{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://bonamici.house.gov/media/in-the-news/solarworld-trade-case-brings-unpredictable-politics-including-wyden-merkley-split", "SolarWorld trade case brings unpredictable politics, including a Wyden-Merkley split", "2017-12-06", "2017", "2017-12", "Democrat", "House", "OR", "Suzanne Bonamici", "B001278", "bonamici.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "As SolarWorld Americas Inc. and its Hillsboro workforce await\u00a0a Trump administration decision\u00a0that could spell their fate, politicians are staking out unpredictable positions on the company\u2019s high-profile trade case.\nSolarWorld, with fellow petitioner\u00a0Suniva\u00a0Inc.,\u00a0is seeking tariffs and quotas\u00a0after a finding by U.S. trade regulators that the domestic solar manufacturing industry has been substantially harmed by a flood of cheap imports. The wider U.S. industry is overwhelmingly opposed to that position, fearing it will lead to higher prices, declining installations and job losses.\nOregon\u2019s senior senator,\u00a0Democrat Ron Wyden, backs strong action \u2014 so fervently, that he testified at a U.S. International Trade Commission hearing in October. It\u2019s about jobs, he says, and about sustaining the R&D and innovation that come with a thriving manufacturing sector.\nDemocratic Rep.\u00a0Suzanne Bonamici, whose district includes SolarWorld\u2019s plant, joined Wyden in testifying in support of SolarWorld.\nBut their fellow Oregon Democrat, Sen.\u00a0Jeff Merkley, believes subsidies, not tariffs, are the way to go.\n\"I would like to see us to take an approach that would assist the American companies so they could lower their prices and compete with industry at lower prices,\"\u00a0Merkley recently told the news site Axios.\nThat puts Merkley in a camp that includes a growing number of Republicans who are asking the president to steer clear of tarrifs.\nOn Tuesday, the House Clean Energy & Innovation Working Group, a Republicans-only group, warned that tarrifs could cause \u201csolar prices to spike significantly,\" with devastating impacts.\nThen on Wednesday, a group of six Republican senators, in a letter to U.S. Trade Representative\u00a0Robert Lighthizer, said tariffs \u201cwould cause irreparable damage to our domestic solar industry.\u201d\nLighthizer could be a key player in the administration's ultimate determination of a remedy.\nWhile the U.S. International Trade Commission has issued its own recommendations, Lighthizer is working on putting together a brief of his own for the president \u2014 a \"supplemental report to assist the President in determining the appropriate and feasible action to take that will facilitate efforts by the domestic industry to make a positive adjustment to import competition and provide greater economic and social benefits than costs,\" as he put it.\nThat effort has pushed back the due date two weeks for a decision by Trump, who has wide latitude to reject, accept or remake the recommendations he's given, to Jan. 26.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://bonamici.house.gov/media/in-the-news/solarworld-trade-case-brings-unpredictable-politics-including-wyden-merkley-split"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.610667910426855, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}