{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://visclosky.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/visclosky-testifies-at-itc-hearing-on-wire-rod", "Visclosky Testifies at ITC Hearing on Wire Rod", "2017-11-16", "2017", "2017-11", "Democrat", "House", "IN", "Peter Visclosky", "V000108", "visclosky.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, DC \u2013 Today, Congressman Pete Visclosky testified at the International Trade Commission (ITC) hearing on carbon and certain alloy steel wire rod from Belarus, Italy, Korea, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom.\u00a0 Below is a copy of Congressman Visclosky\u2019s remarks, as prepared for delivery.\nI would like to thank Chairman Schmidtlein, Vice Chairman Johanson, members of the Commission, and all of the staff, for your continued work to enforce American trade laws.\u00a0 I appreciate this opportunity to testify as part of today\u2019s hearing regarding carbon and certain alloy steel wire rod from several countries.\nThe American steel industry plays an integral part in each of our daily lives.\u00a0 The industry employs 140,000 people and directly supports a million U.S. jobs, and American steelworkers produce steel that is used to build our nation and strengthen our national defense.\u00a0 The steel product we are discussing today, wire rod, is particularly diverse in its range of uses and is essential to a number of industries we rely on each day, such as the construction, energy, agriculture, and automotive industries. Unfortunately, it is also one of many steel products that countries throughout the world have consistently traded unfairly.\nThe Commission and the Department of Commerce have been working hard to address the issue of unfair imports by investigating a large number of steel-related cases over the past few years.\u00a0 This is the third time I have testified at the ITC this year, and the eleventh time I have testified in the past two years.\u00a0 However, we must not waiver in our efforts, and we must continue to apply pressure on countries that blatantly violate our laws and threaten domestic markets.\u00a0 \nThe American Iron and Steel Institute recently reported that for the first ten months of 2017, steel imports are up 20 percent from the same time period in 2016. This highlights that now more than ever, we must remain vigilant in ensuring that bad actors who disregard American trade laws face consequences for their actions.\nI appreciate the work that all of you and the Department of Commerce have already done in this case.\u00a0 In their preliminary determination, the Department proposed countervailing duty rates of up to 44 percent for certain countries involved in this case, and antidumping duties of up to a staggering 756 percent.\u00a0 The Department also indicated that critical circumstances exist with respect to dumping from Russia and imposed retroactive duties on those imports.\u00a0 These are important first steps to provide relief to the domestic industry that has been harmed by the countries involved.\nWire rod is a critical product used in our daily lives, from the cars we drive, to the buildings we work in, to the farms that produce the food we rely on.\u00a0 We must ensure that law-abiding domestic producers who are making this vital product are not undermined by countries that continually and egregiously disregard our trade laws.\u00a0 That is why I strongly urge an affirmative determination.\nI again thank you for your serious and thorough consideration of this case and\u00a0I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to provide testimony today.\n###", 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://visclosky.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/visclosky-testifies-at-itc-hearing-on-wire-rod"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9214049205183983, "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"}