Mitch Landrieu: “I thank Senator Byrd, because I am extremely concerned about this situation and hope we could find a remedy. I commend…”

“I thank Senator Byrd, because I am extremely concerned about this situation and hope we could find a remedy. I commend the Senator for his work over many years, to try to make sure our trade laws are fairly enforced and that agreements we have entered into, with countries such as China and others, are followed. But in this instance, as the Senator has so eloquently stated in this discussion this morning on the floor, this situation is not being handled correctly. Our industries, particularly in Louisiana, that he has mentioned, our crawfish producers have lost more money from the failure of U.S. importers to pay duties owed by China than any industry in our Nation. In Louisiana alone--I know it might be hard for people to believe this, but as spring rolls around, it will become quite evident--we have 3,300 crawfish farmers in our State and over 40 processors who employ a tremendous number of people and contribute hundreds of millions of dollars to our economy. The Senator from West Virginia understands our Government has failed to collect almost $70 million for this industry alone. This is antidumping duties on crawfish tail meat from China owed to the processors in my State and to our crawfish farmers. There are additional funds that are owed. It is my understanding--and the Senator from West Virginia is very aware--that our Customs officials are required to collect these duties, but they are not being collected.”