GAO Issues Report Criticizing Byrd Amendment Payments
The U.S. General Accountability Office has issued a report criticizing the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act (CDSOA), known as the "Byrd Amendment." The report entitled "Issues and Effects of Implementing the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act" indicates that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) faces several problems in implementing payments made under the Byrd Amendment. For example, GAO indicated that CBP's processing of company claims and CDSOA payments is problematic because CBP's procedures are labor intensive and do not include standardized forms or electronic filing. GAO also noted that companies are not accountable for the claims they file because they do not have to support their claims and CBP does not systematically verify the claims. GAO found that CBP's problems in collecting duties that fund the CDSOA have worsened and that about half of the funds that should have been available for disbursement remained uncollected in fiscal year 2004. GAO also found that about half of the total payments made went to only five companies and two-thirds of the total payments have been made to only three industries: bearings, candles and steel.
The National Retail Federation (NRF) welcomed the GAO report by issuing calling for the repeal of the Byrd Amendment and noting that the "report confirms everything we've ever said about why the Byrd Amendment should be overturned." The NRF said the Byrd Amendment "encourages the filing of frivolous antidumping cases, and it does nothing to create or protect U.S. jobs." The statement said the "Byrd Amendment virtually defines corporate welfare" and is "a massive payola scheme that takes money out of the U.S. Treasury and uses it to line the pockets of private companies that have done nothing to earn it except sign on to antidumping petitions that drive up prices for American consumers."
Representative Jim Ramstad (R-Minn) has introduced H.R. 1121, a bill that would repeal the Byrd Amendment.
The PDF version of GAO's report can be found at the following link.
Labels: Antidumping
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