Political Quotes

“regardless of how strongly some will argue to the contrary, there is a crisis occurring in the U.S. steel industry. As a result of continued and persistent ``dumping'' of foreign steel into the U.S.--specifically by Japan, Korea, Russia, and Brazil--domestic steel producers have been forced to decrease production or lay-off workers or even file for bankruptcy. Already, due to the continuation of illegal dumping, the steel industry has laid off 10,000 steelworkers across the country and three companies have filed for bankruptcy. Indeed, Mr. Speaker in my state of Alabama, Gulf State Steel has had to intermittently shut down its hot- strip mill and had laid off hundreds of workers. Mr. Speaker this is a crisis that we can no longer allow to fester. Unfortunately, while American workers have lost their jobs and American companies have been forced to file for bankruptcy, the Administration has waffled on its commitment to the steel industry and has only offered tepid, ineffective regulatory remedies. In pursuit of abstract geopolitical goals, the Administration has refused to aggressively enforce our nation's trade laws. The time for Congress to act is now. Today's steel industry is not the inefficient, noncompetitive, and unproductive industry of the past. Since the steel crisis in the 1970's, the steel industry has painstakingly reinvented itself, with over $60 billion of capital investments.…”