[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 14]
[House]
[Pages 19535-19547]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



 KOSOVO AND SOUTHWEST ASIA EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 
                                  1999

  Mr. REGULA. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to the previous order of the House 
of August 3, 1999, I call up from the Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 
1664) making emergency supplemental appropriations for military 
operations, refugee relief, and humanitarian assistance relating to the 
conflict in Kosovo, and for military operations in Southwest Asia for 
the fiscal year ending September 30, 1999, and for other purposes, with 
Senate amendments thereto, and ask for its immediate consideration.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.


                      Motion Offered by Mr. Regula

  Mr. REGULA. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to the previous order of the House 
of August 3, 1999, I offer a motion.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will designate the motion.
  The text of the motion and the Senate amendments is as follows:

       Mr. Regula moves that the House concur in the Senate 
     amendments.
       Senate amendments:
       Page 2, strike out all after line 7 over to and including 
     line 21 on page 3 and insert:
       Sec. 101. Emergency Steel Loan Guarantee Program. (a) Short 
     Title.--This chapter may be cited as the ``Emergency Steel 
     Loan Guarantee Act of 1999''.
       (b) Congressional Findings.--Congress finds that--
       (1) the United States steel industry has been severely 
     harmed by a record surge of more than 40,000,000 tons of 
     steel imports into the United States in 1998, caused by the 
     world financial crisis;
       (2) this surge in imports resulted in the loss of more than 
     10,000 steel worker jobs in 1998, and was the imminent cause 
     of 3 bankruptcies by medium-sized steel companies, Acme 
     Steel, Laclede Steel, and Geneva Steel;
       (3) the crisis also forced almost all United States steel 
     companies into--
       (A) reduced volume, lower prices, and financial losses; and
       (B) an inability to obtain credit for continued operations 
     and reinvestment in facilities;
       (4) the crisis also has affected the willingness of private 
     banks and investment institutions to make loans to the United 
     States steel industry for continued operation and 
     reinvestment in facilities;
       (5) these steel bankruptcies, job losses, and financial 
     losses are also having serious negative effects on the tax 
     base of cities, counties, and States, and on the essential 
     health, education, and municipal services that these 
     government entities provide to their citizens; and
       (6) a strong steel industry is necessary to the adequate 
     defense preparedness of the United States in order to have 
     sufficient steel available to build the ships, tanks, planes, 
     and armaments necessary for the national defense.
       (c) Definitions.--For purposes of this section:
       (1) Board.--The term ``Board'' means the Loan Guarantee 
     Board established under subsection (e).
       (2) Program.--The term ``Program'' means the Emergency 
     Steel Guarantee Loan Program established under subsection 
     (d).
       (3) Qualified steel company.--The term ``qualified steel 
     company'' means any company that--
       (A) is incorporated under the laws of any State;
       (B) is engaged in the production and manufacture of a 
     product defined by the American Iron and Steel Institute as a 
     basic steel mill product, including ingots, slab and billets, 
     plates, flat-rolled steel, sections and structural products, 
     bars, rail type products, pipe and tube, and wire rod; and
       (C) has experienced layoffs, production losses, or 
     financial losses since the beginning of the steel import 
     crisis, in January 1998 or that operates substantial assets 
     of a company that meets these qualifications.
       (d) Establishment of Emergency Steel Guarantee Loan 
     Program.--There is established the Emergency Steel Guarantee 
     Loan Program, to be administered by the Board, the purpose of 
     which is to provide loan guarantees to qualified steel 
     companies in accordance with this section.
       (e) Loan Guarantee Board Membership.--There is established 
     a Loan Guarantee Board, which shall be composed of--
       (1) the Secretary of Commerce;
       (2) the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal 
     Reserve System, who shall serve as Chairman of the Board; and

[[Page 19536]]

       (3) the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
       (f) Loan Guarantee Program.--
       (1) Authority.--The Program may guarantee loans provided to 
     qualified steel companies by private banking and investment 
     institutions in accordance with the procedures, rules, and 
     regulations established by the Board.
       (2) Total guarantee limit.--The aggregate amount of loans 
     guaranteed and outstanding at any one time under this section 
     may not exceed $1,000,000,000.
       (3) Individual guarantee limit.--The aggregate amount of 
     loans guaranteed under this section with respect to a single 
     qualified steel company may not exceed $250,000,000.
       (4) Timelines.--The Board shall approve or deny each 
     application for a guarantee under this section as soon as 
     possible after receipt of such application.
       (5) Additional costs.--For the additional cost of the loans 
     guaranteed under this subsection, including the costs of 
     modifying the loans as defined in section 502 of the 
     Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 661a), there is 
     appropriated $140,000,000 to remain available until expended.
       (g) Requirements for Loan Guarantees.--A loan guarantee may 
     be issued under this section upon application to the Board by 
     a qualified steel company pursuant to an agreement to provide 
     a loan to that qualified steel company by a private bank or 
     investment company, if the Board determines that--
       (1) credit is not otherwise available to that company under 
     reasonable terms or conditions sufficient to meet its 
     financing needs, as reflected in the financial and business 
     plans of that company;
       (2) the prospective earning power of that company, together 
     with the character and value of the security pledged, furnish 
     reasonable assurance of repayment of the loan to be 
     guaranteed in accordance with its terms;
       (3) the loan to be guaranteed bears interest at a rate 
     determined by the Board to be reasonable, taking into account 
     the current average yield on outstanding obligations of the 
     United States with remaining periods of maturity comparable 
     to the maturity of such loan;
       (4) the company has agreed to an audit by the General 
     Accounting Office prior to the issuance of the loan guarantee 
     and annually thereafter while any such guaranteed loan is 
     outstanding; and
       (5) In the case of a purchaser of substantial assets of a 
     qualified steel company, the qualified steel company 
     establishes that it is unable to reorganize itself.
       (h) Terms and Conditions of Loan Guarantees.--
       (1) Loan duration.--All loans guaranteed under this section 
     shall be payable in full not later than December 31, 2005, 
     and the terms and conditions of each such loan shall provide 
     that the loan may not be amended, or any provision thereof 
     waived, without the consent of the Board.
       (2) Loan security.--Any commitment to issue a loan 
     guarantee under this section shall contain such affirmative 
     and negative covenants and other protective provisions that 
     the Board determines are appropriate. The Board shall require 
     security for the loans to be guaranteed under this section at 
     the time at which the commitment is made.
       (3) Fees.--A qualified steel company receiving a guarantee 
     under this section shall pay a fee to the Department of the 
     Treasury to cover costs of the program, but in no event shall 
     such fee exceed an amount equal to 0.5 percent of the 
     outstanding principal balance of the guaranteed loan.
       (4) Guarantee level.--No loan guarantee may be provided 
     under this section if the guarantee exceeds 85 percent of the 
     amount of principal of the loan.
       (i) Reports to Congress.--The Secretary of Commerce shall 
     submit to Congress a full report of the activities of the 
     Board under this section during each of fiscal years 1999 and 
     2000, and annually thereafter, during such period as any loan 
     guaranteed under this section is outstanding.
       (j) Salaries and Administrative Expenses.--For necessary 
     expenses to administer the Program, $5,000,000 is 
     appropriated to the Department of Commerce, to remain 
     available until expended, which may be transferred to the 
     Office of the Assistant Secretary for Trade Development of 
     the International Trade Administration.
       (k) Termination of Guarantee Authority.--The authority of 
     the Board to make commitments to guarantee any loan under 
     this section shall terminate on December 31, 2001.
       (l) Regulatory Action.--The Board shall issue such final 
     procedures, rules, and regulations as may be necessary to 
     carry out this section not later than 60 days after the date 
     of enactment of this Act.
       (m) Iron Ore Companies.--
       (1) In general.--Subject to the requirements of this 
     subsection, an iron ore company incorporated under the laws 
     of any State shall be treated as a qualified steel company 
     for purposes of the Program.
       (2) Total guarantee limit for iron ore company.--Of the 
     aggregate amount of loans authorized to be guaranteed and 
     outstanding at any one time under subsection (f)(2), an 
     amount not to exceed $30,000,000 shall be loans with respect 
     to iron ore companies.


               federal administrative and travel expenses

                             (rescissions)

       Sec. 102. (a) Of the funds available in the nondefense 
     category to the agencies of the Federal Government, 
     $145,000,000 are hereby rescinded: Provided, That rescissions 
     pursuant to this subsection shall be taken only from 
     administrative and travel accounts: Provided further, That 
     rescissions shall be taken on a pro rata basis from funds 
     available to every Federal agency, department, and office in 
     the Executive Branch, including the Office of the President.
       (b) Within 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 
     the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall 
     submit to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of 
     Representatives and the Senate a listing of the amounts by 
     account of the reductions made pursuant to the provisions of 
     subsection (a) of this section.
       Page 4, strike out all after line 1 over to and including 
     line 14 on page 22 and insert:
       Sec. 201. Petroleum Development Management. (a) Short 
     Title.--This chapter may be cited as the ``Emergency Oil and 
     Gas Guaranteed Loan Program Act''.
       (b) Findings.--Congress finds that--
       (1) consumption of foreign oil in the United States is 
     estimated to equal 56 percent of all oil consumed, and that 
     percentage could reach 68 percent by 2010 if current prices 
     prevail;
       (2) the number of oil and gas rigs operating in the United 
     States is at its lowest since 1944, when records of this 
     tally began;
       (3) if prices do not increase soon, the United States could 
     lose at least half its marginal wells, which in aggregate 
     produce as much oil as the United States imports from Saudi 
     Arabia;
       (4) oil and gas prices are unlikely to increase for at 
     least several years;
       (5) declining production, well abandonment, and greatly 
     reduced exploration and development are shrinking the 
     domestic oil and gas industry;
       (6) the world's richest oil producing regions in the Middle 
     East are experiencing increasingly greater political 
     instability;
       (7) United Nations policy may make Iraq the swing oil 
     producing nation, thereby granting Saddam Hussein tremendous 
     power;
       (8) reliance on foreign oil for more than 60 percent of our 
     daily oil and gas consumption is a national security threat;
       (9) the level of United States oil security is directly 
     related to the level of domestic production of oil, natural 
     gas liquids, and natural gas; and
       (10) a national security policy should be developed that 
     ensures that adequate supplies of oil are available at all 
     times free of the threat of embargo or other foreign hostile 
     acts.
       (c) Definitions.--In this section:
       (1) Board.--The term ``Board'' means the Loan Guarantee 
     Board established by subsection (e).
       (2) Program.--The term ``Program'' means the Emergency Oil 
     and Gas Guaranteed Loan Program established by subsection 
     (d).
       (3) Qualified oil and gas company.--The term ``qualified 
     oil and gas company'' means a company that--
       (A) is--
       (i) an independent oil and gas company (within the meaning 
     of section 57(a)(2)(B)(i) of the Internal Revenue Code of 
     1986); or
       (ii) a small business concern under section 3 of the Small 
     Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632) (or a company based in Alaska, 
     including an Alaska Native Corporation created pursuant to 
     the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601 et 
     seq.)) that is an oil field service company whose main 
     business is providing tools, products, personnel, and 
     technical solutions on a contractual basis to exploration and 
     production operators that drill, complete wells, and produce, 
     transport, refine, and sell hydrocarbons and their byproducts 
     as the main commercial business of the concern or company; 
     and
       (B) has experienced layoffs, production losses, or 
     financial losses since the beginning of the oil import 
     crisis, after January 1, 1997.
       (d) Emergency Oil and Gas Guaranteed Loan Program.--
       (1) In general.--There is established the Emergency Oil and 
     Gas Guaranteed Loan Program, the purpose of which shall be to 
     provide loan guarantees to qualified oil and gas companies in 
     accordance with this section.
       (2) Loan guarantee board.--There is established to 
     administer the Program a Loan Guarantee Board, to be composed 
     of--
       (A) the Secretary of Commerce;
       (B) the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal 
     Reserve System, who shall serve as Chairman of the Board; and
       (C) the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
       (e) Authority.--
       (1) In general.--The Program may guarantee loans provided 
     to qualified oil and gas companies by private banking and 
     investment institutions in accordance with procedures, rules, 
     and regulations established by the Board.
       (2) Total guarantee limit.--The aggregate amount of loans 
     guaranteed and outstanding at any 1 time under this section 
     shall not exceed $500,000,000.
       (3) Individual guarantee limit.--The aggregate amount of 
     loans guaranteed under this section with respect to a single 
     qualified oil and gas company shall not exceed $10,000,000.
       (4) Expeditious action on applications.--The Board shall 
     approve or deny an application for a guarantee under this 
     section as soon as practicable after receipt of an 
     application.
       (5) Additional costs.--For the additional cost of the loans 
     guaranteed under this subsection, including the costs of 
     modifying the loans as defined in section 502 of the 
     Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 661a), there is 
     appropriated $122,500,000 to remain available until expended.

