Legislation on Health Benefits for Retired Steel Workers Stalled in House Committee

A bill(HR 4646) that would provide as much as $13 billion for retired steel workers' health insurance is more than 40 votes short of the 217 needed to move the bill out of committee and onto the House floor, Bloomberg/Baltimore Sun reports. The stalled legislation would pay health insurance costs for retired steel workers at companies that go bankrupt or are acquired by other companies. It is intended to "bail out" the steel industry, in which 23 companies have declared bankruptcy since 1997 because of foreign competition and high labor costs, Bloomberg/Sun reports. Retiree health costs or "legacy costs" are considered "too high" by many companies and are thought to prevent some steel manufacturers from acquiring weaker companies, shutting down mills and consolidating. Opponents of the health benefits legislation, including House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Billy Tauzin (R-La.), feel that it is "too expensive," and others say the bill "unfairly" favors the steel industry over other sectors. But during a Sept. 10 hearing of an Energy and Commerce subcommittee, Gary Hubbard, spokesperson for the United Steelworkers of America, said, "There won't be any restructuring without the legacy costs being dealt with. There will just be a series of bankruptcies" (Bloomberg/Baltimore Sun, 9/11).