[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 58 (Thursday, May 9, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4112-S4113]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      HEALTH INSURANCE ASSISTANCE

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, last week I said to people in northern 
Minnesota--specifically northeast Minnesota on the Iron Range--that I 
thought we had a real breakthrough. I thought it was part of fast track 
on trade adjustment authority, including legacy costs, and a 1-year 
bridge where health care costs would be covered. Through no fault of 
any of the retirees, a lot of these companies, including LTV, declared 
bankruptcy and walked away from health care benefits, which is 
terrifying to people in their older age.
  Yesterday, the administration came out with a statement about this 
trade adjustment assistance package:

       Specifically, the administration opposes the Daschle 
     substitute last-minute addition of health insurance 
     assistance for steel retirees.

  There is a nightmare. I say to my colleague from Mississippi that 
this is an absolute nightmare for people on the range.
  The President talked about how concerned he is. But this is just a 1-
year bridge to help pay for these retirees' health care costs until we 
put together a package that deals with the legacy costs for the future.
  The President crushed the hopes of people with this position that the 
White House has now taken.
  The President says: Look what I have done for the steel industry. He 
talks about section 201, but now there are 1,000 exceptions to the kind 
of trade relief we thought we were going to get through section 201.
  In Minnesota, we were concerned about what was happening to the 
taconite industry. We were talking about the unfair competition from 
semifinished slab steel.
  Basically, the administration came up with a tariff quota, and it was 
7 million tons of slab steel a year, which is what is being dumped 
right now on the range. It didn't give us any relief whatsoever.
  But, most important of all, what is happening now with this statement 
of position by the administration is they are just walking away from 
dealing with the legacy costs.
  Jerry Fowler, who testified before the HELP committee a couple of 
weeks ago, president of Local 4108, talked about the pain on the range, 
and talked about all of these people. Gosh. You talk about what we say 
we believe in--people who have just worked their heads off all of their 
lives, taconite workers, helping to produce steel, which is so critical 
to our national security, and a part of all of our military efforts. 
People are really proud and are proud of their families. They are proud 
of the range. Through no fault of their own, 32 steel companies have 
declared bankruptcy, and then they walk away from these people.
  They say they can no longer cover their health care benefits, nor 
their retiree benefits. Many people are afraid of no longer having 
prescription drug coverage.
  People were really hopeful, and I was able to report last week, and I 
was proud. I thank Senators Rockefeller, Mikulski, Stabenow, Levin, and 
certainly my colleague Mark Dayton. We worked hard to have iron ore and 
taconite included.
  This was a pragmatic part of the trade adjustment assistance--only a 
1-year bridge, but it was a start. It would give people some security, 
and it was the right thing to do.
  The President has talked about his concern for steelworkers. Over and 
over again, he professed his concern for steelworkers. Then, 
specifically, the administration opposes the Daschle substitute last-
minute addition of health insurance assistance for steel retirees.
  We know there is going to be a point of order and a budget challenge 
on this amendment. I believe what the White House has now done is 
basically sealed its fate. We are not going to be able to have this 
bridge. We are not going to be able to have this assistance for people.
  I question this fast track for a lot of reasons, but, at the very 
minimum, when people are out of work through no fault of their own--or 
people work for an industry that has been besieged with unfair trade--
the only thing they are asking for is a bridge to make sure retirees 
don't lose their benefits.
  All of us have worked so hard together--Senator Specter and Senator 
DeWine--to get this done. Now the administration comes out yesterday 
and torpedoes the whole thing.
  Mr. President, are you for the taconite workers on the Iron Range? 
Are you for the steelworkers? You say you are.
  We will be back on this over and over again. But this is a huge blow 
for the Iron Range in Minnesota and for me as a Senator from Minnesota 
trying to do my best to represent people.
  Yesterday the President made it very clear that all of his talk about 
helping the hard-working men and women of the U.S. steel industry is 
just that--talk. His latest pronouncement is that steelworker retirees 
don't need the assistance this bill would have provided to help them 
for 1 year to pay for health insurance they are losing because their 
company has gone bankrupt.
  This is outrageous--these are hard-working, decent, compassionate men 
and women who have devoted their lives to the steel industry--an 
industry that is essential to our national security--and now they find 
themselves without health insurance they were promised in their 
retirement because their companies have gone bankrupt, they're out in 
the cold without the resources to pay for health insurance, and the 
President says, oh, no, they don't need the 1-year lifeline this bill 
offers.
  Frankly, President Bush talks about what he's done for the steel 
industry and for steel workers. But there is not a lot of substance 
there.
  First, we had a section 201 decision that is looking more and more 
cosmetic. It may have brought relief to some sections of the steel 
industry, except that now the administration is entertaining all sorts 
of exceptions--there are over 1,000 exceptions to the President's 
section 201 decision and Secretary O'Neill is reported as saying that 
``a significant portion of them will be favorably decided.''
  Then there is the fact that the decision did nothing to help 
Minnesota's Iron Range--nor the iron industry as a whole--deal with 
import surges of semi-finished slab steel. While the President imposed 
tariffs on every other product category for which the International 
Trade Commission had found injury, for steel slab he decided to impose 
``tariff rate quotas.'' This brings us virtually no relief. Nearly 7 
million tons of steel slab can continue to be dumped on our shores 
before any tariff is assessed. For folks on the Iron Range, the injury 
will continue.
  Then, the President in his section 201 decision--and subsequently--
has totally ducked the serious legacy cost problem that is suffocating 
the domestic steel industry. In the last 2 years, 32 U.S. steel 
companies have filed for bankruptcy, and these companies represent 
nearly 30 percent of our domestic steel making capacity. These failures 
weren't the fault of the workers at these companies. These failures 
resulted from unfair and predatory practices of our trading partners 
over an extended period. Yet despite the moral and economic imperative 
to do something about this legacy cost problem so that the steel 
industry, so essential to our national security, can rebuild and 
revitalize itself, the President has washed his hands of the matter. It 
is somebody else's problem he says.
  And now there is the current bill. Those of us who are serious about 
this legacy cost problem, and it is a bipartisan group, have introduced 
S. 2189, the Steel Industry Retiree Benefits Protection Act of 2002, to 
address the legacy cost question in a comprehensive way. In the 
meantime, however, recognizing that every day steelworker retirees 
whose companies are going bankrupt are losing their heath insurance, 
Senator Daschle introduced provisions to provide stop gap assistance--

