Victory in Senate for Working Families

Victory in Senate for Working Families

The United States Senate on Thursday voted overwhelmingly in support of a law that works to offset the cost of illegally dumped and subsidized foreign products in American markets.

"The Senate has put the White House on notice: American working families should not be sacrificed at the altar of free trade," U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., said after the vote.

Byrd and Republican Senator Mike DeWine of Ohio are fighting an effort by the Bush Administration, with the support of the Republican Congressional Leadership, to undermine American manufacturers and allow foreign traders to illegally dump products on U.S. markets.

The two Senators are leading a bipartisan coalition in defense of the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act (CDSOA) -- more commonly called the Byrd Amendment. The House of Representatives, with the strong backing of the Bush Administration, has approved legislation with a repeal of the Byrd Amendment. The Senate has to date refused to approve any repeal of the Byrd Amendment. Negotiations between the House and the Senate on a final version of the legislation are expected to begin soon.

The 72-19 vote on Thursday directed Senate negotiators to reject any repeal of the CDSOA law -- giving them solid leverage in talks with the House.

"There is no room for doubt as to the Senate's support for the Byrd Amendment. This is a strong signal to the White House to back off its effort to repeal the law, and a clear message to our foreign trading partners to stop dumping!" Byrd said.

"To repeal or abandon this trade law would be a travesty. CDSOA was enacted to save American manufacturing and our agricultural producers from wave after wave of unfairly traded foreign imports," Byrd told his colleagues. "CDSOA enables small and medium-sized businesses -- and family-owned businesses -- to invest in their futures. It keeps American workers employed. This law is not about rewarding special interests. It's about preserving an increasingly rare commodity -- the American worker!"

In 2000, Byrd won Congressional approval of the CDSOA. Under this law, after the federal government collects duties on products found to be unfairly subsidized or dumped in the U.S. market, those duties are then made available to U.S. companies and workers proved to be affected by unfair foreign trade practices. If foreign trade partners follow the rules that they negotiated with the United States, there are no negative consequences and no funds go to American companies; but if our foreign trade partners break those agreements, they must provide a remedy to American companies.

Weirton Steel, now part of Mittal Steel USA (Weirton), Warwood Tool Company (Wheeling), and TSF L.L.C. (Berkeley Springs) all have received funds thanks to the Byrd Amendment. Across the country, steel, lumber, wheat, shrimp, catfish, bearings, mushrooms, crawfish, pasta, furniture, and a long list of other industrial and agricultural producers stand to be reimbursed under the law for having suffered the negative effects of unfair trade practices for years.

The effort to repeal this law comes on the heels of World Trade Organization rulings that claim the CDSOA violates trade rules. However, no trade agreement that the United States has joined prohibits the Byrd Amendment. Senators DeWine and Byrd are confident that the Constitution does not allow an international entity to instruct the United States Congress on how funds can be distributed by the U.S. Treasury.

In response to the misguided WTO rulings, Byrd won Congressional approval of legislation instructing the Bush Administration to add the terms of the CDSOA to existing international trade agreements. Despite this Congressional directive's being signed into law, the Bush Administration has failed substantively to address the CDSOA in trade talks.

"Now is not the time to weaken the hand of our trade negotiators by attempting to repeal one of our nation's most effective trade laws. In fact, now is the time to hold foreign unfair traders more accountable, not less," Byrd said.

http://byrd.senate.gov/newsroom/news_dec/cdsoa_win.html