FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	Contact:	Paul Nathanson
November 18, 2005		The PBN Company
		Tel.

CITAC APPLAUDS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
PASSAGE OF BYRD AMENDMENT REPEAL

Washington, DC — The House of Representatives today approved early this morning repeal of the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act, commonly known as the "Byrd Amendment" as part of The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. The vote was 217-215. The Budget Reconciliation bill (H.R. 4241) now heads to a House-Senate Conference Committee.

"CITAC congratulates the House of Representatives for passing repeal of the Byrd Amendment and we strongly urge the Senate to agree to retain repeal in the final legislation," said CITAC Executive Director Steve Alexander.

"This vote is vindication after months of predictions by skeptics that Congress would never pass repeal of the Byrd Amendment," said Alexander. "Through hard work and the leadership of many Representatives, including Ways & Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-CA), Subcommittee on Trade Chairman Clay Shaw (R-FL) and Oversight Committee Chairman Jim Ramstad (R-MN), we now have a chance to end what Rep. Ramstad has accurately called the 'ultimate combination of protectionism, corporate welfare and government waste.'"

"The passage of Byrd Amendment repeal is essential in making progress in the Doha Round trade negotiations," said Lewis Leibowitz, Counsel to CITAC and a partner at Hogan & Hartson. "With the Byrd Amendment repealed, the U.S. will be in compliance with international trading rules, retaliation against U.S. exports will end and America will be in a position to provide much-needed leadership to spur the talks forward."

The Byrd Amendment doles out money to companies that petitioned or supported antidumping and countervailing duty actions. Other Customs duties are distributed to the U.S. Treasury. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released the results of a comprehensive year-long review of the Byrd Amendment on September 26, 2005 and concluded that the law has benefited a handful of large companies (five companies received nearly 40 percent of the total distributions over four years) and that accountability for the accuracy of the almost $2 trillion in claims is virtually non-existent. The GAO concluded that the Byrd Amendment "undermines the effectiveness of trade remedies generally."

In the report, the GAO concludes that more than $1 billion of Byrd funds have been disbursed to a small number of U.S. companies with "mixed effects," with one company, the Timken Company and two of its subsidiaries (the Torrington Company and MPB Corporation), receiving 40% of total disbursements, or $395 million — nearly equivalent to the total amount received by 731 other companies during FY2001 — FY2004. Two-thirds of all Byrd payments went to only three industries, including bearings, candles, and steel.

The GAO report noted that companies making the largest claims generally receive the largest payments. An incentive is created for producers to claim as many expenses as possible as "qualified expenditures" relative to other producers so that their share of the funds available under a duty order is as large as possible. Only one company has been audited, and that audit showed that the expenses claimed by the company were substantially overstated.

In FY2004, total qualifying expenditures were listed at almost $2 trillion and the program is facing a 10-fold increase in its claim processing, from 1,960 claims (FY2004) to almost 30,000 claims (FY2005). The $2 trillion in claims is equal to approximately 17% of the country’s total GDP.

"Some Byrd Amendment money recipients may even be using their Byrd money to subsidize imports of dumped goods, contrary to the policy of the antidumping laws," Leibowitz explained. "The law does not restrict use of the funds in any way."

The World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled in 2002 that the Byrd Amendment violates U.S. trade obligations. Congress’ failure to repeal the law has resulted in WTO-authorized retaliation against U.S. exports by Canada, the European Union, Japan and Mexico on products including baby formula, oysters, wine, dairy products, candy and chewing gum. Total retaliatory tariffs from these countries for 2005 are approximately $114 million. However, approximately $3.7 billion is being held by U.S. customs in duties assessed against Canadian softwood lumber. Should these duties be distributed as Byrd payments, the level of Canada’s authorized retaliation would skyrocket.

CITAC is a coalition of companies and organizations committed to promoting a trade arena where U.S. consuming industries and their workers have access to global markets for imports that enhance the international competitiveness of American firms.

For additional information, visit citac.info or contact Paul Nathanson at The PBN Company at or .