[[Page 19537]]

       (f) Requirements for Loan Guarantees.--The Board may issue 
     a loan guarantee on application by a qualified oil and gas 
     company under an agreement by a private bank or investment 
     company to provide a loan to the qualified oil and gas 
     company, if the Board determines that--
       (1) credit is not otherwise available to the company under 
     reasonable terms or conditions sufficient to meet its 
     financing needs, as reflected in the financial and business 
     plans of the company;
       (2) the prospective earning power of the company, together 
     with the character and value of the security pledged, provide 
     a reasonable assurance of repayment of the loan to be 
     guaranteed in accordance with its terms;
       (3) the loan to be guaranteed bears interest at a rate 
     determined by the Board to be reasonable, taking into account 
     the current average yield on outstanding obligations of the 
     United States with remaining periods of maturity comparable 
     to the maturity of the loan; and
       (4) the company has agreed to an audit by the General 
     Accounting Office before issuance of the loan guarantee and 
     annually while the guaranteed loan is outstanding.
       (g) Terms and Conditions of Loan Guarantees.--
       (1) Loan duration.--All loans guaranteed under this section 
     shall be repayable in full not later than December 31, 2010, 
     and the terms and conditions of each such loan shall provide 
     that the loan agreement may not be amended, or any provision 
     of the loan agreement waived, without the consent of the 
     Board.
       (2) Loan security.--A commitment to issue a loan guarantee 
     under this section shall contain such affirmative and 
     negative covenants and other protective provisions as the 
     Board determines are appropriate. The Board shall require 
     security for the loans to be guaranteed under this section at 
     the time at which the commitment is made.
       (3) Fees.--A qualified oil and gas company receiving a loan 
     guarantee under this section shall pay a fee to the 
     Department of the Treasury to cover costs of the program, but 
     in no event shall such fee exceed an amount equal to 0.5 
     percent of the outstanding principal balance of the 
     guaranteed loan.
       (4) Guarantee level.--No loan guarantee may be provided 
     under this section if the guarantee exceeds 85 percent of the 
     amount of principal of the loan.
       (h) Reports.--During fiscal year 1999 and each fiscal year 
     thereafter until each guaranteed loan has been repaid in 
     full, the Secretary of Commerce shall submit to Congress a 
     report on the activities of the Board.
       (i) Salaries and Administrative Expenses.--For necessary 
     expenses to administer the Program, $2,500,000 is 
     appropriated to the Department of Commerce, to remain 
     available until expended, which may be transferred to the 
     Office of the Assistant Secretary for Trade Development of 
     the International Trade Administration.
       (j) Termination of Guarantee Authority.--The authority of 
     the Board to make commitments to guarantee any loan under 
     this section shall terminate on December 31, 2001.
       (k) Regulatory Action.--Not later than 60 days after the 
     date of enactment of this Act, the Board shall issue such 
     final procedures, rules, and regulations as are necessary to 
     carry out this section.


               federal administrative and travel expenses

                             (rescissions)

       Sec. 202. (a) Of the funds available in the nondefense 
     category to the agencies of the Federal Government, 
     $125,000,000 are hereby rescinded: Provided, That rescissions 
     pursuant to this subsection shall be taken only from 
     administrative and travel accounts: Provided further, That 
     rescissions shall be taken on a pro rata basis from funds 
     available to every Federal agency, department, and office in 
     the Executive Branch, including the Office of the President.
       (b) Within 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 
     the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall 
     submit to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of 
     Representatives and the Senate a listing of the amounts by 
     account of the reductions made pursuant to the provisions of 
     subsection (a) of this section.
       Page 22, strike out all after line 15 over to and including 
     line 4 on page 32 and insert:

                           GENERAL PROVISIONS

       Sec. 301. No part of any appropriation contained in the Act 
     shall remain available for obligation beyond the current 
     fiscal year unless expressly so provided herein.
       This Act may be cited as the ``Emergency Steel Loan 
     Guarantee and Emergency Oil and Gas Guaranteed Loan Act of 
     1999''.

  Amend the title so as to read: ``An Act providing emergency authority 
for guarantees of loans to qualified steel and iron ore companies and 
to qualified oil and gas companies, and for other purposes.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
Tuesday, August 3, 1999, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Regula), the 
gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Mollohan), the gentleman from Iowa 
(Mr. Leach), and the gentleman from New York (Mr. LaFalce) each will 
control 15 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Regula).


                             General Leave

  Mr. REGULA. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on 
H.R. 1664, and that I may include tabular and extraneous material.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Ohio?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. REGULA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, this is an issue of agreeing to a Senate amendment to 
the bill, H.R. 1664. It provides for steel, oil, and gas loan guarantee 
programs. These two sectors of the economy need a helping hand because 
they have not enjoyed the benefits of our robust economy recently 
because of unfair foreign trading practices and depressed prices.
  Independent oil and natural gas producers have lost about 56,000 jobs 
over the past 18 months because of depressed oil and gas prices. The 
U.S. steel industry has lost over 10,000 jobs due to the record level 
of low priced steel imports that came into the United States in 1998. 
Steel imports continue at above average rates in 1999. In addition to 
the jobs lost in the steel industry and the surrounding communities, 
these unfair imports have driven companies into bankruptcy.
  Both of these industries have and are seeking relief through our 
anti-dumping and countervailing duty laws. The Commerce Department has 
found dumping in numerous steel cases and the International Trade 
Commission has found injury, so that dumping duties are now being 
collected on many steel imports. But this process has been a long and 
costly process for the companies and their workers. The results of 
slightly lower imports are just now beginning to show.
  But many of the affected companies and their workers need the self-
help, and I emphasize ``self-help,'' loan guarantee that is provided in 
this legislation. They are having trouble gaining access to private 
capital in order to deal with the cash flow problems and to restructure 
in order to weather the steel import crisis. The loan program is not, 
and I emphasize again, is not a Federal giveaway. It is a tough, self-
help program which does have protections for the U.S. taxpayer. Let me 
list those:
  The Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, will serve as 
the chairman of the board that will review all loan guarantee 
applications. The Secretary of Commerce and the Chairman of the 
Securities and Exchange Commission are also members of the board. So 
obviously this is a tough board that these companies would have to go 
to for a guarantee.
  The loan guarantee amount for each company is limited to $250 million 
and must be paid back by December 31, 2005. Companies must provide 
security for all loan guarantees and shall pay a fee to cover the cost 
of the program. Only 85 percent of the principal loan amount can be 
guaranteed by this program.
  Furthermore, any company that receives a loan guarantee is subject to 
a GAO audit. So there are tough conditions in this, I want to 
emphasize.
  The board's authority, the board headed by Chairman Greenspan, to 
make loan guarantees terminates on December 31, 2001. In other words, 
it is essentially a 17-month program. So this is not an open-ended new 
program.
  I should also add that the credit subsidy cost of this bill, $267 
million, and that is the charge we would have to appropriate just to 
cover it, not that there would be any Federal money involved, this is a 
guarantee, all the loans would come from the private sector, with the 
government guaranteeing 85 percent of the loan. But it is completely 
offset by a rescission of Federal administrative and travel expenses.
  As we prepare to give a helping hand to our farmers, and most of 
those are grants, in some cases loans, but we are saying billions we 
are talking about to help our farm economy, agriculture, as we should, 
but as we prepare to give them a helping hand, and they are affected by 
the current drought, I ask that we also give the steel and oil and gas 
industries a helping hand to overcome the import crisis that they have 
had no control over.

