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I was presiding in the chair when Senator Daschle said: I make it crystal clear that all amendments to try to modify this trade adjustment assistance package, I will oppose--but not the amendment that will deal with steelworkers, trying to give them help; I will support that.
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Now we bring the amendment to the floor. What does the amendment say? It says as part of this trade adjustment assistance package, $180 million over 10 years, can't we build this 1-year bridge to provide the help to the people who have worked so hard, now terrified they will lose their health care benefits? It is cost effective. It helps people. It is compassionate liberalism, compassionate conservatism, compassionate Democrats, and compassionate Republicans. We ought to do this. It is the right thing to do.
I want steelworkers and their families to know, this is now being filibustered. There are Senators who I assume will be debating this--I hope; certainly not the majority. The good news, Senator Rockefeller: Clearly, we have the majority of the votes. What we have now is no agreement on time, no agreement for an up-or-down vote. This bill is being filibustered. That is where we are. We are in a filibuster situation. One would think it was a cardinal sin and the most terrible thing in the world to try to provide some help to people--which is what this is about. Therefore, this is being filibustered. Therefore, we are going to continue with
this debate. There won't even be a vote until next week. That is what is happening right now.
I am pleased we have a majority of the votes. That is obvious, since the opponents do not want an up-or-down vote. We have a lot of support for this amendment. The question is whether we can overcome the filibuster, whether we can overcome the efforts to block this amendment.
I remember Jerry Fallos, president of Local 4108 on the Iron Range of Minnesota, came here within the last month and testified. I cannot say it as well as he can say it. It is amazing. He has seen 1,300 people out of work. People are out of work, and these are good-paying jobs. And now you wonder how you will support your family, and 6 months or a year later you do not have health coverage, and you worry about that. For a lot of the taconite workers, it is their parents about whom they worry.
That is what we focus on, people who are vested, worked a lot of years for companies, and now they are terrified their health care benefits are going to be canceled. Jerry said the people from the Iron Range are used to hard times: We are survivors, though. We work hard. We have always responded to our country in times of need. This steel industry has always been there for our country in times of war. But now we are asking for some help.
I say to the 100 Senators, as you decide how to vote on this filibuster, this is $180 million over 10 years. That is all it is. If you made the estate tax permanent, which mainly goes to millionaires, plus, you would be talking about $8 billion over 5 years. If we can help out the wealthiest people, if we can have all kinds of tax breaks to multinationals, one would think $180 million over 10 years to provide help to retirees, a 1-year bridge before we finally put together a package that will help these people, would not be filibustered.
I cannot even believe we are now out here fighting a filibuster, but that is the situation. I ask the question, Where are our values? Where is our collective humanity? Are we going to step up to the plate and help people? This is a very modest amendment. We have passion about this because it is people we know and we love and in whom we believe.
I told Senator Rockefeller about one discussion I had with one steelworker. He said to me: Now we are counting on you all. A lot of our lives are at stake. People's lives are at stake.
That is not being melodramatic. Senator Mikulski used the example of prescription drugs. Elderly people are terrified. They do not know how they will afford the costs. They worked hard. They did everything for our country. Companies now declare bankruptcy and walk away, and they don't know what they will do.
We say can't we, over 1 year, provide help while we work together and come up with a package to help the retirees and help the steel industry get back on its feet?
That is no small issue to the economy of the United States of America.
I want to talk a little bit about the position the administration has taken. I will try to be well behaved.
I do want to say on section 201 that the administration has already entertained all sorts of exemptions. There are now a thousand exemptions to the President's section 201 decision and Secretary O'Neill is reported as saying that a significant portion of them will be favorably decided. So it may not provide us with the trade relief we were hoping for, though as Senator Mikulski said, it is surely a step forward.
On the Iron Range it was not. On the Iron Range you have tariff rate quotas, so basically until you have 7 million tons of slab steel , that can come into the country without any help whatsoever. That is what we have right now. That is what has put our taconite workers out of work. So it simply does not help at all.
Then you have 32 U.S. steel companies in the last 2 years that have filed for bankruptcy. That is just unbelievable. That is 30 percent of the domestic steelmaking capacity. When they file for bankruptcy, this is terror that people then have to deal with because then they can walk away, and they do walk away from retiree health benefits. That is what we are speaking to.
