[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 6] [Senate] [Pages 8288-8289] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]THE CONTINUING STEEL IMPORT CRISIS The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 19, 1999, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Regula) is recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes. Mr. REGULA. Mr. Speaker, the steel import crisis, which began in 1997, is still continuing today. The numbers tell the story. Total steel imports in 1998 were at the highest level ever, 41.5 million net tons of steel mill products. This was a 33 percent increase over imports in 1997, which also was a record year. While the pressure was on as the House debated the steel issue earlier this year and overwhelmingly passed H.R. 975, we saw steel imports begin to come down in December 1998 and in January and February of this year. But as soon as the pressure let up with uncertainty over the fate of this legislation in the other body, steel imports shot up again in March. We saw a 25 percent increase in steel imports in March over the levels in February. The U.S. market continues to be the market of last resort for many exporters. As markets overseas continue to face economic turmoil, exporters continue to ship unprecedented levels of steel into the United States, the world's most open market. In order to obtain hard currency, exporters have sent the world's oversupply of steel to the U.S., often at prices that bear no relation to the actual production costs. In March we also saw some imports source and product switching, which all of us had feared. We saw an increase in imports of blooms, billets and slabs and in hot rolled sheet from countries not subject to the current trade cases. The impacts of this steel import crisis cannot be overstated. Every single ton of dumped steel displaces a ton of domestic production. The United States industry is losing competitiveness because of these unfairly traded imports. Companies are finding that as prices drop and imports continue to increase, they cannot commit to future capital investments, they cannot commit to needed modernizations, and they cannot commit to additional research and development. These effects, if not reversed soon, could have a lasting implication on an important industry well into the 21st century. Company by company the impact is also being felt in the short term. Four companies have filed for bankruptcy protection. Mills are dramatically cutting production in capacity utilization. Foreign producers that dump their products are now realizing the benefits of American companies' successful efforts to rebuild the market for steel products here in the United States, and most disturbing is the damage that is being done to many American families as steelworkers lose their jobs. As stated in the President's steel report in January, 10,000 Americans have lost their jobs because of this crisis. Many will never return to jobs that can provide the level of pay and benefits that were provided by the steelworker jobs that have been lost, and that does not take into account the impact on local community services where jobs are lost, the impact of suppliers. So the job number could be much larger. {time} 1245 Some workers may not lose their jobs, but short work weeks, reduced shifts and lost hours can also have a devastating impact on their families. Those laid off and those with reduced hours are struggling to pay rent and mortgages, to put food on the table and to provide their children with the things they need. As I have stated before, this crisis does not just impact steelworkers and their families. The shortage or the imports affect outside contractors, suppliers and everyone in the community that depends on these steel mills. I recently read a statistic that for every one million tons of domestic steel lost, nearly 5,000 U.S. jobs are directly or indirectly affected. The highly competitive United States steel industry cannot compete with massive foreign subsidies, closed home markets and industrial cartels that protect an enormous worldwide overcapacity. It is now time for Congress and our government to step in and take the steps necessary to provide the U.S. industry a fair and level playing field in the global marketplace. I urge the other body to complete action on H.R. 975. I further urge the House to take up other important trade law bills, including H.R. 412, which I introduced; H.R. 1120, which was introduced by the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Houghton); and H.R. 1505, which was introduced by the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. English). The current steel import crisis must be stopped, and we must ensure that such a crisis will not happen again in the future. [[Page 8289]] I might add, I thought it was interesting that President Clinton even took the time to take this subject up with the Prime Minister of Japan because of their dumping practices. ____________________