The U.S. House of Representatives late yesterday gave final approval to the repeal of the Byrd Amendment. The vote on the Budget Reconciliation Act, which includes the “Byrd Amendment” repeal provision, was 216-214. The bill now goes to the president, who is expected to sign the legislation into law within a few days.
According to the language of the Byrd Amendment repeal, domestic producers will no longer receive Byrd Amendment pay-outs on entries subject to antidumping/countervailing duty orders after September 30, 2007. This 20-month “sunset” mechanism was necessary to blunt opposition from the powerful array of domestic supporters that fought tooth-and-nail to retain their access to Byrd monies.
This is a classic “David vs. Goliath” victory for U.S. importers. As we noted in prior Counsel’s Report ALERTS, AFI has been at the forefront of this effort and has garnered a great deal of attention and good will from Congressional officials and like-minded private groups in the process.
