Political Quotes

“I rise to comment on President Bush's decision to levy up to a 30 percent tariff on steel imports coming into the United States. I am glad the President took a step forward, something that we hoped he would do, but he did much less than we asked. Steel companies, steelworkers, elected officials representing steel States, asked the President to levy 40 percent tariffs for 4 years, something to level the playing field for imported steel in the United States. The International Trade Commission had found that steel companies in foreign lands, especially in Russia, Brazil, Korea, and China had violated international trade laws by subsidizing and selling into our market illegally priced steel, so-called dumping. The President had the option of levying tariffs up to 40 percent for 4 years. That is clearly what we needed for LTV in Cleveland, for RTI in Lorain, for CSC in Warren, Ohio, and steel companies all over this great country from Alabama to Ohio to Michigan, to Indiana, wherever steel is made in the United States. Unfortunately, the President's decision to do up to 30 percent, understanding that it was not 30 percent in every case but up to 30 percent for only 3 years, fell short on that mark. It also fell short because the 30 percent is phased out during those 3 years. The second thing that the President neglected to do was deal with the issue of legacy costs.”