President Signs Into Law Bill to Repeal the Byrd Amendment and Step 2 Cotton Export Subsidy Program, Etc.
On February 8, 2006, the President signed into law S. 1932, the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. Among numerous other things, S. 1932:
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Repeals Byrd Amendment (distributions continue until October 1, 2007)
S. 1932, as passed by Congress, contains a provision that would repeal the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act (CDSOA), commonly known as the "Byrd Amendment."
Specifically, Section 7601 of S. 1932 would repeal Section 754 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 USC 1675c), and the item relating to section 754 in the table of contents for Title VII of that Act.
Section 7601 further states that all duties on entries of goods made and filed before October 1, 2007, that would, but for the repeal described above, be distributed under section 754 of the Tariff Act of 1930, shall be distributed as if section 754 had not been repealed.
(The Byrd Amendment requires that the revenues from antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) duties assessed on or after October 1, 2000 be distributed on an annual basis to the affected domestic producers (i.e. currently operating producers (including worker representatives) that were either petitioners for the AD/CV duty order in question or interested parties in support of the petition) for specified qualifying expenditures (e.g. manufacturing facilities, research and development, personnel training). See ITT's Online Archives or 10/19/00 news, 00101837, for BP summary.)
Eliminates Step 2 Cotton Export Subsidy Program by August 2006
The State Department's Washington File reports that S. 1932 would eliminate by August 2006 the cotton export subsidy program known as Step 2. Step 2 is part of a larger farm program that pays domestic users and exporters to buy U.S. grown cotton whenever U.S. cotton prices exceed world market prices. (The provision eliminating the Step 2 cotton export subsidy program appears to be Section 1103.)
President's statement at signing of S. 1932 (dated 02/08/06) available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/02/20060208-8.html.
S. 1932 available at http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=109_cong_bills&docid=f:s1932enr.txt.pdf.
State Department Washington File article (dated 02/01/06) available at http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2006&m=February&x=20060201195110ebyessedo0.2258417&t=livefeeds/wf-latest.html.
House Ways and Means press release (dated 02/01/06) available at
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/news.asp?formmode=release&id=372.
EU statement on passage of S. 1932 (IP/06/117, dated 02/02/06, available at
BP Note
On August 31, 2004, the World Trade Organization (WTO) authorized numerous countries to retaliate against the U.S. for its failure to bring the CDSOA into conformity with WTO rules by December 27, 2003. To date, the European Union (EU), Canada, Japan, and Mexico have imposed retaliatory sanctions on selected U.S. products in light of the U.S.' failure to repeal the Byrd Amendment.
On February 2, 2006, the European Commission (EC) issued a statement welcoming the repeal of the Byrd Amendment, but regretting that it will not take effect immediately, due to the transition period through September 30, 2007.