[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 22 (Tuesday, March 5, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H670-H671]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
COMPROMISE RESULTS IN SELL-OUT OF IRON ORE INDUSTRY
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Shimkus). Under a previous order of the
[[Page H671]]
House, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Stupak) is recognized for 5
minutes.
Mr. STUPAK. Mr. Speaker, I take to the floor tonight to talk about
President Bush's proposed remedies on steel imports. Unfortunately, for
those of us who represent iron ore miners in northern Minnesota and
northern Michigan, the remedy proposed by the President today does
little to help us.
We must look back to December of last year in which the ITC, the
International Trade Commission, by a six to nothing vote said illegal
steel, steel products, slab steel, was being dumped in this country to
the great harm of the U.S. steel industry. With slab steel, that
replaces iron ore pellets. In order to make steel, we need a raw
product like iron ore pellets or slab steel.
In order to corner the market, foreign countries have been dumping
slab steel in this country at exorbitant amounts since 1998. Every time
slab steel comes into our country, it hurts our iron ore miners. In
fact, up in my district, the Empire Mine has just shut down. Over 800
workers have been laid off and all the managerial and administrative
people have been laid off.
So we were hoping today that President Bush would give us a strong
steel remedy. We asked for 40 percent over 4 years, as allowable under
U.S. law. Although the report was put forth today, and some in the
media have called the tariff and quota on imported steel a compromise,
I believe the iron ore industry may have been sacrificed in making that
compromise. We in the iron ore industry have basically been sold out.
The ITC, the International Trade Commission, caught nations cheating
under import pricing; and as I said earlier, by a six to nothing vote,
they agreed those imports were hurting the domestic steel and the iron
ore industry.
If we take a look at what the President did today, he said we will
allow 5.4 million tons of imported slabs to come into the United
States, but we will not count Mexico or Canadian slab steel coming into
the United States. So basically, we are at about 7 million tons a year.
That is exactly what they are importing right now. So therefore, the
remedy does nothing for those of us who have been harmed over the last
4 years by illegal imports. Because this import level of 7 million for
slab steel has already caused mines to shut down and layoffs in
northern Michigan and elsewhere, we have really won nothing with the
President's proposed remedy.
If we take a look at it, Mexico has been used more than once by
countries throughout the world as an export platform. By that I mean to
get around the President's proposals today, his remedies today, other
countries can export their product to Mexico, and then from Mexico it
will come into the United States. Mexico, as I said earlier, the
President made an exemption for them as to steel products. Therefore,
any country who wants to get around the new trade remedies proposed by
the President will just ship their product to Mexico, it suddenly
becomes a Mexican product, and it comes into the United States, it
comes into the United States as not being part of the quota put forth
by the Bush administration.
If we take a look at it, and in fact, one of the recent articles that
appeared right after the President made his recommendation was from the
California Steel Institute. They said, ``We are pleased that the
President recognized that slabs are different from finished products
and excluded slab from the tariff measure imposed on finished steel
products.'' Those who use slabs already recognize that the President
did nothing to stop or stem the tide of illegal slabs into this
country. The vice-chair of the ITC was quoted today in explaining their
treatment of slab, and said that it wanted ``to avoid causing harm to
domestic steel producers that have legitimate needs to continue to
import slabs.'' The vice-chair, Deanna Okun, added that a tariff on
slab ``would have a potentially severe impact on the members of the
domestic industry that need a reliable source of slab.'' Reliable
source.
The iron ore industry in my district has been there for over 150
years. One cannot get much more reliable than men and women going day
in and day out, working in the iron ore mines for 150 years to provide
America with the basic raw material it needs to produce steel, being
iron ore pellets.
The California Steel Institute went on to say, ``We fought hard to
convince the U.S. Government to treat slabs separately from finished
steel. As a raw material that is virtually nonexistent in the U.S.
market, slab is fundamentally different from finished steel products
such as hot bands and plate.'' Yes, it is different, because those of
us in this country use iron ore as opposed to cheap imported slabs.
I should note that the California Steel Institute that I have been
commenting on here tonight, 50 percent is owned by CBRD, a Brazilian
iron ore company, and the other 50 percent is owned by a Japanese
company. So while California steel industries are talking about how
they have no remedy or how the slab remedy proposed by the President
does not hurt them, they are already foreign owned. They will use
Mexico as an export platform, and they will just sidestep these
proposed remedies.
The California steel industry and others who have used slab steel
realize that the President's remedy is nothing, and slab was not hurt.
In fact, they are pleased with the remedy the President put forth. We
in the iron ore industry and those who represent iron ore miners are
not pleased. Iron mines are as reliable as the day is long. The miners
have been there for us through all the world wars. They are loyal,
hard-working Americans; and now they have just basically been exported
out of this country.
I previously passed an amendment last year, a ``melted and poured''
amendment, which basically says that any steel used in the United
States defense industry must be from steel that is melted and poured
here in the United States. I will be offering this amendment again in
the next 30 to 60 days on the supplemental appropriation bill; and
every possible piece of legislation that it is germane to, I will be
offering this amendment. I and others who represent iron ore miners
will not give up, we will not sell out, we will not be shortchanged,
and we will not shortchange our miners. We plan to be here day in and
day out to continue to stand up for our iron ore miners.
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