Issue Position: Steel Crisis

Issue Position

Steel Crisis -Efforts in Congress

Congressman Kucinich has been one of the most outspoken and active members of Congress in response to the crisis. A leader of the Congressional Steel Caucus, Congressman Kucinich has again been active in the 107th Congress pushing a steel quota bill. H.R. 808, the Steel Revitalization Act, would limit foreign steel imports to levels existing before the recent surge. It would also increase loan guarantee funding for steel companies, and set up a fund to help pay the retirement costs of steel worker retirees. Congressman Kucinich has fought for this bill's passage, helping to recruit more than 220 co-sponsors. This effort mirrors his work on the steel quota bill introduced in the 106th Congress, the Visclosky-Quinn-Kucinich-Ney bill. During the floor debate on that bill, Congressman Kucinich pointed out to members of Congress the absurd priorities of U.S. trade policy. Referring to the U.S.'s vigorous use of the World Trade Organization to open Europe to bananas grown in Central America by Chiquita brands, a U.S.-bsed multinational corporation, Kucinich said, "Bananas did not build America. Steel did... The administration cares more about bananas than about steel. Such a trade policy is, in a word, bananas." The quota bill passed the House by an overwhelming margin, 289-141, on March 17, 1999.

Congressman Kucinich has also pursued other legislative initiatives to secure a healthy steel industry for the long-term. Congressman Kucinich introduced the Steel and National Security Act, which would reauthorize a law, the Defense Production Act, that authorizes various Presidential actions to save industries vital to our national security. His reauthorization bill includes specific directives that the President consider steel such an industry and step in to help domestic steel. Congressman Kucinich has also introduced a bill along with Rep. Steven LaTourette, H.R. 1564, that would provide money for states to undertake infrastructure projects, such as the building of schools and roads. States would be required to use only American steel.

In addition to votes and floor speeches, Congressman Kucinich was the first member of Congress to confront the Administration with the effects on the steel industry by the Asian financial crisis. In a White House meeting in mid-December 1997, he met with National Economic Advisor Gene Sperling and discussed the necessity of renewing voluntary restraint agreements and the use of U.S. anti-dumping laws to protect the American steel industry.

Congressman Kucinich has also pressured the administration to act on the steel crisis. The efforts of the Congressman and other members of Congress helped spur President Bush to initiate a Section 201 trade investigation of steel imports. Since that announcement and a subsequent unanimous finding by the US International Trade Commission (ITC) that the domestic steel industry had been seriously injured by illegal foreign imports, Congressman Kucinich applauded the March 2002 imposition of the section 201 steel tariff safeguard to help the domestic steel industry recover and restructure. Prior to the imposition of the tariffs, Congressman Kucinich testified before the ITC in support of the tariffs and co-signed a letter to the President urging the inclusion of all steel-related products in the safeguard.

In the 108th Congress, Congressman Kucinich has been working with his colleagues to pressure the administration to maintain the Section 201 relief for its full three-year term, as originally intended. With other Congressional supporters of the domestic steel industry, Rep. Kucinich sent a letter to the President in support of the tariffs and testified a second time before the ITC in support of sustaining the tariffs. The midterm report issued by the ITC reflects the fact that the steel safeguard is serving a vital role in helping the industry build a strong and vibrant domestic steel industry. The industry has invested more than $3.6 billion in consolidation efforts in reliance on the program, and the industry is beginning to see signs of a modest price recovery, in spite of hundreds of exclusions granted by the administration.

Congressman Kucinich strongly criticized the World Trade Organization's (WTO) ruling against the continuation of the 201 tariffs, co-sponsoring a congressional resolution denouncing the WTO's ruling against American steel. Congressman Kucinich has argued that if the United States is to be free to negotiate trade agreements and take actions to protect American jobs, the environment, and the rights of workers domestically and abroad, the United States must withdraw from the WTO.

Steel Crisis - Efforts in Cleveland

Congressman Kucinich has fought hard to help Cleveland-area workers affected by the steel crisis. During the recent negotiations between LTV and the United Steelworkers of America, The Congressman worked to make sure that LTV jobs and the pensions of current and former LTV retirees remained intact. He met numerous times with LTV Chairman William H. Bricker and urged him to negotiate in good faith with the Steelworkers and LTV's creditors towards an agreement that preserved the jobs and benefits of employees. When LTV filed motions in bankruptcy court to cancel existing labor and retiree agreements, Congressman Kucinich spoke out against the use of threats in the negotiating process by filing a motion on behalf of LTV workers objecting to LTV's actions. The efforts of the Congressman and others paid off: LTV and the United Steelworkers of America reached an agreement recently that preserves the retirement benefits of current employees. This agreement has been approved by a bankruptcy judge.

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