanks to our steelworkers making 
the best use of technology and a willingness to cooperate with 
management. It is also the most environmentally sound, producing less 
emissions on steel produced.
  Do you think those 1,000 Russian steel mills are going to be 
environmentally sensitive and OSHA compliant? I don't think so. 
American steel companies have invested over $20 billion in new 
technology to achieve these efficiencies. American steelworkers have 
made painful concessions in wages and benefits so that the industry 
would be efficient and competitive and would have a future.
  Madam President, the President must act now. The next few weeks will

[[Page S1237]]

determine the fate and future of the steel industry. There is a March 6 
deadline for a remedying decision, the tariff decision. The President 
has the authority. We want him now to have the will. We want him to 
impose this 40-percent tariff, give American steel mills a future and, 
most of all, protect the United States of America against dependence on 
foreign steel. Steel built our Nation; steel will continue to build our 
Nation, and most of all, steel will help us protect our Nation. Steel 
built America and it is now time that we stand up for steel. I hope we 
can count on the President to do this, and we thank him for the work he 
has already done.
  I yield the floor and look forward to standing with the Presiding 
Officer as we stand up for steel.
  Mr. REID. Madam President, before the Senator leaves the floor, I 
want to say that she is a leader on this issue. I told her privately 
yesterday that wherever she pointed me to help steel, I would be there. 
I also say it is not often that you find a Senator who works as hard 
privately as publicly. I have been in a number of private meetings with 
the Senator from Maryland, where she has been a staunch vocal advocate 
of doing something to help the steelworkers and the steel industry of 
this country.
  The people of Maryland should understand the advocacy of this giant 
from Maryland who is working so hard for the people who have been so 
good to America--the steelworkers and the steel industry, generally.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, I thank the Senator from Nevada for 
those gracious and complimentary remarks. This is a man from 
Searchlight, NV. He knows what hard work is because of the way he 
pulled himself up by the bootstraps, and he has given opportunity to 
other people. All those people working in the mines in Nevada, who 
every day have those calloused hands in the end, have a very strong 
advocate in him. We have to stand up for the ordinary people who do 
extraordinary things in our country. I look forward to working with the 
Senator.

                          ____________________