August 12, 1965
Page 20218
ORDERLY MARKETING AND H.R. 7969
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I wish to commend the Committee on Finance for the improvements it has made in our tariff legislation under H.R. 7969. The bill, when enacted, will help close some serious loopholes which have permitted unfair competition with some of our important domestic industries.
Section 15(b), for example, will stop a practice of importing fabrics made of a mixture of wool and ramie or flax at a duty of 10 percent rather than the proper duty of 45 percent ad valorem, plus 30 cents per pound. This means that at the present time, because of a technicality in the existing law, a duty of 15 cents is being paid on a pound of fabric valued at $1.50 instead of the proper duty of 97.5 cents.
Wool-ramie fabrics were first imported under the loophole from Italy in the spring of 1964. The rate in March of that year was 1,263 yards. By April it had increased to a rate of 208,983 square yards. By the end of last year imports of this fabric under the ridiculously low duty totaled 5,199,371.
In the first 5 months of 1965, 5,345,321 square yards of wool-ramie fabrics were imported. This is an enormous growth in a single category of fabrics, and it has had a serious impact on Maine and New England woolen mills.
Section 16 of the bill will close another loophole which has permitted unfair import competition of braid cloth.
I support these changes, not because I am opposed to international trade, but because I am opposed to unfair competition from foreign exporters.
It is for the same reason that I introduced S. 2022, the Orderly Marketing Act. That bill is designed to protect domestic industries from disastrous increases in imports, particularly from low wage countries. It would not stop or hinder international trade; it would encourage its orderly growth without destroying our own industries and throwing thousands of American workers out of jobs.
Fourteen of my colleagues have joined in sponsoring S. 2022. It is our hope that the Ways and Means Committee and the Finance Committee will schedule hearings on this legislation early in the next session of this Congress, so that we can go beyond the stage of closing loopholes in existing tariff legislation to correcting some of the basic imbalances which have developed in international trade.
Early consideration and action on the Orderly Marketing Act in 1966 would offer great encouragement to textiles, shows, wood products and other industries plagued by disruptive import developments and the constant threat of low-wage competition overseas.
Mr. SMATHERS. Mr. President, as the Senator from Maine well understands, the whole question of importation is a difficult one. He has asked in his speech that the Committee on Ways and Means and the Committee on Finance undertake hearings on the question of orderly marketing, in order to protect not only domestic producers but also consumers.
I assure the Senator, on behalf of the committee, that the committee wishes to undertake a study of this particular subject and will endeavor to hold hearings on the measure as early as possible.
Mr. MUSKIE. I thank the Senator from Florida. The concept is a complex one. It ought to be studied. If it is to be in committee, it would be premature to take action on it now without such action and study.