Let me just be really clear. There is a bipartisan group of Senators who have been working on the Steel Industry Retirees Benefits Protection Act, Democrats and Republicans. We all know there is a lot of work to do. The question is whether or not we can have this 1-year bridge. We can do something for people who, right now, are flat on their backs, who are terrified, who are worried. We can get some help to them because they are in this position through no fault of their own. Nobody can say that retired taconite workers and steelworkers are in the position they are in right now, worried about how they are going to afford health care costs, because they are slackers or because they are cheaters or because they don't work hard or because they are not loyal or because they are not patriotic or because they don't love America or because they have not done everything to serve our country. They have done all of that and more.
The only thing we are asking is whether or not the Senate and this administration will help these families.
I do not have the years or the savvy of either of my colleagues out here, but I have been here now 11 1/2 years. I can figure out what is going on. This is an amendment that is tough to be against. This is a high moral ground amendment. There is a lot of passion behind this amendment. There is a lot of decency behind this amendment. Frankly, it is all about helping people--people who richly deserve and need the help.
I think we have a majority vote, but the opponents will not give us that vote. They will not agree to a time limit. So we will be at this for the next several days. We will be at this over the weekend.
I hope steelworker families and other families all across the heartland of America are in touch with all Senators because we are going to do everything we can to overcome this obstacle, this filibuster. A good, strong vote is important, and I am delighted because we have that; otherwise, there would not be a filibuster. Now we have to deal with the filibuster. I hope Senators will be there to support these steelworker retirees.
I do not know about my colleagues, but for me, I have been waiting ever since this debate started on fast track for this
amendment because here is where I think Tip O'Neill's adage about ``all politics is local'' is absolutely true. I would not make any apology to anybody about this.
Senator Rockefeller and Senator Mikulski, there is nothing I want more in the world than to pass this amendment. We passed it already. We have over 50 votes. That is why it is being filibustered. There is nothing I want more in the world than to make sure we are able to come through for people. That is why this amendment is important: Not because of some strategy, not because of some tactic, but because it is on the floor of the Senate, it is 5:30 Thursday night but, darn it, this amendment is directly connected to the concerns and circumstances of the lives of people we represent.
This is the right amendment. There is no other reason to be in the Senate than to try to pass this kind of legislation to help people--no other reason.
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I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia.
Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, I would like to introduce a few things in the RECORD.
First, I ask unanimous consent Senator ARLEN SPECTER of Pennsylvania be added as a cosponsor. He is the cochair of the steel caucus.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. ROCKEFELLER. I also ask to have a letter from the vice chairman, president, and CEO of Nucor, which is the largest minimill in the United States, be printed in the RECORD.
In the steel industry you have some conflict between integrated steel mills and minimills which take scrap and turn it into steel . It is an arcane but nevertheless very real conflict.
I called Dan DiMicco in California about this amendment. He has written me a letter saying they have no problem with it at all. In no way will they oppose this proposal.
Nucor has long advocated consideration must be made for displaced steel workers or retirees in transition due to permanent plant closures.
One of the reasons he is for this is a point I made earlier. This money does not go to companies. It does not go to integrated steel companies or minimills. It goes to human beings.
I ask unanimous consent to have this letter printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the letter was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
NUCOR CORPORATION,
Charlotte, NC, May 6, 2002.
Hon. JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER
IV,
U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC.
DEAR SENATOR ROCKEFELLER: I understand legislation pending before the Senate would make certain steel industry retirees who have lost their health care coverage eligible under the Trade Adjustment Assistance program for federal assistance in obtaining health insurance coverage through COBRA or state sponsored plans for one year.
Nucor Corporation will not oppose this proposal. Nucor has long advocated that consideration must be made for displaced steel workers or retirees in transition due to permanent plant closures. The continued surge of illegally traded steel has devastated communities across America and left many retirees and their families without access to health care.
As I understand the proposal under consideration, it would help the retirees who have lost health care coverage due to permanent closure of capacity directly and is for a limited period of time. As such, I do not believe it would adversely affect Nucor because it would not allow companies to discharge their legacy obligations onto the federal government. We continue to believe that pension and health commitments of surviving mills should remain the responsibility of those mills, not of the taxpayers or the rest of the industry.
Sincerely,
Daniel R. DiMicco,
Vice Chairman, President &
CEO.
Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, I also called Governor Bob Taft of Ohio yesterday afternoon. I told him we have this situation, we have this amendment. Yes, of course, LTV is located in his State, but that doesn't mean necessarily all the 85,000 steel retirees are located in his State. I met Governor Taft back in the 1960s. I don't know him well, but he is a fine Governor. He is a conservative Governor, a responsible Governor, and he did something I thought very unusual.
What I was asking for was a letter of support for my amendment. The Governor gets this phone call from some United States Senator at 6 o'clock in the evening saying: Can I have a letter from you by noon? That is when this Senator thought we were going to be doing this legislation today.
