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Leadership. Character. Commitment. |
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Remarks by U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd |
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December 09, 2003 |
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Administration Promises Made, Administration Promises Broken |
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Senator Byrd offered the following remarks as he introduced legislation to reinstate the Section 201 tariffs on steel imports which the President decided to cut off well before the scheduled March 2005 conclusion. Last week, the Bush Administration -- in what has become its normal pattern -- ignored the pleas of
thousands of hardworking Americans. It lifted the steel tariffs it had promised the U.S. steel industry and imposed on foreign imports back in March of 2002. Despite its earlier pledge to stand by America's
steelworkers, the White House, in typical fashion, decided to turn its back on our highest valued workers and most vulnerable retirees. In a fit of pique and hard-hearted hubris, the White House decided to lift U.S. tariffs on foreign
steel imports 15 months ahead of time, instead of letting the tariffs stay in place until March 2005, as is permitted by U.S. law. Why? Why would the White House betray America's steel industry -- the backbone of
America's industrial base -- particularly during this time of war? Of national emergency? Because the President feared retaliation from America's trading partners, he quivered at the threat that they would retaliate against U.S.
exports if he did not lift the 201 tariffs. He cowered in the face of exactly those nations whose steel exports to the United States have driven 42 U.S. steel companies to their knees and into bankruptcy. His resolve collapsed
in the face of retaliatory threats from America's most virulent competitors, whose illegal trade against the United States has already cost nearly 50,000 steelworkers their jobs. America's foreign trade opponents gambled that
this President lacked the resolve to stand up to them and to the WTO And they were right. They were sadly correct. But this President, George W. Bush, did not need to cave like a "weak willy" in the
face of belligerent foreign bullies. Instead, he could have invoked Article XXI of the GATT, a viable trade tool that has been legitimately and successfully employed by the United States in the past to exempt itself from the GATT, now
the WTO, in a time of war or national emergency. The President on July 31, 2003, formally proclaimed our nation to be in a continued state of emergency. As a result of the President's own, misguided and ill-advised actions, we
are at war with Iraq. On July 31, 2003, President Bush formally declared that, in accordance with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act, he was "continuing for one year the national emergency with respect
to Iraq." We also continue to face an ongoing war against terrorism, both here at home and abroad. So, President Bush had -- and has -- ample authority to invoke a provision of GATT 1994,
negotiated by the United States and available to all WTO Members, that would permit him to exempt protections for the U.S. steel industry from retaliation by foreign countries. But this President has so far lacked
the foresight or the fortitude to take that step. Confronted with real threats of economic retaliation by determined competitors, the President folds like a house of cards astride the San Andreas fault. That is why,
today, I am introducing a bill that will do what the President refused to do. It will reinstate the 201 relief and reimpose the 201 tariffs against foreign steel imports. Under my bill, the 201 tariffs will be put back in place to
stop foreign import surges, just as they did before the President so ill-advisedly lifted the tariffs last Thursday. And the tariffs will remain in place through March 5, 2005. This Administration should not have been
bullied into abandoning the U.S. steel industry. Our steel industry is key to the national economic security of our nation. Without steel, we cannot guarantee America's national security. Without steel, we could not have
rebuilt after September 11. And I'm not the only one who thinks that steel is integral to America's economic and national security. Just a few days before that fateful September day, on August 26, 2001, President Bush told
America's steelworkers: "If you're worried about the security of the country and you become over reliant upon foreign sources of steel, it can easily affect the capacity of our military to be well supplied. Steel is an
important jobs issue; it is also an important national security issue." With an annual trade deficit of almost $500 billion, Americans have a right to expect that international trade rules will work for them; not against
them. They also have a right to know that the United States can respond as it must to the type of trade crises that have been suffered by America's steel industry for years. There was absolutely no reason to lift the