[[Page 19538]]

  We cannot allow foreign nations to export their unemployment to the 
United States. I urge support of this legislation and, in effect, the 
support of American jobs.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 2\1/2\ minutes.
  Mr. Speaker, first I want to express appreciation to our senior 
Senator from West Virginia for his interest and efforts in regard to 
the steel industry, which have been tremendous and consistent and 
effective, as this legislation which he is responsible for getting 
through the Senate evidences.
  Mr. Speaker, our steel industry and steelworkers are in trouble. 
Foreign steel imports are up dramatically across the board, from 30 to 
41 million tons in 1998. Hot rolled steel imports, for example, are up 
a staggering 66 percent. Three countries, Korea, Russia and Japan, 
account for 78 percent of this increase, and much of it is illegal 
dumping, selling in this country at a price less than the cost of 
actually producing it. That is a violation of international trade law.
  Dumping has resulted in five of our steel companies in this country 
going bankrupt and 10,000 of our steelworkers losing their job, 800 of 
these jobs at Weirton Steel in my district. Five companies, Mr. 
Speaker, 10,000 steel jobs, all lost because of illegal dumping.
  The legislation before us today addresses the short- to medium-term 
financial problems created for steel companies by this illegal dumping. 
It establishes a program whereby the government will guarantee up to 
$1.5 billion in conventional loans, $1 billion for the steel industry 
and $500 million for the ailing oil and gas industry.
  The amount actually appropriated in the bill is $270 million, which 
represents the subsidy rate, and that is the amount of money actually 
estimated to be at risk should there be defaults.
  Loan guarantees are a tried and true approach to helping backbone 
industries get through troubled financial times. Remember when the 
Congress passed the Chrysler Loan Guarantee Act of 1980 which supported 
a loan guarantee program of up to $1.5 billion? Chrysler borrowed $1.3 
billion, and successfully completed the program in 1983.
  Likewise, in 1981 Lockheed was the object of a federally backed $250 
million guarantee program. Also New York City benefitted from a 
successful $1 billion loan guarantee program. Some refer to these 
programs as the Lockheed or the New York or Chrysler bailout. In fact, 
none of these programs were bailouts. All were guarantee programs, 
which allowed Lockheed, Chrysler, and New York to work through their 
financial crisis and, at the conclusion, pay off their debts. The 
government did not have to pay off one penny of those guaranteed loans.
  Steel manufacturing and oil and gas production industries are vital 
interests to our broad economic well-being, not to mention to our 
national security interests. It is perfectly appropriate for us to act 
reasonably to assist these industries using the loan guarantee model.
  I urge adoption of the legislation, Mr. Speaker.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LEACH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, let me first begin by saying I regret I am rising in 
strong opposition to this bill because I have such enormous respect for 
the two gentlemen that have just spoken, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. 
Regula) and the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Mollohan). But I rise 
in opposition on the grounds of process, the grounds of substance, and 
the grounds of precedent.
  In terms of process, Members will be asked to vote on the creation of 
a massive new $1.5 billion Federal credit program designed to benefit 
certain steel as well as oil and gas companies that has never been 
considered by the House or any of its committees.
  I have grave doubts about the appropriateness of a new contingent 
liability of this nature in the Federal Government for a number of 
reasons, including the fact that the proposal coming from the other 
body lacks adequate taxpayer safeguards. Not only are there no warrants 
to reward taxpayers for risks undertaken, as was in the case of the 
Chrysler program, this legislation does not even comply with OMB 
guidelines establishing core policies for Federal credit programs.
  To cite just one, financial standards for risk taking require that 
private lenders who extend government guaranteed credit must bear at 
least 20 percent of the loss from any default. This standard OMB policy 
is not included in this loan guarantee program, thus making the program 
a bailout for poor lending policies of banks, as well as poor 
management practices of steel and oil and gas companies.
  For a country with the most sophisticated market economy in the 
world, the approach advocated today represents an astonishingly 
slippery slope. Loan guarantee proposals and circumstances of this 
nature have a tendency to create stilted markets and unfair 
competition. They implicitly disadvantage competitors and may not be as 
protective of ordinary workers as they may be for investors and a few 
companies and lending institutions that may have troubled loans in 
place.
  Let me be clear: Nothing in this bill expands demand for steel or 
creates a single job. It may protect a particular worker's job in a 
particular company, but it is not a jobs protection bill. At the very 
most, it allocates jobs by protecting the least efficient producers and 
jeopardizing more efficient ones.
  For example, I represent an industrial river district with four steel 
plants. None can be expected to receive any of the resources made 
available under this act. But this bill authorizes assistance to steel 
producers in competition with these efficient plants.
  For every job that may be protected in West Virginia, one will be 
lost in Iowa, and for every dollar diverted in this market intervention 
program, one will be deprived from HUD, the USDA and an assortment of 
other government agencies. There is no free lunch for loan guarantees 
of this nature.
  To be sure, last year steel import crisis was real and caused harm to 
our industry and its workers. In reaction, the United States Government 
responded aggressively to anti-dumping and countervailing duty cases 
against a variety of countries. At the same time, the executive branch 
exerted bilateral pressure on key trading partners, including Japan and 
Korea, to reduce their steel imports to the United States.
  According to Commerce Secretary Daley, these efforts are beginning to 
have an effect. While our steel industry still faces a number of 
economic difficulties, we have reversed last year's historic import 
surge. Total steel imports have returned to pre-crisis levels. April 
1999 imports of all steel products were 22 percent below April 1998 
levels and 6 percent below April 1997.

                              {time}  2115

  Indeed, this April's import levels were more than 42 percent below 
last August's peak. Ironically, just today it was reported the domestic 
steel companies are raising spot market prices of large volume flat 
rolled products by as much as 9 percent.
  According to the Chicago Tribune, these price increases have been 
made possible by sharp economic rebounds in key parts of Asia's Pacific 
Rim which is soaking up steel that otherwise might have been shipped to 
the United States.
  As for the oil and gas dimension of this bill, it should be 
understood that this provision was added in the other body when crude 
oil prices were at an inflation-adjusted post World War II low. But 
from a bottom of $10.27 cents per barrel in February of this year, oil 
prices have rallied over 100 percent, to $20.62 today. The recovery of 
crude oil prices makes this bill not only philosophically dubious, but 
untimely.
  Let me turn now to precedent. Here two issues stand out. First, the 
fact that this legislation is being considered on the House floor in 
this way is a testament to the disproportionate power individual 
Members of the other body have attained through precedents and rules 
not shared by this body.

[[Page 19539]]

  The principal reason this bill is before us is that one powerful 
member of the other body refused to allow a national defense and 
humanitarian spending measure to go forward until he received a pledge 
from House leaders that this legislation would receive expedited 
consideration in this body, in disregard of regular House processes.
  To allow this kind of process to be subjected in the House is 
precedential folly. The procedures of the other body demand reform for 
a number of reasons, not the least of which is that they disadvantage 
the people's body. But under no circumstances should House Members be a 
party to power plays in the other House that dictate how this House 
should proceed, especially if such commitments have the effect of 
bypassing the committee system, which is designed to protect the House 
and the public interest.
  Further complicating this bill are constitutional and administrative 
law questions. In an effort to make the loan guaranty program less 
expensive, the bill was amended to require the chairman of the Federal 
Reserve to serve as the chairman of a three-member board to administer 
the program.
  But it should be remembered, the Federal Reserve is an independent 
agency, not part of the executive branch. It is responsible for 
conducting the Nation's monetary policy, as well as supervising and 
regulating banking institutions. This bill would entangle the Federal 
Reserve in inappropriate executive branch functions and compromising 
political judgments.
  The program the bill establishes is more political than economic in 
character. It is designed by politicians to benefit certain companies 
in selected industries. In its present form, it entwines the Federal 
Reserve Board, which both parties on a bipartisan basis have a vested 
interest in keeping above politics, into the hurly-burly of 
congressional politics.
  Extraordinarily, the bill causes the chairman of the Fed to become, 
in effect, a loan officer who also may be regulating financial 
institutions with which the Federal Reserve may, under this bill, 
become a party in lending judgments.
  The only thing more foolish than the economic and political judgments 
in play are the process considerations for Congress, the executive 
branch, and the Fed.
  In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, let me reiterate that the interventionist 
policy under consideration represents a procedural, substantive, and 
precedent-setting umbrage. Loan guaranty approaches should only be 
considered after extensive review and only under the most exigent of 
circumstances. This particular congressional intrusion into the 
American free market should be viewed with the utmost skepticism.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge its defeat, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LaFALCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to say how much respect I have for 
the authors of this bill, both the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Regula) and 
the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Mollohan).
  With respect to the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Mollohan), I 
want to express my deepest condolences upon the death of his father, 
with whom I had the tremendous pleasure of serving for 8 years, from 
1975, his retirement, to 1982. He was a great person. He was a great 
Congressman.
  But I think, in all candor, his greatest achievement was his son. I 
do not think any father could have been more proud of his son than Bob 
Mollohan was, and rightly should have been, of the gentleman from West 
Virginia (Mr. Mollohan). I am proud to serve with him. That makes 
opposing the bill even more difficult.
  Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. LaFALCE. I yield to the gentleman from West Virginia.
  Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, the distinguished 
gentleman from New York, for those very kind remarks. They are 
certainly appreciated. God bless.
  Mr. LaFALCE. Mr. Speaker, I regret that I must oppose this bill, in 
large part for the reasons articulated by the chairman of the Committee 
on Banking and Financial Services, the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Leach). 
I find myself in 100 percent agreement with each and every remark of 
his.
  First of all, with respect to process, there was not one minute worth 
of hearing on this bill in the House of Representatives; not a day, not 
an hour, not a minute. I believe that is true in the Senate, too, but I 
cannot swear to that.
  As a matter of fact, the oil and gas provisions of this bill were 
never even introduced in the House. The bill number is the Kosovo 
appropriations that was substituted. I do not believe there ever was a 
bill creating a loan guaranty program for the oil and gas industry.
  Now, I think it is a terrible precedent. I really think this is a 
terrible precedent, because what we are doing is we are saying to the 
authorizing committees, whatever they are, the Committee on 
Transportation, the Committee on Ways and Means, the Committee on Armed 
Services, we are going to eliminate the necessity for them, on minor 
matters. What is a minor matter? For $1.5 billion, we will just 
eliminate the need for their consideration of any legislation dealing 
with approximately $1.5 billion. That is a terrible precedent.
  Secondly, some individuals say, well, speaking of precedents, we have 
some precedents when we have given guaranties in the past. To be sure, 
Chrysler has been mentioned as one example; Lockheed.
  A few things. First of all, those were company-specific, not 
industry-wide; not oil and gas industry, iron ore industry, but 
company-specific. There were days and weeks of hearings and markup and 
conferences, et cetera.
  Most importantly, I remember when I wrote a dissenting opinion 
against the Chrysler loan guaranty bill because we did not attach 
adequate conditionality to the loan, because we did not attach the 
necessity for shared sacrifices on the part of all the stakeholders.
  The Senate did a better job on that bill, thanks to a good Republican 
and a good Democrat, Senator Richard Lugar and Senator Paul Tsongas. 
They attached those conditions. They attached, for example, the ability 
of the United States to have warrants. They attached the necessity for 
shared sacrifices, et cetera.
  There is nothing in this bill remotely close to that at all, nothing 
whatsoever. There certainly has not been the months and months of 
hearing and public dialogue and discussion; not even a minute, not even 
a minute.
  There are other reasons, too. The steel industry is very important 
and the iron ore industry is very important and the oil and gas 
industry is very important. But there are countless other important 
industries in the United States of America, too. Why just steel, why 
not the materials industry? Why not the textile industry? Why not the 
computer industry, the machine tool industry? We could go on endlessly.
  If we are going to intervene and allocate credit, ought we not at 
least to have some hearings to discuss where we would best allocate 
credit? The House tonight is saying no.
  But let us think of something else, now. We are coming in with a $1.5 
billion program. The program had just run for a couple of years, but 
the loan guaranties will go for decades, or I have forgotten the exact 
date, but considerably beyond that. But we cannot do it for nothing. We 
can only do it if we rescind monies in fiscal year 1999. That is what 
we are going to be voting on. We are going to be voting to rescind 
monies for fiscal year 1999.
  How much will we have to rescind? Two hundred seventy million 
dollars, or $267 million, to be exact, according to the gentleman from 
Ohio (Mr. Regula). We have to rescind that much. Where do we take it 
from? The bill says, not from defense but from the non-defense 
programs.
  So what do we do if we vote for this bill? If Members are interested 
in agriculture, we rescind $45 million from agriculture. If Members are 
interested in commerce, we rescind $12 million from commerce. If 
Members are interested in health and human services, we rescind $20 
million from health and

