[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Page 8291]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    THE CRISIS IN STEEL IS NOT OVER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 19, 1999, the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 2 minutes.
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, the crisis in steel is not over. The 
International Trade Commission of the U.S. Department of Commerce has 
ruled that foreign steel imports are coming into this country at below-
cost production in many cases, below cost of U.S. products, and are 
being, in the technical terms, dumped in the U.S. marketplace.
  The Department of Commerce is now proceeding in the second phase of 
this unfair trade practice determining injury. The Clinton 
administration, through the Secretary of Commerce, Secretary Daley, and 
Secretary Rubin at Treasury, have moved smartly to impose 
counterveiling duties and put companies on notice in this country to 
post bond or cash to cover the cost between the unfair price and the 
U.S. market price.
  We are now in the injury phase of this proceeding, an excruciating 
fair, time-consuming process, the most fair process of any country in 
the world trade community for determining unfair trade. In fact, it is 
so fair that I am afraid that American steel mills and in Minnesota 
taconite plants will be out of business before they come to the 
conclusion, the Department of Commerce, that there is injury, that 
these counterveiling duties should be imposed, and the level trading 
field reestablished in steel.
  We ought to act decisively now. The Senate ought to pass the 
bipartisan Steel Recovery Act, because imports from Japan in March were 
up 36 percent, Brazil up 54 percent, Korea up 11 percent, and Indonesia 
tripled its exports in March to the United States. Korea has increased 
their exports to the U.S. so much that they are up 77 percent over a 
year ago.
  The crisis in steel is not over. More countries are finding that the 
most open, fair market in the world is the United States, and are 
dumping their unemployment on our marketplace. It is not fair.

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