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For Immediate Release WEIRTON, W.VA. – Weirton Steel Corp. officials are pleased that the U.S. Export-Import (EXIM) Bank soon may have to report to Congress any loan considerations to foreign steel companies. Last week, U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh and U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, both D-Ind., successfully included an amendment in the House Foreign Operations Appropriations bill for 2003, which funds EXIM. The language was passed out of committee and is awaiting a full vote in the House and the Senate. "We thank the Indiana legislators for their work on behalf of our industry. They, like our local representatives in Congress, want to ensure that taxpayers’ dollars are not being used against America’s steel companies and their employees," said John H. Walker, Weirton Steel president and chief executive officer. "There is too much steel being produced worldwide. Handing out loans to overseas steel mills, especially those that flood our markets with unfairly priced steel, only adds to the industry’s overcapacity problem and makes no sense." The amendment is the second move this year designed to enable Congress to closely monitor loans being considered for foreign steelmakers. In June, lawmakers added an amendment to a bill barring EXIM from approving transactions for countries in cases where the U.S. International Trade Commission had ruled they had violated U.S. trade laws. Last year, U.S. Rep. Alan
Mollohan, D-W.Va., and Visclosky led an effort resulting in $18 million
being cut from EXIM’s budget. Just before the cut, EXIM had granted a
loan of the same amount to a Chinese steel mill. |
