Republican Leadership Gives Heave-Ho to American Workers - Senator Byrd

December 20, 2005

Senator Byrd on Tuesday said that the Republican Congress and the White House have undercut working families in order to satisfy the World Trade Organization (WTO).

"The Republican Congressional Leadership and the Bush Administration have made it clear where they stand: They stand with foreign trade bureaucrats and not with the working people of this country who suffer from illegal foreign trade," Byrd said.

Last week, the Senate voted overwhelmingly -- 71-20 -- to back the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act (CDSOA), more commonly called the Byrd Amendment. But, in the final budget package negotiated between the House and Senate Republican Leadership, the CDSOA is repealed after two years.

"CDSOA was enacted to restore conditions of fair trade, so that jobs that should stay in the United States are not destroyed by unfair foreign competition," Byrd stated on Tuesday. "Now is the time to hold foreign unfair traders more accountable, not less! There is no need to repeal the law today, two years from now, or ever."

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