[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 18]
[House]
[Pages 25807-25808]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          MUST LAW RESOLUTION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 19, 1999, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Doyle) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DOYLE. Mr. Speaker, I am rising here this morning to speak about 
this very important bill known as the Maintain United States Trade 
(MUST) Law. First, allow me to thank my colleagues and friends, the 
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Visclosky) and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. 
Ney) for their work on this issue and for organizing this morning hour 
today.
  I am just one of nearly 200 cosponsors of the MUST law resolution 
that has drawn its support from both sides of the aisle. There is a 
reason for that, of course. Quite simply, this issue does not fall 
along partisan lines. It is no surprise that there are many Democrats 
and many Republicans that together have recognized the necessity of 
maintaining our antidumping laws and countervailing duty laws.
  It is no surprise because these laws are a concern for all of us, 
affect all of us, and protect a wide range of products that come from 
all corners of our great country.
  According to the U.S. International Trade Association, as of March 1 
of this year, over 290 products from 59 different countries were under 
antidumping and countervailing duty orders. Throughout our ongoing 
steel crisis, antidumping and countervailing duty laws have represented 
one of the only means of relief for American steelworkers and the 
American steel industry.
  My constituents in Pennsylvania and other American producers 
throughout the country recognize that these laws are important 
protections affecting countless products throughout the United States. 
It is imperative that the administration uphold these important trade 
laws at the upcoming WTO Seattle Round. It is this conference that will 
launch a new round of trade negotiations. It is said that these talks 
will focus on reshaping WTO rules regarding agriculture, services and 
intellectual property. However, the concern of those of us here this 
morning is that other issues may surface on the agenda.
  Mr. Speaker, it is becoming clear that a number of foreign countries 
are seeking to expand the agenda allowing for debate on WTO's 
antidumping and countervailing duty laws. This effort must be stopped. 
This is why the MUST law is so important, because its passage will 
allow the administration to attend the Seattle negotiations with a 
unified statement from the Congress declaring that the United States 
must not agree to reopen negotiations on any of these antidumping and 
countervailing duty laws.
  The MUST law resolution will call upon the President to not 
participate in any international negotiation in

[[Page 25808]]

which antidumping rules are a part of the negotiation agenda. Further, 
it will insist that he refrain from submitting for congressional 
approval any agreements that require changes to the current antidumping 
and countervailing duty laws and enforcement policies of the United 
States, and that our government must vigorously enforce these laws in 
all pending and future cases. This is the type of direction that we 
must insist upon.
  Mr. Speaker, I represent a district from western Pennsylvania. It is 
the heart of steel country. In fact, I was born and raised there, so 
believe me I know that area pretty well. Because of that, I have been 
very involved in attempting to mitigate our ongoing steel crisis, and I 
am sure some people might see me speaking here this morning and think 
that this is just another steel issue again. Nothing could be further 
from the truth though. This is not just about steel. Instead, as I 
stated earlier in my remarks, it is about all American industry 
production and workers.
  It could be agricultural products ranging from raspberries to rice to 
chilled Atlantic salmon, or industrial products like dry-cleaning 
machinery, brake rotors, or roofing nails, manufacturing materials such 
as silicon metal or uranium, or even electronic products like color 
television receivers or cellular telephones. All of these products and 
hundreds more are protected by the antidumping and countervailing duty 
laws.
  This is why we need everyone to join with us and insist that our 
administration hold firm on this issue when those talks kick off in 
Seattle.
  We have an obligation to protect our American workers and producers 
from unfair foreign trade practices. It is an old line but it still 
rings true: We can have free trade, but only if it is fair trade. For 
these reasons, Mr. Speaker, I add my voice to urging the House 
leadership to bring the MUST law resolution to the floor as soon as 
possible.

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