During a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing prior to the Congressional recess, Rep. Pete Stauber (R-MN) ripped into Steel Manufacturers Association President Philip K. Bell.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Gentleman's time's expired. A gentleman from Minnesota, Mr. Stauber. Thank you very much,
00:09Mr. Chair. I wanted to I wanted to take just a couple minutes of my time. Mr.
00:17Bell, in your statements you say the steel industry is a wonderful and
00:23glorious industry that has built careers, companies, communities, cities, and even
00:33civilizations. You still agree with that statement? Yes. Further down in that same
00:39paragraph you say modernization and further decarbonization of American
00:45steel industry, which is already the cleanest in the world. Do you still
00:51agree with that statement? Yes. Okay. Do you know which district I represent in
00:56Minnesota? Yeah, you're in the Iron Range, aren't you, Congressman Stauber? I am. Mr. Bell, I am
01:02extremely offended at your comments here today in your written statements trying
01:11to reduce the steel making of the blast furnaces. I can assure you if we had a
01:18representative of U.S. Steel in Cleveland Cliffs, they would they would
01:23disagree with you vehemently. We built communities on the Iron Range. Our steel
01:29making, our mines, are who we are and our way of life. For you to come to our
01:34nation's capital and offend the people that I represent. Congressman James
01:40Oberstar, the Transportation Director, is rolling over in his grave right now
01:46because you are attacking our steel industry in northeastern Minnesota. Our
01:52ports depend on it. We support the Sulox. Other cities depend on it. Our steel, we
02:01need to all, we need to support, Mr. Bell, all domestic making steel. Do not
02:07separate us. China is our adversary in steel and you know that. The recycled
02:15steel that you support, do you use any Chinese made recycled steel? No. Are you
02:21sure? 100%? Yes. 100% American? Well good for you. I'm not sure I believe that.
02:27Because China has been trying to take us down for a long long time. They've tried
02:32to shut the Iron Range down for a long long time. All domestic steel we must
02:38support. U.S. Steel and Cleveland Cliffs are our backbone of northeastern
02:45Minnesota. They support thousands of jobs. Hundreds of secondary jobs. Ninety to
02:54one hundred thousand dollar a year jobs in our steel making industry. Please do
03:00not come to the United States Capitol and attack our way of life and attack
03:04our steel industry. The Iron Range helped us win two world wars. We made the
03:11steel that helped build America and continue to build America. I will not
03:19take a back seat when we talk about steel and we talk about mining. I sit
03:28here every single week to have friends on the other side of the L try to take
03:32away our mining and our way of life. I will not let that happen. Again all we
03:39must support all domestic made steel and that includes recycling that you support
03:45and I do too. Please do not allow this infighting. China is our adversary.
03:52They're trying to dump cheap steel in this country. We need to keep the tariffs
03:57on and I know you support that. Would you please please support all domestic
04:05making steel. That means on the Iron Range of Minnesota. That is our way of
04:10life. Our communities. Our jobs. Our families as you say. Our communities. Our
04:19cities. Our civilizations that you say. It's our way of life. We do it better
04:24than anybody. The jobs and opportunities that mining present in northeastern
04:34Minnesota are second to none and I will share this with you in the last few
04:39minutes. Minnesota has the most mineral wealth of any state in this nation with
04:48the exception of Alaska and it's because of our Iron Range and we have
04:54now found the biggest copper nickel find in the world. Mr. Chair I yield back.
04:59Gentleman yields. Mr. Larson. Thank you Mr. Chair. Mr. Dewitt, note in your testimony
05:07that nearly 43,000 new construction industry jobs