(Washington, D.C.) – At a news conference this morning, the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste joined the American Institute for International Steel to urge Congress to take a closer look at subsidies and trade restraints granted to the large, integrated U.S. steel companies.  Following is the statement of John Frydenlund, Director of the Center for International Food and Agriculture Policy, an arm of CCAGW.

“On behalf of the more than one million members and supporters of CCAGW, I am pleased to participate in the release of Paying the Price for Big Steel.  This comprehensive study provides a compelling case for the immediate elimination of restrictive trade restraints on steel imports and subsidies for domestic steel producers.

“Over the last 30 years, while these corporate welfare policies have stimulated the unalloyed greed of corporations unwilling to compete in the marketplace, they have also cost U.S. consumers and taxpayers more than $100 billion.

“One of the best-kept secrets in the federal government are the subsidies to the steel industry.  In addition to the direct taxpayer subsidy in excess of $500 million annually, the protectionist policies of the government have cost consumers almost $3 billion annually in inflated costs.

“The steel industry has orchestrated a quiet, but effective campaign to shut out foreign competition while receiving taxpayer subsidies.  The effect of these market-binding mechanisms causes economic reverberations throughout the country.

“CCAGW hopes that Paying the Price for Big Steel will wake the American public to how damaging protectionist steel policies are to the economic interests of average citizens.”

CCAGW is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse in government.