FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	Contact:	Paul Nathanson
December 12, 2005		The PBN Company
		Tel.

CITAC PUBLISHES 2005 'BYRD AMENDMENT MILLIONAIRES CLUB;'
PAYOUTS TOTAL $226 MILLION IN 2005, $1. 26 BILLION SINCE 2001

Washington, DC — The Consuming Industries Trade Action Coalition (CITAC) today released the '2005 Millionaires Club' of Byrd Amendment recipients showing that five companies received over half of the total $226 million Byrd Amendment payouts in 2005 and that 80% percent of the payouts went to only 34 companies. CITAC released the list following the publication of the FY2005 Byrd Amendment payouts by U.S. Customs and Board Patrol. More than $1.26 billion in Byrd Amendment payouts have been distributed since 2001, with more than one-third going to The Timken Company and its subsidiaries.

"The Byrd Amendment payouts result in nothing more than an exclusive 'Millionaires Club' created by government handouts of taxpayer money," said Steve Alexander, CITAC Executive Director and President of The CMR Group. "Why is the U.S. government continuing to pay millions of dollars to big companies through a government-funded subsidy that distorts competition? With $1.26 billion handed out over five years, U.S. producers have every incentive to keep throwing money into filing, expanding and perpetuating antidumping and countervailing duty cases."

Enacted in 2000 by Congress without hearings or debate, the Byrd Amendment redirects antidumping and countervailing duties from the U.S. Treasury to those companies that petitioned or supported antidumping and countervailing duty actions. All other customs duties are deposited to the U.S. Treasury. In November 2005, the House of Representatives approved repeal of the Byrd Amendment as part of The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. The bill (H.R. 4241) will soon head to a House-Senate Conference Committee.

The Timken Company, a Fortune 500 Canton, Ohio-based producer of ball bearings and steel tubing, and its subsidiary MPB Corporation, took in the highest Byrd payments, totaling $81.2 million or approximately 36 percent of the total FY2005 disbursements. Cumulatively, since the inception of the Byrd Amendment in FY2001, Timken and its subsidiaries have amassed an astounding $476 million in government subsidies, over one-third of the total amount distributed.

Three other top Byrd Amendment recipients were Emerson Power Transmission, an Ithaca, NY-based bearings company ($16.6 million); Lancaster Colony Corporation, a Columbus, OH-based candle company ($11.4 million) and AK Steel Corporation ($7.1 million), a Middleton, OH steel producer. (See list of $1 million-plus recipients at citac.info.)

Companies in the steel and steel-containing products sectors by far received the largest Byrd payouts, totaling $154 million. Other sectors that received substantial government payouts include food products, such as honey, pasta, and catfish ($26 million); candles ($21 million), and fibers ($5 million).

United States Trade Representative (USTR) Rob Portman considers the Amendment "unwarranted," and calls for its repeal, stating in a letter last week to House Speaker Dennis Hastert:

"The Administration has previously explained that it considers the CDSOA to be an unwarranted diversion of funds from the Treasury, providing hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer funds annually to businesses and other parties that already receive protection from imports due to antidumping and countervailing duties. This subsidy is unwarranted from a domestic economic standpoint as the Nation has much higher needs and better ways to improve our competitiveness. The subsidy should be repealed."

In 2002, World Trade Organization (WTO) declared the Byrd Amendment to be in violation of 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 — totaling approximately $114 million.

"The audacity of the Byrd Amendment — subsidizing antidumping and countervailing duty petitions through of the use of government-collected duties — is breathtaking and is contrary to the policy of the WTO Antidumping and Subsidies Agreements," said Lewis Leibowitz of Hogan & Hartson LLP, Counsel to CITAC.

A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) review of Byrd Amendment also found that the law has benefited only a handful of large companies 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."

Alexander continued, "It is the American taxpayers who are essentially footing the bill for the ‘Millionaires Club.’ We urge Congress to look at the facts and approve repeal of the Byrd Amendment as part of The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005."

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 addition information, or to view products on the retaliation lists for individual countries, please visit citac.info or contact Dara Klatt at The PBN Company at or .