He sent it. He sent it to Senator Voinovich, which is what he should have done. He is a cosponsor of the bill. But in it he says:
Retired steel workers, similar to their currently employed counterparts [active workers], are suffering irreparable harm as a result of unfair trade practices. This amendment offers temporary relief for those retirees in the greatest need.
I urge you to support this amendment and thank you for your attention to this important issue.
He says a lot of good things about the amendment. I ask unanimous consent that also be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the letter was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
STATE OF OHIO,
Columbus, OH, May 16, 2002.
Hon. GEORGE V.
VOINVICH,
Hart Senate Office Building,
Washington,
DC.
DEAR SENATOR VOINOVICH: I am writing to express my support for an amendment planned to be included in the trade adjustment assistance section of the trade bill being considered today by the Senate. As you are aware, the health benefits of retired steel workers have been terminated as a result of failed steel companies. Tens of thousands of retired steel workers, concentrated in Northeast Ohio, are now without health care or are struggling to pay expensive premiums.
I commend the President for his imposition of significant remedies to defend our nation's steel industry from the unfair trade practices of some foreign producers. Unfortunately the relief did not come soon enough for some companies. Major steel manufacturers have permanently closed, health care and pension funds are exhausted and retirees are left with few and costly health care options.
The Health Care Benefits Bridge program will allow retired steel workers to receive a health care credit for one year equal to 70 percent of the total cost of premium of health care coverage under COBRA or state established plans. The retirees would be responsible for the remaining 30 percent. The bridge plan would limit eligibility those retirees who have lost health care coverage because of the permanent closure of their former employer.
Retired steel workers, similar to their currently employed counterparts, are suffering irreparable harms as a result of unfair trade practices. This amendment offers temporary relief for those retirees in greatest need.
I urge you to support this amendment and thank you for your attention to this important issue.
Sincerely,
Bob Taft,
Governor.
Mr. ROCKEFELLER. I also want to make one point clear. Some people say: Why can't the Department of Labor--which sort of decides on TAA matters--why doesn't it just include, administratively, steel retirees?
They cannot. They do not have the power to do that. They do not have the authority to do that. The retirees we are talking about--Senator Wellstone, Senator Mikulski, myself, and Senator Stabenow, who obviously wants to say something--they do not have the power to do that. They cannot include them on their own. It can only be done through action of the Congress, which is why this amendment is before us.
Back last summer, a number of us were doing the legacy bill, which is sort of the big solution, a $16 or $17 billion solution. And there is a great reason for that; it just did not happen to be a very compelling one at the time we were doing it. But you have to do three things to make steel work.
I apologize to my colleague from Michigan, because I know how much she wants to speak.
You have to invoke section 201. That is the International Trade Commission. The Finance Committee had voted to do that. Oddly enough, the Finance Committee has the same power under the law to invoke the International Trade Commission on the subject of imports and the damage from imports as does the President of the United States. So does the Ways and Means Committee. They did not choose to invoke it. We did. So had the President not invoked section 201, we would have, and already had voted to do so. So the same process would have taken place.
The first thing you have to do is invoke section 201. What does that do for you? It gives a little bit of a lift in the market, as I indicated, for 6 or 8 months. People feel a little bit better. But it does not last. It did buy us time, and we needed time. Because we have to think, how are we going to keep the steel industry together? How can we have a 40 or 50-million-ton steel industry in a place called the United States of America, which sort of started this whole thing?
All around the world, everybody, when they want to get into the United Nations, they start a steel industry and they buy a 747. Now, that is a little crude, and I apologize for saying that, but, frankly, that is what you do to establish
yourself as a real country: You have a national airline--it might be one plane--and you have a steel industry. So these imports just come flowing into our country from all over the world. People underestimate the power of that. Of course, they are cheap because they are dealing with $1-an-hour labor, a little more or a little less. And
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So I want to stress the urgency of particularly what has happened between 1998 and 2000 and 2001, where this enormous import surge overtook the United States in steel at the same time as another surge of total neglect on the part of the Government. This is not a partisan statement about this administration. It was the same thing in the last administration.
I can remember endless hours in the steel commission arguing with Bob Rubin, Gene Spurling, and Charlene Barshefsky, and all kinds of high and mighty people. And they said: No, globalization is the deal. I said: I agree; it is the deal, and I voted for PNTR, and all the rest of it. But, frankly, we have something called a steel industry in Senator Stabenow's State and my State, and it is sort of the heart and soul of America. But they were not interested.
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