Word: bill
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Although Congress and the White House reached general agreement on most elements of the bill, they were at loggerheads over the plant-closing notification -- an extraneous issue. The Democrats embraced the provision as an important gesture of support for American workers. To the Administration it became a symbol of unwarranted Government interference in business...
...week's end both sides were still hoping to get a measure enacted. Said Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd of West Virginia: "This bill isn't dead yet. I hope the President will rethink his position and come down on the side of the American people." But the White House was counting on Congress to resubmit a bill without the plant-closing measure, and there was no sign of a quick resolution to the conflict. Said Senator John Danforth, a Missouri Republican: "I believe that this bill is dead...
That would not upset the many economists who argue that the bill would invite retaliation from other countries. Says Tim O'Dell, senior international economist for Phillips & Drew, a London-based brokerage firm: "The trade bill is not going to help rid the U.S. of its trade deficit. If anything, it is likely to slow world trade and hurt the growth prospects of the U.S." Opponents point out that, besides containing sweeping general provisions, the trade package is loaded with protectionist measures designed to benefit specific U.S. industries or companies...
...enough votes to override a veto. In Japan, the most prominent target of the legislation, officials were delighted. Said Hajime Tamura, chief of Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry: "We would like to note our appreciation that more than one-third of the Senate voted against the bill...
Opponents of the trade package contend, and many of its advocates admit, that the bill does not strike at the heart of the trade problem. Simply put, the U.S. is running a huge trade deficit because its economy, plagued by an excess of public and private spending and a lack of saving, is consuming far more goods than its industry can produce. While American exports climbed by 11.5% last year, imports rose nearly as much...