[[Page 19540]]

human services. If Members are interested in housing for the poor and 
the elderly, we rescind $17 million from HUD. If we are interested in 
the Department of the interior, we rescind $9 million; from Justice, 
$23 million; the Department of State, $11 million; Transportation, 
almost $14 million; Treasury, over $20 million; and Veterans Affairs, 
approximately $36 million. The list goes on and on.
  The total is, according to OMB, a rescission of approximately $270 
million. I ask Members to ask themselves if this bill, that has not had 
a day's worth of hearing, in order to help the oil and gas industry, et 
cetera, is worth rescinding $270 million.
  Mr. REGULA. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. LaFALCE. I yield to the gentleman from Ohio.
  Mr. REGULA. Mr. Speaker, would the gentleman agree that those are 
travel budgets for those various agencies, just travel for members of 
the executive branch?
  Mr. LaFALCE. No, those are administrative and travel. Administrative 
includes salaries for people.
  So what we are doing is for veterans affairs, we would be eliminating 
doctors, these are administrative; nurses, these are administrative. 
But can our hospitals in Buffalo and Batavia, wherever they are, afford 
their pro rata share of a budget cut in veterans affairs of $36 
million, et cetera, et cetera? Is it that important?
  Of course, the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Leach) pointed out, it is so 
wrong to have the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, and 
unconstitutional, he argued, and I would agree with him fully, in 
there. I hate saying vote no on this bill, but logic and the order of 
the House and the integrity of the House, the integrity of the 
legislative process, demands it.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. REGULA. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Young), the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations.
  Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, a number of Members have asked the 
question, what does this have to do with national defense and Kosovo? 
Because when the Clerk read out the title of the bill, it did refer to 
national defense, to the Kosovo supplemental.
  I wanted to advise the Members that there is nothing left in this 
bill that has anything to do with Kosovo and national defense or 
anything of that nature. That was all stripped out. This vehicle was an 
empty vehicle, and the other body used it as a vehicle then for this 
loan guaranty program. I just wanted Members to know that, especially 
because several have asked that question.
  Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the 
distinguished gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm).
  Mr. STENHOLM. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this 
legislation, which will establish an emergency loan guaranty program 
for the independent oil and gas industry and the steel industry.
  Much like America's agriculture, the oil and gas industry and steel 
industries have recently experienced a price crisis which has caused 
hundreds of thousands of job losses and severe economic hardships for 
the communities in which they serve.
  In November of 1997, the oil and gas exploration and production 
industry began experiencing critically low prices, which included the 
lowest inflation-adjusted oil price in history. These low prices were 
well below the cost of finding and producing crude, and they threatened 
the ability of many independent producers to continue operation. The 
effects of hard times on producers have a significant impact in all 
areas of our economy, as many of our Texas schools and hospitals 
receive significant tax revenues from oil and gas properties.

                              {time}  2130

  While prices have improved in the past few months, the industry 
continues to face economic hardship and infrastructure loss. The 
Independent Petroleum Association of America estimates that 56,400 jobs 
of oil and gas have been lost since October of 1997. Twenty-five 
percent of the United States' total oil wells and 57,000 natural gas 
wells shut down. Many of these wells will never operate again.
  With oil imports currently accounting for 56 percent of America's 
supply, it is of vital importance to our national security that we 
provide assistance to oil and gas producers so that we can preserve 
what is left of our domestic oil and gas industry. Since 1986, the 
United States has lost 2 million barrels per day of oil production.
  With programs such as these loan guarantees in place, we might not 
have lost the domestic production. But we now have the opportunity to 
do something to maintain what is left. These loan guarantees will 
provide struggling independent producers with the capital necessary to 
save jobs, businesses, and the viability of the domestic industry. If 
the relevant committees of jurisdiction had taken action since 1997, we 
would not be in this position now.
  Mr. LEACH. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Archer), the chairman of the Committee on 
Ways and Means.
  Mr. ARCHER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Iowa for yielding 
me this time.
  Coming from Houston, Texas, the energy capital of the world, I 
certainly have sympathy for the plight of the oil and gas industry, and 
I am concerned about the plight of the steel industry also.
  But I was taught early in life that the end never justifies the 
means, and this means is one of the most inappropriate efforts that I 
have seen in the 28\1/2\ years that I have been in the House of 
Representatives.
  It opens its way to boondoggles, because there is no restriction for 
a steel company with a loan to a bank. The bank is concerned about the 
steel company's capabilities to shift that off to the responsibility of 
the taxpayers. There is no protection against the president of one of 
these industries making a personal loan to that industry and then 
applying for the government to take that president personally off the 
hook. No protection at all against that in this bill.
  I associate myself with the eloquent remarks of the gentleman from 
New York. I could not say them better than he did. But I would add that 
it also sends the worst of signals to our trading partners.
  We complain over and over again about their government subsidies to 
their basic industries, like their steel industry; and here we are in 
the back doorway having a government subsidy for a basic industry that 
we decry over and over again.
  Importantly, it is so precedential, as the gentleman from New York 
said. Where do we draw the line when the government begins to embark on 
this course? There are better ways. We should find a better way.
  Mr. LaFALCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Ohio (Mr. Traficant).
  Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, I do not like this bill, but I am going 
to vote for it. I want to thank the gentleman from New York (Chairman 
LaFalce) for being a gentleman and allowing me the time.
  Pretty tough for me to vote against the bill that has come to the 
floor offered by the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Regula) and the gentleman 
from West Virginia (Mr. Mollohan), two great Members.
  I also offer my sympathies to the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. 
Mollohan).
  But I want to pick up on something that the gentleman from Texas 
(Chairman Archer) said. No matter how one cuts this bill, the reason 
for it being on the floor is illegal trade. The steel industry is in 
desperate straits because of illegal trade.
  What Congress has chosen to do is, no matter how we cut it, we 
subsidize and accommodate illegal trade tonight in the House of 
Representatives, with the only vehicle to help our industries.
  This is unbelievable to me. We act like a bank and guarantee with 
taxpayers dollars industries that are impacted upon by illegal trade, 
but Congress does not have the courage to take

[[Page 19541]]

a stand and reconcile these great negative balance of payments in a 
trade deficit approaching a quarter of a trillion dollars.
  Good God almighty. Now we are going to accommodate illegal trade. We 
are telling our trading partners, go ahead. The doors are open. If 
worst comes to worst, we will take care of our industry for you.
  A Nation that allows predators to violate their marketplace is a 
Nation that will bankrupt and collapse. We have no sound trade policy 
in America. I do not see any difference now between either party. I do 
not see any resolution. I do not see any progress being made. I see a 
sigh of surrender.
  Let us use our largess. Let us put a Band-Aid on it and hope they 
treat us better. I think it is time for a reciprocal trade agreement. 
It is time to tell our trading partners, ``If you want access, give us 
yours, or we will close the door on you, just like you have done to 
us.''
  If they are beating us because they are better, I can accept it. But 
I cannot give them an advantage and go home and tell my people we are 
going to use their tax dollars now to guarantee our failing policies. 
This is bad policy, Congress.
  Now I want my colleagues to take a look at some of the suggestions, 
Mr. Speaker, that are coming from both sides of the aisle now on the 
illegal trade. I am not talking about free trade tonight. I am not 
talking about trade. I am talking about illegal trade, and we sponsored 
it.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaHood). The Chair announces that the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Regula) has 10 minutes remaining, the 
gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Mollohan) has 10\1/2\ minutes 
remaining, the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Leach) has 5 minutes remaining, 
and the gentleman from New York (Mr. LaFalce) has 3\1/2\ minutes 
remaining.
  Mr. REGULA. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Alabama (Mr. Aderholt).
  Mr. ADERHOLT. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1664, a 
bill to provide loan guarantees to help U.S. steel companies and oil 
and gas companies. I would like to comment for just a minute on the 
steel portion of the bill.
  American workers are the most productive in the world. As my 
colleagues and I are pointing out here on the House floor and have been 
for about a year, American steelworkers and steel company managers have 
worked together to achieve remarkably efficient steel production here 
in the U.S.
  U.S. steel is the highest quality in the world, and producers adhere 
to the highest safety and environmental standards. The bottom line is 
we can compete with any steel producers in the world as long as we are 
not flooded with artificially low-priced steel.
  Due to the illegal dumping by foreign countries, scheduled 
maintenance and modernization improvements at U.S. steel companies have 
been impossible for much of the past 2 years. So these loan guarantees 
will allow our companies to remain competitive.
  As has already been pointed out here tonight, the terms of the plan 
are tough. The Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan, chairs the 
board that oversees the plan. All loans must be paid back by December 
1, 2005. The plan is fully paid for with offsets.
  I represent one of the mid-sized U.S. steel companies that has 
suffered because of this illegal steel dumping. Gulf States Steel, in 
Gadsden, Alabama, which is in the Fourth Congressional District, 
employs about 1,800 people. Without a program like this one, the future 
of these workers is not optimistic.
  This bill has been scrutinized, it has been amended, and it reflects 
the hard work of Members both here in the House and of the Senate, 
Republicans and Democrats.
  I ask for my colleagues to support H.R. 1664 and support our steel 
and oil and gas industries.
  Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield such time as he may 
consume to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hall).
  Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Emergency 
Steel, Oil, and Gas Guarantee Act of 1999.
  Mr. Speaker, I'm here tonight to offer my support for the men and 
women in Texas, as well as throughout all of what we know as the ``Oil 
Patch.'' These people have built an industry that has brought us a way 
of life. Inherent in this industry has been the willingness to take 
risks by the investors, and an abundance of hard work. The oil and gas 
industry in this country owes it's past successes to the classic hard 
work, family business, the American way.
  Without the risks and hard work we would not currently enjoy so many 
of the conveniences that make our way of life the envy of the world. 
Yet, these family businesses, otherwise known as Independent Producers, 
have hit upon very serious hard times, and while the rest of our 
economy appears to be booming, these hard working people have been 
forced to cap wells, lay off their employees, and compete with very 
strong foreign markets. The stacked oil riggs give mute testimony to 
their plight.
  We must vote YES, and pass this bill, for at least two important 
reasons. (1) Our National Security rests upon our ability to rely on 
domestic energy resources in case of emergency, * * *. We cannot afford 
to sit back and watch this industry fail. (2) It is the right thing to 
do, * * *. these men and women, have been there for us in tough times, 
all they are asking of us, is that we be there for them in what most of 
the rest of us are experiencing as good times. This industry is 
deserving of these loan guarantees, and as a matter of national 
security, we must respond to their call for assistance.
  Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the 
distinguished gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Visclosky).
  Mr. VISCLOSKY. Mr. Speaker, I would add my comments and wishes to the 
gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Mollohan) as everyone else has. I 
think it is a mark of the gentleman that, this evening, he is here 
protecting the interest of, not only the people of his congressional 
district, his State, but all of those in the United States of America 
who want a good paying decent job for themselves and their families. I 
think we all owe the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Mollohan) a debt 
of gratitude on that.
  One of the earlier speakers, in his comments said this is not going 
to create one new job. I would remind all of our colleagues that we are 
here tonight because we have lost 11,000 jobs since July 1, 1997. There 
is no end in sight. Those jobs were lost, not because of inefficiency, 
but because of illegally traded steel that we as a government, the 
executive branch and legislative branch, did not stop.
  Those 11,000 individuals with spouses and children do not have a job 
tonight. We owe them this loan guarantee.
  Mr. LEACH. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished 
gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Kolbe).
  Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Iowa for yielding 
me this time. I, too, would like to join my colleagues in paying 
tribute to the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Mollohan) for the work 
that he has done and for being here this evening.
  But I do also rise in very strong opposition to this bill. It is a 
target-rich environment of arguments against it. I do not know which 
one to start with.
  Let me start with this one. This bill is being brought to this floor 
for the first time without the benefits of any hearings in the House or 
any kind of public input.
  This bill provides an almost open-ended $1 billion in loan guarantees 
for the steel industry and as much as $500 million in guarantees for 
the oil and gas industry. To cover potential defaults of administrative 
cost, $270 million are appropriated.
  Now, we have an offset for that, we have been told, an offset of an 
unspecified pro rata recessions from the nondefense travel and 
administrative accounts in all Federal agencies' fiscal 1999 budgets 
which have 2 months to run.
  Now, there are many of these budgets which do not have anything in 
those accounts, and OMB has acknowledged they have not the slightest 
idea of how they are going to handle it in those particular budgets. 
So, in short, it puts millions of dollars of taxpayers' funds at risk, 
rescinds millions of dollars in Federal administrative accounts, in the 
Veterans Administration, in the Energy Department, in the Agriculture 
Department where we have a real problem with agriculture in this 
country. It

