Senator Collins Announces Support Building for the PRINT Act
Click HERE for the text of the PRINT Act.
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Susan Collins announced today that the Protecting Rational Incentives in Newsprint Trade Act of 2018 (PRINT Act) gained the support of four additional Senators yesterday, bringing the total number of cosponsors to 23 – nearly a quarter of the Senate. Senators Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) were the most recent Senators to announce their support of this bipartisan bill.
The PRINT Act, which has been endorsed by printers and publishers representing more than 600,000 American jobs, would suspend the import taxes on uncoated groundwood paper while the Department of Commerce examines the health of—and the effects on—the printing and publishing industry.
“The U.S. printing and publishing industry is facing an unprecedented threat from crippling new import tariffs imposed on Canadian uncoated groundwood paper – better known as ‘newsprint’ – which is used by newspapers, book publishers, and commercial printers,” said Senator Collins. “I am encouraged that a growing number of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle have announced their support for the PRINT Act, which will require a full evaluation of the economic impact of these tariffs before they cause further harm to our local newspapers and printing industries.”
The Department of Commerce initiated antidumping and countervailing duty investigations in late 2017 into the Canadian uncoated groundwood paper industry on behalf of a single domestic paper mill. This paper is used by newspapers, book publishers, and numerous other commercial printers in the United States. The import taxes are as high as 32 percent on some products, and that cost is passed on to these industries that are already under severe economic stress.
Nearly all of the U.S. paper industry opposes these import taxes, including the large trade association representing the entire industry, the American Forest and Paper Association, because the Department of Commerce’s action threatens to decimate the paper industry’s customers and injure printers and publishers.
Senator Collins introduced the PRINT Act on May 14th, 2018, with Senators Angus King (I-ME), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Doug Jones (D-AL), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV).
Since then, the bill has received the support of Senators Markey, Shaheen, Bumenthal, Thune, Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Jack Reed (D-RI), Mike Enzi (R-WY), Pat Toomey (R-PA), John Barrasso (R-WY), Mike Rounds (R-SD), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).
Specifically, the PRINT Act would:
- Require a study by the Department of Commerce of the economic wellbeing, health, and vitality of the newsprint industry and the local newspaper publishing industry in the United States;
- Require a report from the Commerce Secretary to the President and Congress within 90 days that includes both the findings of the study and any recommendations the Secretary considers appropriate;
- Stay the effect of proceedings of the Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission in regards to uncoated groundwood paper until the President certifies that he has received the report and that he has concluded that such a determination is in the national interest; and
- Halt the collection of deposits for uncoated groundwood paper until the president has made such certifications.
Click HERE for the text of the PRINT Act.
