[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Page 12655]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            WOOL TRUST FUND

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I am happy to hear there is a commitment 
to pass the extension and modification of the Wool and Cotton Trust 
Funds this year. As my colleagues noted, the Wool Trust Fund 
compensates for the competitive damage caused by the fact that duties 
are higher on imports of raw materials, like wool fabric, than on 
imports of finished products, like trousers and suits. This ``tariff 
inversion'' gives foreign manufacturers a significant cost advantage 
over U.S. manufacturers like Rochester, NY's Hickey Freeman.
  Hickey Freeman has been operating in Rochester, NY since 1899. Wool 
cloth imported by Hickey Freeman is cut and sewn into wool clothing 
which, in turn, is sold in stores across the United States and around 
the world. I am particularly proud to note--while our athlete's 
uniforms sadly were made in China, our announcers on NBC are wearing 
Hickey Freeman at the 2012 London Olympic Games.
  The Wool Trust Fund is a successful program in curbing job losses and 
allowing American textile and apparel companies to expand their own 
export markets. Without the technical fix that we are asking for here 
today, the health of the Wool Trust Fund will be in peril.
  I thank Senator Menendez for his tireless leadership in extending and 
modifying the Wool and Cotton Trust Funds and the Leader and Chairman 
Baucus for agreeing to work with Senators Menendez, Cardin and myself 
to ensure these important programs are dealt with by the end of the 
year.

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