[[Page 19542]]

takes the money out of those accounts and sets up an elaborate loan 
guarantee board to administer the program.
  Yet no one, not a single Member of the House, has had an opportunity 
to review this proposal in committee nor hear from those who are 
affected. This is not the way this institution is supposed to function.
  Now, I also object to this on a substantive ground. The loan 
guarantees being considered would not go to the benefit of any workers. 
Instead they go to investors of a few companies, many of whom may have 
had troubled loans in the first place.
  The effect of these loan guarantees would be to reward inefficient 
producers and skew market capital away from efficient industries toward 
inefficient companies and inefficient industries.
  Rather than save jobs, this bill would simply reallocate jobs in our 
country. This is nothing but a special interest bailout for specific 
industries, and I urge the defeat of this particular bill.
  Mr. LaFALCE. Mr. Speaker, since I only have about 3 minutes 
remaining, I reserve the balance of my time for closing.
  Mr. REGULA. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Ohio 
(Mr. Ney).
  Mr. NEY. Mr. Speaker, also, as neighbors of the gentleman from West 
Virginia (Mr. Mollohan), I know my constituency sends their deepest 
sympathies.
  Tonight a lot of right things I guess have been said, no matter which 
side one is at on this issue. Politics. There are some politics 
involved. I think it is politics to help good people that deserve help 
from their government.
  As far as breaking precedent procedure, I think that has been done 
here over the course of a couple hundred years. I really do not think 
it is being done tonight, though, in a way of breaking precedent 
procedure, because there has been a type of hearing. There has been a 
one-year nonhearing on this issue for the steelworkers and their 
families.
  Oil and gas is included obviously in this, too. They are having some 
troubled times.
  I would also like to point out that the monitoring bill of Visclosky, 
Regula, et al. of this body, the White House put its hand into the 
Senate and killed it. That chance seems to be gone, so something has to 
be done. Tonight is the urgent need to do it.
  This is not about free trade. It is not about fair trade. It is about 
illegal dumping. Give the steelworkers a chance.
  Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the 
gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur).

                              {time}  2145

  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished and able gentleman 
from West Virginia (Mr. Mollohan), who is really fully admired by 
Members of this House for being here this evening, and our dear 
colleague, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Regula) as well.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this measure to put some steel back 
into the spine of America and to help our beleaguered independent 
energy sector. Earlier this year, the House passed this legislation. It 
has been stalled over in the other body all this time. Unforgivable.
  Now six more steel companies in our country, American jobs, have 
filed for bankruptcy. Over 6,000 jobs at stake in Alabama, Ohio, 
Illinois, Pennsylvania, Utah, coast to coast, and more on the chopping 
block.
  I think we are obligated to do what we can to provide help to this 
beleaguered set of industries in the United States of America, 
especially when they are so adversely impacted by imports from Japan, 
which has never opened its markets to us; Indonesia, not exactly the 
most Democratic place on the face of the earth.
  So I rise in support of this bill, as I would have on the Chrysler 
loan bailout, in which every penny was paid back with interest.
  Mr. LEACH. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas 
(Mr. DeLay), the distinguished majority whip.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I too want to offer my sympathies to the 
gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Mollohan) and the Mollohan family. I 
know the loss of a father leaves a very deep hole, and we all feel very 
sympathetic to the gentleman and his family.
  Mr. Speaker, I must oppose this bill. I understand why this bill 
comes, but my colleagues, I was raised in the oil fields. My daddy was 
a drilling contractor. We went through many ups and downs in the 
economy in the oil and gas industry. I come from Houston, Texas, the 
capital of the oil and gas industry in the world, and I am telling my 
colleagues this is a horrible policy. This is a horrible policy.
  We just went through a depression in the oil and gas industry in the 
late 1970s and early 1980s, and we got through it. Sure, there were a 
lot of people that lost their jobs, but I have to tell my colleagues 
that the oil and gas industry got through that deep depression and they 
are stronger for it today. They are stronger for it today.
  When this bill was first conceived, oil was at $8, $10 a barrel, West 
Texas crude is up to $20 to $21 a barrel. The oil and gas industry does 
not need the government fooling around with their market by suggesting 
that loan guarantees will somehow save all the jobs and save the oil 
and gas industry. They do not need this.
  My daddy would be turning over in his grave today, because I can 
remember my entire life, every night at 6 o'clock around the dinner 
table how much he would gripe about how the government was constantly 
interfering in the oil and gas industry and stopping us from developing 
the kind of industry that we needed for our national security.
  They do not want this, they do not need this, and I hope that my 
colleagues will defeat it.
  Mr. REGULA. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Alabama (Mr. Bachus).
  Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to commend my 
colleague, the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Aderholt), for his fine work 
on this bill, and I want to introduce for the Record a letter that he 
wrote to the Members of this Congress on June 16 where he talked about 
the cost of not acting on this legislation. It is 108,000 jobs.
  Mr. Speaker, I read an interesting article in a paper. I pulled it 
off the internet, and it is called the Hindustan Times. It is one of 
the leading papers in India. They said that imports from Japan, Korea, 
Brazil, and the Communist block were ruining the Indian steel industry. 
They said they were importing steel into India at less than what India 
could produce it.
  The average steelworker in India makes 20 cents an hour. India said 
they are moving to block this. In that article, it said there are only 
two countries in the world that are allowing its steel industries to be 
destroyed, us and the United States, and they are acting to stop this. 
The European nations and Japan have a reciprocal agreement which says 
they will not dump on each other. We will not do that. These things are 
not coming into Europe. Europe will not stand for it. We will.
  I heard the gentleman from Iowa say the crisis is almost over. Let me 
state the latest statistics from the Census Bureau. Shipments of U.S. 
steel down 10 percent; utilization down 10 percent from a month before. 
Total imports up 30 percent in May over April. That does not sound like 
it is almost over. U.S. steel prices down 27 percent.
  Mr. Speaker, I submit for the Record the letter I referred to 
earlier.
                                    Washington, DC, June 16, 1999.
     Re loan guarantees.
       Dear Colleague: During conference consideration of H.R. 
     1141, the Supplemental Appropriations Act, loan guarantee 
     provisions for steel, oil, and gas companies were removed in 
     order to facilitate consideration of the Supplemental bill. 
     Recognizing the strong support for assisting steel, oil, and 
     gas companies, leadership offered to let the Senate 
     Appropriations Committee amend H.R. 1664 to make it a loan 
     bill (H.R. 1664 was the original House funding bill for 
     Kosovo operations; the final version of H.R. 1141 essentially 
     combined the Senate Kosovo funding bill and the House 
     Emergency bill, thus making H.R. 1664 no longer necessary to 
     the funding of Kosovo operations). We are hopeful that the 
     full Senate will soon pass this

[[Page 19543]]

     amended version and refer it to the House, at which point 
     conferees will be appointed.
       There has been some debate about the possible costs of 
     providing these loan guarantees. Not as often considered as 
     the costs of doing nothing to help these companies. With 
     regard to steel, if the ten companies most likely to apply 
     for loan guarantee were to close, here is what we would lose:
       Number of jobs: 107,167
       Dollar amount of income: $4,879,443,110
       Dollar amount of production: $9,227,000,000
       These companies affect many others within their states. For 
     one company alone, the impact on that would be a loss of 
     $206,348,230 in statewide projected earnings.
       Independent oil and natural gas producers around the 
     country have also been hit hard by the extended depressed oil 
     and gas prices. Beginning in November 1997, the oil 
     exploration and production industry began experiencing a 
     price crisis that included the lowest inflation-adjusted oil 
     prices in history. These prices have had far-reaching effects 
     on the lives of thousands in the industry. In the past 18 
     months, the industry has lost 56,400 jobs, and an additional 
     20,000 jobs are at risk. This is a natural result of the shut 
     down of 136,000 oil wells (25 percent of total U.S.) and 
     57,000 natural gas wells during the same period--a 
     substantial number which will never operate again. As a 
     result, the U.S. oil and natural gas production is nearly at 
     its fifty year low. As devastating as this crisis has been on 
     individuals in the industry, the impact on our Nation has 
     been equally severe--estimated at $25 billion in lost 
     economic impact.
       When the House votes again on this bill, I hope you will 
     support it. These U.S. industries are competitive and the 
     loan guarantees will help them remain competitive. If you 
     have any questions, please contact Mark Dawson (Rep. 
     Aderholt, 225-4876) or Dawson Oslund (Rep. Watts, 225-6165).
           Sincerely,
     J.C. Watts,
     Robert B. Aderhold,
                                              Members of Congress.

  Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Turner).
  Mr. TURNER. Mr. Speaker, we hear a lot today about the new economy, 
but there are some of us still trying to get by on the old economy, and 
the old economy is not doing too well.
  In my district and across this Nation, tens of thousands of steel and 
oil and gas workers have lost their jobs, and many more fear that they 
may lose theirs. Since October of 1997, oil prices have dropped 
dramatically due to increases in imports. More than 50,000 workers have 
lost their jobs, hundreds of production and service companies have 
closed, and over 136,000 oil wells have shut down. That is 25 percent 
of all the wells in the United States.
  Providing Federal loan guarantees to significant strategic U.S. 
businesses at risk is not without precedent. The SBA guarantees loans 
every day in this country for small business. We do it for agriculture. 
Congress has done it for New York City, for Lockheed Aircraft, for Penn 
Central, for Conrail. It is a common practice.
  Mr. Speaker, these industries need our help. They are critical to the 
economic security and the national security of our country.
  Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar).
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, this bill is just as deadly serious for 
the steel and iron ore mining industry as were loan guarantees Congress 
approved for New York City in 1977 and Chrysler in 1980.
  The steel import crisis is not over. American steel makers are still 
cutting production and jobs because of unfairly traded steel dumped in 
our markets at subsidized prices. Iron ore producers in Minnesota and 
Michigan, whose only market is the domestic integrated steel industry, 
are especially devastated by imports of semi-finished steel slab 
subsidized in Russia and other countries and dumped on our shores 
displacing our high quality taconite. Layoffs totaling 2,500 jobs were 
announced just this week by mines in Minnesota and Michigan, on top of 
hundreds of previous layoffs.
  I would rather the unfair trade laws worked. I would rather we had 
duties and countervailing duties and quotas. But they are not being 
imposed, they are not working, and the loan guarantee initiative will 
help taconite plants upgrade operations, reduce costs, improve 
efficiency, and the loans will be repaid with interest.
  Mr. REGULA. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/4\ minutes to the gentleman from 
Oklahoma (Mr. Watkins).
  Mr. WATKINS. Mr. Speaker, I have only 1 minute to make a point. We 
have lost over 100,000 jobs to oil patch in this country. We have lost 
equity. And I say to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Leach) and the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. LaFalce), that is the difference. We have 
lost more equity ever in the history of the energy industry. I am not 
talking about the majors, the multinationals, I am talking about the 
mom and pops in the small oil service jobs.
  We subsidized ethanol and we bailed out New York City. The Department 
of Energy is doing nothing. In fact, the Department of Energy is 
harming the oil and domestic energy industry. Why? Because they are 
supporting a lot of foreign oil production, especially in Iraq. What 
kind of policy do we have? We have sanctions. We are proposing to lift 
the caps in Iraq. They are selling oil illegally to Jordan and we are 
loaning money to Jordan. What kind of policy is that? It is crazy.
  My colleagues, our people do not understand it. During the July 4 
break I marveled at our senior citizens. A grandmother approached me 
and said, ``Congressman, I know you are going to take care of my Social 
Security, and I know that you are going to take care of my Medicare, 
but, Congressman, when can my grandson go back to work in the oil 
patch?''
  It is serious out there in America, and I ask my colleagues for their 
help.
  Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Klink), who has worked so long and hard on steel 
issues.
  Mr. KLINK. Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want my friend and colleague, 
the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Mollohan), to know that his 
courage and dedication tonight are the greatest tribute he could pay to 
his father, and I am honored to be on the floor with him.
  My colleagues, this Congress had an idea that we would pass a steel 
quota bill and that would be our response, and we passed it with a 
veto-proof measure. But the same people on both sides of the aisle who 
had sold GATT to us back in 1994 in a lame duck session said it is not 
GATT compliant, that we could not do it, and they killed it. Now some 
of the same forces are coming out and saying we cannot do this either. 
Well, Mr. Speaker, our steel companies are having to compete with 
companies that are subsidized by foreign governments. So we want to tie 
both hands behind the backs of our steel industry, and we say go out 
and compete in the world.
  This is not the first time, my colleagues, that we have done 
subsidies. We have heard about it before. But the reality is that our 
basic industry needs our help. And if we let the steel industry go 
down, next it will be aerospace, then auto manufacturing, bridge 
building, construction, and on and on. We have to stand up for these 
workers and the 11,000 who have already lost their jobs.
  Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
West Virginia (Mr. Wise).
  Mr. WISE. Mr. Speaker, I want the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. 
Mollohan) to know that parents live through their children, and the 
fact that the gentleman is standing here tonight speaks volumes about 
him and his father, and we thank him for being here.
  For over a year, Mr. Speaker, thousands of hard working steelworkers 
have faced economic devastation due to illegal steel dumping. Ten 
thousand have lost their jobs. Weirton Steel, an employee-owned company 
which fought its way back from bankruptcy, suddenly had 800 workers 
unemployed. They played by the rules when other nations broke them with 
their illegal dumping.
  Mr. Speaker, this is only a loan guarantee program for the steel 
industry and some in the oil and gas industry to get back on their 
feet. No handouts here, just loan guarantees with tight controls and 
costs offset.
  Mr. Speaker, for the first time in a year, this bill provides the 
first little bit of hope to the thousands of proud,

[[Page 19544]]

hard-working families in our area along the Ohio River, for instance in 
communities named Weirton and Wheeling and Follansbee. Vote for them 
tonight.
  Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Western Pennsylvania (Mr. Mascara), my neighbor.
  Mr. MASCARA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this 
time, and I extend my condolences to him and his family on the passing 
of his father.
  To both sides, those who oppose this bill, I would like to invite 
them to come to southwestern Pennsylvania and see the economic carnage 
that took place from the depression of the 1980s and the demise of the 
steel and coal industry. We lost an entire generation of young people.
  They told us to get our act together and be more productive. We 
capitalized and we were more productive. Now our steel companies are 
suffering from foreign imports that are illegally subsidized. We have 
the hardest working and most efficient steel industry in the world. All 
that we are asking for is a level playing field.
  We neither break the trade laws nor subsidize our steel companies, 
that is why it is imperative to provide loan guarantees and access to 
capital, because it is crucial in upgrading our steel making 
facilities. We cannot stand by and watch these illegal imports flood 
our markets, which have cost steelworkers jobs all over this country.
  Mr. LEACH. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Alabama (Mr. Callahan).

                              {time}  2200

  Mr. CALLAHAN. Mr. Speaker, let me just clarify something about the 
procedure.
  There are some who have indicated that this measure has not received 
the proper attention of the Congress because it did not go through the 
regular hearing process. But this is nothing different than any other 
procedure that we have had. We pass a bill here, the Senate disagrees 
or adds to it, and then the conferees correct it, and then they bring 
it back to both Houses for the vote up or down.
  Out of deference to Senator Byrd, he had this added on in the Senate 
because it was a true emergency and the conference voted to include it 
in the report back to the House. So it went through the proper 
procedure. But out of deference to this House and out of deference to 
the emergency needs of Kosovo and in Latin America, Senator Byrd, at my 
insistence and at the insistence of the Speaker of the House, 
voluntarily withdrew from that emergency appropriation bill provided we 
would use the other vehicle that was already sitting there to allow 
this to come before this body in a divided stance.
  Had we not done this, we would have been forced to vote with the 
emergency appropriation that we had for Central America and for Kosovo; 
and this too, we would have had one vote.
  Under the procedure that we finally arrived at, we get the 
opportunity to vote on a divided question. I think that is a fair way 
to do it. I applaud Senator Byrd for agreeing to do it because he did 
not have to do it. We could have resolved this in that emergency 
appropriation bill if indeed the senator had insisted.
  So I appreciate the senator giving us the opportunity to bring this 
to the floor as a single issue and vote it up or down, because it truly 
is an emergency appropriation for the steel industry.
  I will assure my colleagues that it is impacting my State of Alabama 
very adversely at this point. If they do not get some relief 
immediately, then there is going to be a true emergency in Alabama 
because we are going to have about 1,500 people walking the streets.
  I urge my colleagues to vote for the amendment.
  Mr. LaFALCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of the time.
  Mr. Speaker, we are here because one senator for whom I have the 
greatest respect said, I have got to have this money for the industry, 
especially in my State, and another senator said, I do not like this 
idea that if we are going to have money for your industry for his 
State, we are going to have to have money for my industry for my State; 
and all of a sudden we have $1\1/2\ billion, without any consideration 
being given to it by this House of Representatives whatsoever. Again, 
not one minute.
  Now, $1\1/2\ billion. I was chairman of the Committee on Small 
Business for 8 years. Every single year we had to limit the loan 
guarantees we gave to the small businesses of America because we ran up 
against the limit.
  The greatest job creator in America is the small business community. 
So when we vote for $1.5 billion, we are really depriving the Small 
Business Administration of the ability to give loan guarantees to small 
businesses.
  The Rural Development Administration, the Economic Development 
Administration, just think of the countless communities in our 
districts where small businesses if they got a loan with a Government 
guarantee could revitalize that neighborhood business district, could 
revitalize that community, could revitalize the housing stock. But they 
will not get it because we are giving it to the oil and gas industry.
  My Democratic colleagues, I remember when we first came here and we 
argued so strongly against the oil depletion allowance. This is 
terrible. And now we want to give the oil and gas industry this 
enormous, over $1\1/2\ billion, loan guarantee program without a 
minute's worth of hearings.
  If we have a specific business in our district, we do not know that 
they will ever get one penny of a loan guarantee. There is that remote 
possibility. We do know with absolute certainty, however, that in 
fiscal year 1999 we are voting for cuts in Government services that 
help our people. We are voting again to cut agriculture in fiscal 1999.
  This is for certain, $45 million. Veterans' Affairs. If we have 
veterans and they have difficulty getting assistance from their 
veterans' hospital or the clinics, we are making it worse for them, we 
are cutting the Veterans' Administration's budget by $36 million.
  If they need housing assistance, if they need more section 8 
vouchers, if they need more 202 programs, we are cutting the Housing 
and Urban Development Program by $17 million in fiscal year 1999.
  I could go on and on and on. But do not vote to rescind $270 million 
in fiscal year 1999 for this program that has not even had one minute's 
worth of hearings in the House of Representatives to help out the oil 
and gas industry, chaired by the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, 
who does not want this job, who would probably urge us to vote against 
this program, who does not believe in the concept of credit allocation 
whatsoever.
  Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 30 seconds.
  Mr. Speaker, I just want to clarify for the gentleman from New York 
(Mr. LaFalce) who just spoke. He has alluded a couple times to this 
money coming out of salary accounts and programmatic accounts.
  I can understand his mistake. This money comes out of the expense 
side and it comes out of items like travel and on the administrative 
side pencils, paper, office supplies. It does not come out of salaries, 
any salaries, and will not result in any programmatic diminution.
  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the distinguished 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Doyle) who represents steel 
industries.
  Mr. DOYLE. Mr. Speaker, first let me say to my good friend the 
gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Mollohan) that he is in our thoughts 
and prayers, he and his family.
  Mr. Speaker, I stand today to urge my colleagues to vote for H.R. 
1664, the Byrd-Mollohan steel and oil loan guarantee bill.
  My colleagues, the crisis in steel is not over. Jobs are still being 
lost. Steel mills are still closing. And this problem will not go away 
without some real solutions.
  The Byrd-Mollohan loan guarantee proposal we are debating today will 
take real action to save American jobs and two vital American 
industries.

