Mark Dayton: “I join with the senior Senator from Minnesota and all my colleagues from steel states, in making every effort to…”

“I join with the senior Senator from Minnesota and all my colleagues from steel states, in making every effort to revitalize this important and basic American industry. There are thirty-four Senators representing twenty-four States in the Steel Caucus, and we all agree that without immediate relief from the flood of foreign steel, the future of the United States steel industry is in jeopardy. The provisions of the Steel Revitalization Act will give our domestic steel industry the time it needs to recover from the import surges of the past three years. This bill also acknowledges the highly integrated process of making steel. It provides import relief for steel products that include iron ore and semi-finished steel. Minnesota and Michigan are the two leading states in the production of taconite. Taconite is essentially pelletized iron ore that is melted in blast furnaces and then blown with oxygen to make steel. Every ton of imported, semi-finished steel displaces 1.3 tons of iron ore in basic, domestic steel production. This means reduced production, cutbacks, and plant closings, causing devastating economic uncertainty in critical regions of these states. This bill will provide much needed help to the hardworking people and their families who live in the Iron Range regions of Northeastern Minnesota and Northern Michigan. The bill also helps the steelworkers and the steel-making communities of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio, to name only a few.”