Political Quotes

“although our effort in the House of Representatives today to extend the Defense Production Act is commendable, the House has missed a prime opportunity to make this Act more effective in ensuring our national security and helping American workers. The Defense Production Act, first enacted in 1950, ensures that products, materials, and services essential to our national security are available to defense related agencies at all times--but especially in times of conflict. One material that is especially critical to our defense needs is steel. Our armed forces would not be able to respond to a national emergency without an adequate supply of domestically produced steel. But at this very moment, the American steel industry is in dire straits. In recent months a number of steel companies have been driven into bankruptcy, and others are on the brink. Thousands of jobs are at risk, as another wave of low-cost steel imports has battered the domestic industry. In my home district, LTV Steel, which employs thousands of Cleveland residents, is undergoing bankruptcy proceedings and has had to idle one of its plants. A bill I introduced, the Steel and National Security Act, would have amended the Defense Production Act to enable the President to step in and aid critical defense industries such as steel.”