[[Page 19545]]

  I heard the distinguished minority whip here say that in the oil and 
gas industry they have gone through some hard times and they have 
rebounded and come back stronger and they do not need any help.
  Well, I do not know about the oil and gas industry, but I know about 
the steel industry; and I want to make something perfectly clear. We 
have not fallen on hard times. We have lost jobs because our foreign 
competitors are cheating, they are breaking the rules, and this country 
is doing nothing about it. That is why American steelworkers are on 
hard times. That is why we need some help.
  Let us vote for Byrd-Mollohan and save some American jobs.
  Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the 
distinguished gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Stupak).
  Mr. STUPAK. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support passage of 
the Senate amendments to this legislation, which offer assistance to 
the steel and iron ore industries; most importantly, the workers, the 
families, and communities who depend on these industries.
  I do not have any steel manufacturers in my district. I have iron ore 
mines. In 1920, we had over 4,500 people employed in the iron mines in 
northern Michigan. Then came the illegal dumping in the 1980s.
  Today we have less than 2,200. Just this week it was announced that 
the last two mines will close, the two in northern Michigan and one in 
Minnesota, and they will be closed for at least 10 weeks because of 
depressed market conditions for iron ore pellets because of illegal 
steel imports.
  For at least 10 weeks, the United States will not produce one iron 
ore pellet to make domestic steel. If we do not take action to prevent 
steel dumping, encourage the use of our domestic steel products, while 
offering some relief to our industries, there will be no more iron ore 
mines, there will be no more domestic steel industry here in the United 
States.
  Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Murtha) to close the debate for our 
side, who has worked long and hard for the steel industry and so 
effectively.
  Mr. MURTHA. Mr. Speaker, 20 years ago the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. 
Regula) and I went down to meet with President Reagan and we convinced 
him that the steel industry was absolutely essential to our national 
security.
  We had a hard time convincing the Committee on Ways and Means. But we 
fashioned a program that did not go through the normal process that was 
finally accepted and refined and restored the steel industry in this 
country.
  We have had hearings for the last 15 years on these steel problems. 
We need help. Because when they start importing steel, subsidized 
steel, it takes 6, 7, 8 months before we can get it before the court, 
before the ITC, before we can get the results.
  We need to be able to lend them money so they can get through this 
period of time. It is absolutely essential. Oil and gas and steel are 
essential to our national security. I would hope the Members would help 
us in a time when we really need this help.
  Mr. REGULA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  Mr. Speaker, this is not for big companies. This is for people. This 
is for that steelworker or that oil worker that is unemployed, 60,000. 
This is to help them pay the mortgage, to pay the tuition for their son 
or daughter that wants to go on to college, to perhaps help a child 
that is ill. This is to give them back self-respect and self-confidence 
by giving them their jobs back.
  Remember, this is a vote for people, not for companies. This is not 
one taxpayer's dollar being given to these companies. We are simply 
saying as we have done for agriculture as we have done for housing, as 
we have done for small business, as we did for Chrysler, as we did for 
Lockheed, as we did for New York City. We said we will help them by 
guaranteeing their loan.
  That is what we are talking about tonight. We are guaranteeing the 
loan. Not all of it, 85 percent. And that loan has to be approved by 
the chairman of the Federal Reserve, by the Secretary of Commerce, by 
the Chairman of the Securities Exchange commission, three highly 
respected individuals.
  I think what it does is simply say that this Government, which 
historically has provided a helping hand to the people of this Nation, 
once again says we want to help, we want to help by ensuring that those 
individuals can go back to work, that we can compete in the world 
marketplace.
  As the gentleman from Ohio said, we need revision of our State laws 
to stop the dumping, to stop the unfair practices. But in the meantime, 
that steelworker, that oil worker is out of a job.
  A vote ``yes'' is a vote to give them a helping hand from their 
Government so they can have their job back, so their family can enjoy 
this great Nation and the opportunities it provides.
  I urge all of my colleagues to support this.
  It has been said that it is going to take it out of all these other 
programs. Not so. It is travel, travel for the bureaucracy. It is 
administrative. It is the bureaucracy. It is not programs. As the 
gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Mollohan) pointed out, it does not 
affect any veterans, does not affect any individual, just Government 
travel. And there is too much of that now.
  So, in summation, this is a helping hand to the people of this 
Nation. I urge support of the bill.
  Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support for H.R. 1664, the 
Steel, Oil and Gas Loan Guarantee bill now before us.
  The bill guarantees $1 billion in loans to companies already in, or 
close to filing, for bankruptcy because of the surge of cheap steel 
imports that have flooded our country.
  This loan program has historical precedent, which began with 
government assistance to the Chrysler Corporation in 1980, and similar 
assistance since then that was provided to the City of New York, 
Lockheed Aircraft, Penn Central Railroad and Conrail.
  The steel industry has lost over 10,000 jobs in the past year, and 
the oil and gas industry over 400,000 jobs over a four year period.
  It is time for Congress to do for steel, oil and gas what it has done 
for others in the past--and that is to lend a helping hand.
  This plan is not a bailout.
  It is not a direct loan program.
  It is a tough, guaranteed loan program requiring companies to apply 
to a board which includes the Secretary of the Treasury. It's costs are 
fully offset and will be repaid.
  Please consider the alternative costs of doing nothing. If just one 
major company goes into bankruptcy, the government will likely spend 
tens of millions on unemployment benefits alone.
  Multiply that by several companies, and then add in the lost jobs at 
suppliers, the lost tax revenue to local, state and federal government 
coffers, and even possible environmental costs--and you will have 
sealed the economic fates of States in which entire communities rely 
upon these industries for jobs and their livelihoods.
  To be candid, Congress and the Administration dragged its feet far 
too long by refusing to acknowledge the damage that our trade policies 
were inflicting upon companies and workers in the steel, oil and gas 
industries.
  Our hesitation to act has caused job loss and company bankruptcies 
across this country.
  Today, we must do the right thing--to quickly approve and send to the 
President this loan guarantee for steel, oil and gas companies and 
their employees.
  I urge my colleagues to vote yes on H.R. 1664. It is the right thing 
to do.
  Mr. COSTELLO. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for yielding 
me time on this important legislation. H.R. 1664 will help combat a 
crisis that is confronting American steelworkers and steel companies. A 
flood of cheap imports abroad have left our nation's steel factories 
facing stiff competition from illegally-subsidized products.
  This legislation grants relief to the American oil and gas industry, 
providing federal loan guarantees to companies that are at risk to 
these imports. If we do not move quickly to support the backbone of our 
country's commercial sector, we could see other parts of our economy--
including the construction, automobile and shipping industries--
affected as well. The steel industry in my district has also seen 
losses as a result of these imports, and this legislation--which I have 
cosponsored--will address their needs as well.
  H.R. 1664 is modeled on the successful $1.5 billion Chrysler loan 
guarantee program, enacted in 1980. Three years later, Chrysler

[[Page 19546]]

repaid the government seven years before their loans were due. Federal 
loan guarantees are nothing new; they have been extended to Lockheed 
Aircraft, Conrail and City of New York.
  This legislation allows banks and financial institutions to provide 
federally guaranteed loans to U.S. steel mills and small oil and gas 
producers. OMB and CBO have indicted it is fully offset, and the bill's 
$270 million price tag is modest when compared with the potential 
losses in the nation's steel mills and factory lines.
  I urge my colleagues to stand up for steel in America and support 
H.R. 1664.
  Mr. COYNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of this emergency 
loan legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, the U.S. steel industry has been devastated by the 
dumping of foreign steel in this country over the last year. Many U.S. 
steel companies were hurt, three steel companies filed for bankruptcy, 
and thousands of American steel workers lost their jobs.
  The Commerce Department determined earlier this year that dumping 
had, in fact, taken place, and the Department subsequently imposed 
duties on steel imports from a number of countries.
  Unfortunately, the procedures that were in place to address dumping 
took a long time to respond to the surge of foreign steel imports. As a 
result, this illegal dumping took a terrible toll on our domestic steel 
industry. Congress needs to act to address the damage that has been 
done.
  Consequently, I support the legislation that the House is considering 
today. H.R. 1664 would establish a $1 billion loan program for the 
steel industry and a $500 million loan program for oil and gas 
producers. These programs would allow loans to be made over the next 
2\1/2\ years to qualified companies that have strong long term economic 
prospects but which face short term financial difficulties. This 
program would provide much-needed assistance to the steel companies 
that have been imperiled by foreign dumping.
  While this legislation is not perfect, I believe that it would 
provide important relief for our domestic steel industry--an industry 
whose health is essential for our national security. I urge my 
colleagues to support this important anti-dumping legislation.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1664, the Emergency 
Steel, Oil and Gas Guarantee Loan Act of 1999. I want to address my 
remarks in particular to the part of this bill that concerns the steel 
industry.
  The steel industry took a drubbing in 1998. Global overcapacity, 
combined with a dramatic drop in world demand for steel due to the 
Asian financial crisis, led to a surge of steel imports into the United 
States. Prices dropped dramatically, 10,000 workers were laid off, and 
three steel companies were forced into bankruptcy.
  Earlier this year, we searched for a legislative solution to this 
crisis. A majority of this body voted for the imposition of quotas on 
steel imports into the United States. That solution would have violated 
our WTO obligations and allowed retaliation by our trading partners. 
For that reason, I opposed the quota bill. It has since been defeated 
in the Senate.
  I have urged a different solution, a more long-term solution that 
would help not only the steel industry, but also other industries that 
may be vulnerable to the shifts that are bound to occur in our 
increasingly globalized economy. The proposal that I favor is reform of 
the anti-surge provision of our trade laws that will make that 
provision meaningful as a remedy to the harm or threat that may be 
caused by suddenly increasing imports.
  I will continue to work for reform of the anti-surge law. In the 
short-to-medium term, I believe that the loan guarantees proposed by 
this bill will help the U.S. steel industry to recover from the harm it 
suffered over the past year.
  By making guarantees available, this bill will enable companies to 
obtain financing that might otherwise be out of reach. Obtaining 
financing on reasonable terms will not fully compensate for the damage 
done by the surges of 1998. But it will help these companies and their 
workers a little bit towards getting back on their feet.
  Further, this bill contains mechanisms to ensure that the cost to the 
government will be minimal:
  The guarantee program will be administered by a Board consisting of 
the Secretary of Commerce, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, and the 
Chairman of the SEC;
  The total amount of outstanding guarantees is limited to $1 billion, 
the guarantees to any single company are limited to $250 million, and 
the amount of any guarantee is limited to 85 percent of the loan 
principal;
  The loans guaranteed by this program will have to be secured by 
property providing reasonable assurance of repayment;
  Participants in the program will have to agree to audit by the GAO;
  All loans will have to be payable no later than December 31, 2005; 
and
  No guarantees may be extended after December 31, 2001.
  As I said before, the long-term response to the steel surge of 1998 
must be reform of our anti-surge law. There will be other surges in our 
future, and we must be prepared. In the short term, loan guarantees are 
a sound means of lending a hand to an industry that is at the 
foundation of our economy and that has suffered from a massive surge of 
low-priced imports.
  Accordingly, I will vote ``yes'' on final passage of H.R. 1664, and I 
urge my colleagues to do the same.
  Mr. SKEEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to lend my support to H.R. 1664, as 
amended by the United States Senate. I know this legislation as the 
Emergency Oil and Gas/Steel Loan guarantee program of 1999. This 
legislation is supported by the 7,000 domestic crude oil and natural 
gas producers represented by some 32 national, regional and state 
associations. Hundreds of New Mexico businesses support this 
legislation. They are small producers, they are oil industry service 
companies and they are the countless businesses that provide goods and 
services to the people who work in this important industry.
  The oil and gas producers that would benefit from this program are 
small independents. They are not the big companies. They are the small 
producers who have seen the loss of over $25 billion and over 50,000 
jobs since 1997. Today, when adversity hits our citizens and our small 
businesses, there are numerous ``disaster'' programs to help them 
through the tough times. When a flood strikes, a hurricane hits or a 
drought settles across a region the federal government moves quickly. 
However, when an economic disaster hits ``Oil Patch,'' the nation turns 
its back.
  In many of the communities in my Congressional District, citizens 
would have been better off if their businesses would have been hit by a 
tornado. Then they would have been eligible for assistance. Some 
businesses in foreign countries have better access to economic 
assistance than our small independent oil industry. This legislation 
starts correcting this deficiency. Our domestic industry has suffered 
through a 19 month price crash. This legislation will provide them with 
the cash flow that they need to get back on their feet.
  The fact that oil prices are up today does not negate the losses that 
our small producers have suffered nor does it delay the payments that 
are past due at the financial institutions. This will lead to putting 
Oil Patch back to work and let Carlsbad, Hobbs, Lovington, Roswell, and 
several other communities in New Mexico join the prosperity that most 
of the rest of America has enjoyed during this decade. Our country 
needs a strong domestic oil industry to maintain our national security. 
Congress has a long record of creating working loan guaranteed programs 
which provided needed support to key U.S. industries. I would remind 
people that this legislation, as constructed, is fully offset.
  The oil loan program would provide a two-year, $500 million 
guaranteed loan program to back loans provided by financial 
institutions to qualified oil and gas producers and service companies. 
The maximum loan would be $10 million and the government would 
guarantee no more than 85 percent of each loan. This is a good bill; it 
is a fair bill; it is a bill that follows the rules; and it is a bill 
that will ensure American energy continues to be provided at a fair 
price.
  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, more than ten thousand American steel 
workers have lost their jobs.
  Steel workers are not losing their jobs because the American steel 
industry is inefficient. In fact, the American steel industry is the 
world's most efficient. The reason American steel workers are losing 
their jobs is that the price of foreign steel, though more inefficient, 
is so much cheaper due to the devaluation of the currencies of those 
countries. Steel workers are not the only workers losing their jobs to 
cheap imports.
  This loan guarantee will help steel companies bridge the difficult 
market conditions caused by the devaluation of foreign currencies.
  I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 1664.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. All time for debate has expired.
  Pursuant to the order of the House of Tuesday, August 3, 1999, the 
previous question is ordered.
  The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. 
Regula).
  The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that 
the ayes appeared to have it.

