PRINTER'S NO. 1998
No. 226 Session of 2001
INTRODUCED BY PIPPY, BELFANTI, ARGALL, KAISER, ARMSTRONG,
BUXTON, CAPPELLI, CAPPABIANCA, DALEY, DeWEESE, J. EVANS,
FICHTER, GEIST, GEORGE, HENNESSEY, HUTCHINSON, JAMES,
LAUGHLIN, LEDERER, LESCOVITZ, MANN, MARKOSEK, McCALL,
McILHATTAN, NAILOR, PETRARCA, READSHAW, ROSS, SHANER,
SOLOBAY, STABACK, SURRA, E. Z. TAYLOR, TIGUE, WOJNAROSKI,
GRUITZA AND RAYMOND, MAY 22, 2001
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON RULES, MAY 22, 2001
A RESOLUTION
1 Memorializing the President and Congress of the United States to
2 take all necessary and appropriate action to respond to the
3 surge of steel imports.
4 WHEREAS, The steel industry holds an important place in the
5 history of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for its contribution
6 to business and industry, and this year marks the centennial of
7 United States Steel Corporation, now USX Corporation, which was
8 incorporated on February 25, 1901; and
9 WHEREAS, This corporation attained status as the largest
10 American steel company and has remained an outstanding corporate
11 citizen of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, currently employing
12 over 6,000 Pennsylvanians; and
13 WHEREAS, Metal manufacturing remains integral to the economy
14 of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, employing 68,000 workers in
15 the primary metals industry and 90,000 workers in the fabricated
16 metal products industry; and
1 WHEREAS, Year 2000 steel imports approached record levels and
2 resulted in disproportionate economic hardship for
3 Pennsylvanians employed in the steel industry, with
4 Pennsylvania's steel industry experiencing a 17% reduction in
5 employment from 1995 through 2000; and
6 WHEREAS, During this same time Pennsylvanians enjoyed
7 unprecedented economic prosperity, but our steelworkers and
8 steel industry were denied access to this prosperity due to the
9 illegal import of foreign steel; and
10 WHEREAS, The United States through the International Monetary
11 Fund has, previously and in recent years, generously
12 participated in a bailout of crisis countries on terms that do
13 not deter but in fact encourage exports as a way out of
14 financial crisis; and
15 WHEREAS, Pennsylvania's steel industry and its work force are
16 efficient and extremely competitive and have made significant
17 investment and concession to achieve world-class status in the
18 global market; and
19 WHEREAS, Without improvements in the enforcement of United
20 States trade laws, Pennsylvania may lose its steel industry,
21 imposing significant economic hardship as well as presenting a
22 national security threat based on our increasing dependence on
23 foreign steel; therefore be it
24 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the
25 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania memorialize the President and
26 Congress of the United States to take all necessary and
27 appropriate action to:
28 (1) Pursue enhanced enforcement of United States trade
29 laws with respect to the surge of steel imports into the
30 United States, using all remedies available under those laws,
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1 including an immediate action program calling on the
2 Administration to provide, without delay, comprehensive,
3 temporary and quantitative restraints on steel imports by
4 means of a Presidentially-initiated industrywide Section 201
5 case or other remedies available to the President to counter
6 threats to the economic or national security interests of the
7 United States.
8 (2) Take additional steps to prevent the next steel
9 crisis through policies that would lead to a reduction in
10 global steel overcapacity and elimination of foreign trade-
11 distorting practices, provide enhanced early warning on steel
12 imports and strengthen United States trade laws and trade law
13 enforcement while rejecting any weakening trade law;
14 and be it further
15 RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to
16 the President of the United States, the United States Trade
17 Representative and to each member of Congress from Pennsylvania.
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