[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16395]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       STEEL HEALTH LEGACY COSTS

  (Mr. BROWN of Ohio asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Madam Speaker, the United States has become the 
world's steel dumping ground at the expense of U.S. jobs, U.S. 
families, and the U.S. economy.
  Since 1997, 34 steel companies have filed for bankruptcy, 17 since 
January of 2001, since President Bush became President, including LTV 
in Cleveland and RTI in Lorain, Ohio. Unfair trade has victimized an 
entire generation of American steelworkers, who now depend on this 
industry, steelworkers and retirees, for their benefits.
  It is time for our leaders in Washington, for a change, to stand up. 
The House Steel Revitalization Act, H.R. 808, has 229 cosponsors, more 
than a majority of this body. The Steel Revitalization Act will mean 
jobs, it will mean community revitalization, it will mean strengthening 
and improving the U.S. economy; yet Republican leadership has blocked 
this bill.
  A majority of Members of Congress have cosponsored this Steel 
Revitalization Act, and the conservative Republican leadership will not 
let this bill come to a vote. I ask my Republican friends to push their 
leadership to do the right thing.

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