[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Pages 23359-23360]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       ATTEMPTS TO KILL THE ESLGP

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, the Bush administration would like us to 
think it has spent the last 4 years standing up for steel in West 
Virginia and across the Nation. But this administration has never stood 
up for steel. If the West Virginia steel industry has benefited at all 
in the past 4 years, it is in spite of the Bush administration.
  The Bush administration said it would impose Section 201 tariffs on 
imports of unfairly traded steel, but then it lifted the steel tariffs 
15 months early. The Bush White House refused to stand up for steel, 
and I would like to take this opportunity to remind America's 
steelworkers, including those in West Virginia, of this important fact.

[[Page 23360]]

  Let's look at some other important facts: over the past 4 years there 
has been a program to provide tangible relief to steelworkers in West 
Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. That program is the Emergency Steel 
Loan Guarantee Program, which I enacted in 1999 with bipartisan support 
to help steel companies in economic distress. Over the past 2 years, 
that program has served as an absolute life-line to thousands of 
steelworkers from Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. The Steel Loan 
Guarantee Program has saved thousands of jobs in spite of the Bush 
administration, which has worked night and day to kill the Emergency 
Steel Loan Guarantee Program.
  The story of steel in West Virginia over the past 4 years is a 
dramatic story of hard work, hope, and triumph. But that is no thanks 
to this administration. Over the past 4 years, both Weirton Steel and 
Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel filed for bankruptcy due to unfair imports. 
But the Bush administration still thought it was a good idea to lift 
the steel tariffs 15 months ahead of schedule.
  In dire straits, both companies sought the only real relief that was 
available to them, which were loan guarantees provided by the Emergency 
Steel Loan Guarantee Program. The steel companies filed applications 
for emergency steel loan guarantees with the program's loan board to 
enable them to stay in business and not put 8,000 to 10,000 people out 
of work.
  And what was the Bush administration's response? In both its fiscal 
year 2003 and 2004 budget requests, at exactly the time when Weirton 
and Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel and their thousands of workers 
desperately needed a loan guarantee to stay alive, what did this 
administration do? It sought to rescind all of the funds available to 
the Emergency Steel Loan Guarantee Program. These rescission requests 
were pending at exactly the same time that both Weirton and Wheeling 
Pittsburgh Steel had loan guarantee applications pending before the 
loan board. When Wheeling-Pittsburgh's first application was denied, it 
had to refile. The administration continued to request rescission of 
all funds in the loan program.
  But those of us who know West Virginia, who love West Virginia, and 
love its people, stood up for steel and stood against the Bush 
administration. We put our shoulders to the grindstone and pushed with 
all our might to find a way to keep West Virginia's steel industry in 
business. Unlike the Bush administration, we kept faith with the people 
of West Virginia. As ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, I 
was able to persuade the committee to retain funding for, and reject 
the administration's attempts to kill, the Emergency Steel Loan 
Guarantee Program in both 2003 and 2004. But that didn't stop the Bush 
administration. When it became clear that they couldn't kill the 
program in their budget, they tried to kill it administratively, by 
shifting funds out of the steel loan guarantee program and into another 
Commerce Department account. Instead of helping steelworkers keep their 
jobs, the Bush administration wanted to shift money in the loan 
guarantee program to some other account at the Commerce Department, an 
agency that, in this administration, has spent millions of dollars 
helping multinational corporations transfer American jobs overseas.
  But, some of us, unlike the Bush administration, believe in keeping 
American jobs here at home. So we kept pushing to save our steel jobs. 
To stop them from being sent overseas. And, we did it. We did it in 
spite of the Bush administration. If you don't believe me, listen to 
what Jim Bradley, the CEO of Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Company said on 
March 26, 2003, the day on which Wheeling Pittsburgh's application for 
a steel loan guarantee was approved. He stated:

       Without the leadership of Sen. Robert Byrd, Wheeling-
     Pittsburgh Steel's 3,800 employees would be facing a bleak 
     future. By creating and fighting for the Emergency Steel Loan 
     Guarantee Program, Sen. Byrd has given this company and its 
     workers the opportunity to build a future for themselves and 
     for the communities in which they live and work.

  Now, I am not reading this to toot my own horn. I am reading it to 
remind West Virginia steelworkers and their families that this 
administration is not here to help you. I am reading it to remind 
everyone listening that this administration worked to kill the very 
steel program that saved the steel jobs of thousands of steelworkers 
from Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. And that is not Robert Byrd 
saying it; that is the president of the steel company where 4,000 jobs 
were saved saying it.
  So, let me say this, loud and clear: steelworkers in West Virginia 
and across the Nation, believe me when I tell you that this 
administration is not in your camp. Don't be hoodwinked by their phony 
concern for your welfare. It is not sincere. They don't care about you. 
Words are cheap. Actions matter.
  As the Book of James states, ``What good is it, my brothers, if a man 
claims to have faith but no deeds?'' This administration loves to talk 
about what it has done for West Virginia steel, but it did nothing. 
Where are the deeds? The Bush administration hasn't been there for 
Weirton and Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel's thousands of steelworkers and 
retirees when they needed its help.
  And we know that, based on its deplorable track record, the Bush 
administration won't be there for them in the future.

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