[[Page S4113]]

1 year of health insurance to retirees who right now are losing their 
benefits--to tide folks over while we work on the larger problem.
  And that, incredibly, is what President Bush yesterday announced his 
opposition to. It is now abundantly clear, if there had been any doubt, 
that this President is not interested in health and well-being of our 
steelworker families.
  In Minnesota, on the Iron Range, there are several thousand retirees 
who find themselves in desperate need of assistance and this 
administration is turning its back on them.
  Earlier this year, the HELP Committee held hearings on the need for 
legacy cost legislation both for retirees and for the industry. The 
testimony was riveting. The need compelling. My good friend, Jerry 
Fallos, president of Local 4108 of the United Steelworkers of America, 
testified at those hearings. The stories he had to tell were grim 
indeed.
  As Jerry said, the people of the Iron Range are used to hard times. 
They have weathered any number of challenges over the years. They are 
good people, proud, hard working--the best you can find anywhere. They 
are survivors--and they will get through these difficult times as well. 
They have given much to their country, and now they need our help.
  The good people of the range have responded to their country in its 
times of needs. Over the years our Nation's economy flourished and our 
manufacturing industries boomed from the iron ore produced through the 
labors of steelworkers on the range.
  Yesterday, when President Bush announced his opposition to helping 
these steelworker retirees he said it would cost too much. We think his 
$800 million estimate is way off, but even if you accept it at face 
value, it pales in comparison to the billions and billions of dollars 
of tax giveaways this administration is happy to make available to 
multinational corporations and the wealthy.
  We are talking about $120 billion over 10 years to make the estate 
tax permanent, and $400 billion over 10 years to make all of the tax 
cuts permanent. Are these our priorities--$400 billion to multinational 
corporations and wealthy individuals as opposed to $400 million to help 
steelworker retirees keep their health insurance for 1 year?
  I have asked many time before: Where are our priorities; where are 
our values? How can we tolerate such choices--tax breaks to help 
multinationals over health insurance for steelworker retirees?
  These families need our help. I urge my colleagues not to turn our 
backs on these men and women who have served their country so well.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Republican leader.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, how much time do we have remaining?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Fourteen minutes.

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