[[Page 19547]]




                             Recorded Vote

  Mr. LEACH. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.
  A recorded vote was ordered.
  The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--ayes 246, 
noes 176, answered ``present'' 1, not voting 11, as follows:

                             [Roll No. 375]

                               AYES--246

     Abercrombie
     Ackerman
     Aderholt
     Allen
     Andrews
     Bachus
     Baird
     Baldacci
     Baldwin
     Barcia
     Barton
     Becerra
     Berkley
     Berry
     Bilirakis
     Bishop
     Blagojevich
     Blumenauer
     Blunt
     Boehlert
     Bonilla
     Bonior
     Borski
     Boswell
     Boucher
     Boyd
     Brady (PA)
     Brown (FL)
     Brown (OH)
     Burton
     Buyer
     Callahan
     Cannon
     Capuano
     Cardin
     Carson
     Clay
     Clement
     Clyburn
     Combest
     Conyers
     Cook
     Cooksey
     Costello
     Coyne
     Cramer
     Crowley
     Cubin
     Cummings
     Danner
     Davis (FL)
     Davis (IL)
     DeFazio
     DeGette
     Delahunt
     DeLauro
     Diaz-Balart
     Dickey
     Dicks
     Dingell
     Dixon
     Dooley
     Doyle
     Edwards
     Ehrlich
     Emerson
     Engel
     English
     Etheridge
     Evans
     Everett
     Fattah
     Filner
     Forbes
     Ford
     Frost
     Gejdenson
     Gekas
     Gephardt
     Gibbons
     Gillmor
     Gilman
     Gonzalez
     Goode
     Gordon
     Green (TX)
     Gutierrez
     Hall (OH)
     Hall (TX)
     Hansen
     Hastings (FL)
     Hayworth
     Hefley
     Hill (IN)
     Hill (MT)
     Hilliard
     Hinchey
     Hinojosa
     Hoeffel
     Holden
     Holt
     Hooley
     Horn
     Hoyer
     Inslee
     Jackson (IL)
     Jackson-Lee (TX)
     Jefferson
     John
     Johnson, E.B.
     Jones (OH)
     Kanjorski
     Kaptur
     Kelly
     Kennedy
     Kildee
     Kilpatrick
     King (NY)
     Kleczka
     Klink
     Kucinich
     Kuykendall
     LaHood
     Lampson
     Larson
     LaTourette
     Levin
     Lewis (GA)
     Lewis (KY)
     Lipinski
     Lowey
     Lucas (KY)
     Lucas (OK)
     Maloney (CT)
     Martinez
     Mascara
     Matsui
     McCarthy (MO)
     McCarthy (NY)
     McCrery
     McGovern
     McHugh
     McInnis
     McIntosh
     McIntyre
     McKinney
     McNulty
     Menendez
     Millender-McDonald
     Minge
     Mink
     Moakley
     Mollohan
     Moore
     Moran (KS)
     Murtha
     Napolitano
     Neal
     Ney
     Oberstar
     Olver
     Ortiz
     Ose
     Owens
     Pallone
     Pascrell
     Pastor
     Payne
     Pease
     Pelosi
     Peterson (MN)
     Phelps
     Pickering
     Pickett
     Pomeroy
     Price (NC)
     Quinn
     Rahall
     Rangel
     Regula
     Riley
     Rivers
     Rodriguez
     Roemer
     Rogers
     Ros-Lehtinen
     Rothman
     Roybal-Allard
     Rush
     Sabo
     Sanchez
     Sanders
     Sandlin
     Sawyer
     Schakowsky
     Scott
     Serrano
     Shimkus
     Shows
     Sisisky
     Skeen
     Skelton
     Slaughter
     Smith (NJ)
     Smith (TX)
     Smith (WA)
     Snyder
     Spratt
     Stabenow
     Stark
     Stenholm
     Strickland
     Stupak
     Sweeney
     Talent
     Tanner
     Tauscher
     Tauzin
     Taylor (MS)
     Thomas
     Thompson (MS)
     Thornberry
     Thurman
     Tiahrt
     Towns
     Traficant
     Turner
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Velazquez
     Visclosky
     Vitter
     Walsh
     Watkins
     Watts (OK)
     Waxman
     Weiner
     Weller
     Wexler
     Weygand
     Wilson
     Wise
     Woolsey
     Wu
     Wynn
     Young (AK)

                               NOES--176

     Archer
     Armey
     Baker
     Ballenger
     Barr
     Barrett (NE)
     Barrett (WI)
     Bartlett
     Bass
     Bateman
     Bentsen
     Bereuter
     Biggert
     Bliley
     Boehner
     Bono
     Brady (TX)
     Bryant
     Burr
     Calvert
     Camp
     Campbell
     Canady
     Capps
     Castle
     Chabot
     Chambliss
     Chenoweth
     Clayton
     Coble
     Coburn
     Collins
     Condit
     Cox
     Crane
     Cunningham
     Davis (VA)
     Deal
     DeLay
     DeMint
     Deutsch
     Doggett
     Doolittle
     Dreier
     Duncan
     Dunn
     Ehlers
     Eshoo
     Ewing
     Farr
     Fletcher
     Foley
     Fossella
     Fowler
     Franks (NJ)
     Frelinghuysen
     Gallegly
     Ganske
     Gilchrest
     Goodlatte
     Goodling
     Goss
     Graham
     Granger
     Green (WI)
     Greenwood
     Gutknecht
     Hastert
     Hastings (WA)
     Hayes
     Herger
     Hilleary
     Hobson
     Hoekstra
     Hostettler
     Hulshof
     Hunter
     Hutchinson
     Hyde
     Isakson
     Istook
     Jenkins
     Johnson (CT)
     Johnson, Sam
     Jones (NC)
     Kasich
     Kind (WI)
     Kingston
     Knollenberg
     Kolbe
     LaFalce
     Largent
     Latham
     Lazio
     Leach
     Lee
     Lewis (CA)
     Linder
     LoBiondo
     Lofgren
     Luther
     Maloney (NY)
     Manzullo
     Markey
     McCollum
     McKeon
     Meehan
     Meek (FL)
     Meeks (NY)
     Metcalf
     Mica
     Miller (FL)
     Miller, Gary
     Miller, George
     Moran (VA)
     Morella
     Myrick
     Nadler
     Nethercutt
     Northup
     Norwood
     Nussle
     Obey
     Packard
     Paul
     Petri
     Pitts
     Pombo
     Porter
     Portman
     Pryce (OH)
     Radanovich
     Ramstad
     Reynolds
     Rogan
     Rohrabacher
     Roukema
     Royce
     Ryan (WI)
     Ryun (KS)
     Salmon
     Sanford
     Saxton
     Scarborough
     Schaffer
     Sensenbrenner
     Sessions
     Shadegg
     Shaw
     Shays
     Sherman
     Sherwood
     Simpson
     Smith (MI)
     Spence
     Stearns
     Stump
     Sununu
     Tancredo
     Taylor (NC)
     Terry
     Thompson (CA)
     Thune
     Tierney
     Toomey
     Upton
     Vento
     Walden
     Wamp
     Waters
     Watt (NC)
     Weldon (FL)
     Whitfield
     Wicker
     Wolf
     Young (FL)

                        ANSWERED ``PRESENT''--1

       
     Souder
       

                             NOT VOTING--11

     Berman
     Bilbray
     Frank (MA)
     Houghton
     Lantos
     McDermott
     Oxley
     Peterson (PA)
     Reyes
     Shuster
     Weldon (PA)

                              {time}  2234

  Messrs. METCALF, LUTHER, DOGGETT, NADLER, HILLEARY and MARKEY and 
Mrs. MEEK of Florida and Ms. WATERS changed their vote from ``yea'' to 
``nay.''
  Mr. ROTHMAN and Mr. BURTON of Indiana changed their vote from ``nay'' 
to ``yea.''
  So the motion was agreed to.
  The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________