steel 201 tariffs. They are fully consistent with both U.S. law and our international agreements-regardless of the view of the WTO. The purpose of 201 relief is to give the domestic industry time to adjust to import
competition. Our valiant steel industry is doing just that by pursuing unprecedented restructuring and new investment. Since the 201 tariffs were imposed, flat-rolled steel producers alone have invested more than $3 billion to
enhance their productivity. Critics of the 201 relief have been proved wrong on every significant fact concerning that relief. They said that once the tariffs were imposed, steel prices would go through
the roof. Yet, prices have risen only modestly, and much less than abroad. The critics claimed that U.S. steel companies would do nothing to improve their competitiveness. But our nation is witnessing the most dramatic
restructuring in the industry's history. The critics also claimed that the tariffs would be bad for the U.S. economy, but the non-partisan U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) recently found that the potential costs are minuscule
-- only about two percent of what Americans spend each month at McDonald's -- and not even a drop in the bucket compared to the value we gain by restoring a critical U.S. industry to long-term competitiveness. Other
nations' actions in this Section 201 dispute have been truly disgraceful. The European Union originally threatened to retaliate against the United States immediately upon the President's application of the safeguard measures in
March 2002. In the end, it hesitated. But its threat was sufficient to extort from the Administration nearly unlimited exclusions from the tariffs to benefit foreign producers. Acquiescing to this type of bullying
jeopardizes the future of the U.S. steel industry, and it undermines the integrity of, and support for, the entire international trading system. Americans cannot be expected to support a system that works against them, rather than for
them. By lifting the tariffs, the Administration is allowing Brazil, the European Union, Japan, and other nations, once again, to flood the U.S. market with imports. The Bush Administration could have stood up for
America's steelworkers like those at Weirton and Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel in West Virginia, and demanded that other countries respect the legitimate rights of the United States in the world trading system. But this Administration
chose to back down, to lose face, to sit back and watch, once more, while thousands of additional U.S. steel jobs are destroyed by wave after wave of foreign imports. The Administration doesn't seem to care if the U.S.
steel industry is destroyed at a time of war and in the midst of a national emergency. President Bush did not even care enough to personally inform the U.S. steel industry, its workers, and their families of his decision to lift the
tariffs. No!! Instead, he sent a trade negotiator, Mr. Zoellick, to do his dirty work. Ambassador Zoellick had the audacity to tell us that the tariffs are "no longer necessary." No longer
necessary. And why did he say that they are no longer necessary? They are no longer necessary because, he said, "these safeguard measures have achieved their purpose." The only purpose that I
can see in this decision to shut the tariff program down is succumb to threats and demands from abroad. The only effect will be the loss of more steel manufacturing jobs here at home. On October 27, 2000, Mr. Dick Cheney
came to Weirton, West Virginia, to campaign for the Bush-Cheney ticket. During that visit, Mr. Cheney forcefully pledged to help America's steelworkers. He said, "We will never lie to you. If our trading
partners violate our trading laws, we will respond swiftly and firmly." Promise made, promise broken. Unfortunately, like so many commitments this Administration has made, its pledge to help America's steel industry
got off to a headline-grabbing start, but has now been discarded, out of the glare of the campaign spotlight. So today, only three years after Mr. Cheney's campaign-season vow of honesty to America's steelworkers, this White
House has taken an axe to the 201 tariffs and betrayed the trust of thousands of American families whose paychecks depend on the U.S. steel industry. The Bush White House has absolutely failed the working families across
this country. This White House has traded the best interests of the American people for the big special interests of corporate campaign contributors. It is no surprise that the Bush Administration would turn its back on
steelworkers. When the Bush-Cheney ticket needed West Virginia's votes in 2000, it pledged to help our steel industry. At first, it appeared as though the Administration would follow through on that promise.
The White House applied the steel tariffs, for which West Virginia was thankful. But then the President exempted import after import from those tariffs. Now the President has eliminated the tariffs completely.
The Bush White House may have forgotten the promises made to the steel industry in West Virginia, but thousands of West Virginians and other steelworkers across the nation will not forget. They recognize a fair-weather friend when
they see one. ### |
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