WILLIAM DONALD SCHAEFER, Governor

RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, That the State of
Maryland urges the President and the Congress of the United States to take the necessary
action to reconsider and amend the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act of 1988 to spread
to relieve the elderly from provisions of this tax burden by more evenly spreading the cost of
catastrophic health insurance among all Medicare insured taxpayers, and to control the
costs of prescription drugs in anticipation of Medicare's coverage of prescription drugs in
1991; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be forwarded by the Department of
Legislative Reference to the Honorable George Bush, President of the United States, 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C. 20500; the Honorable J. Danforth Quayle, Vice
President of the United States, The Capitol Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; and the
Honorable Jim Wright, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives,
Washington, D.C. 20515; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be forwarded by the Department of
Legislative Reference to the Maryland Congressional Delegation: Senators Paul S.
Sarbanes and Barbara A. Mikulski, Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; and
Representatives Royden P. Dyson, Helen Delich Bentley, Benjamin L. Cardin, C. Thomas
McMillen, Steny H. Hoyer, Beverly B. Byron, Kweisi Mfume, and Constance A. Morella,
House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515.

Signed May 19, 1989.

No. 9
(House Joint Resolution No. 19)

A House Joint Resolution concerning

Extension of the Steel Voluntary Restraint Arrangements

FOR the purpose of stating the intent of the General Assembly of Maryland in support of
extension of America's steel Voluntary Restraint Arrangements program for 5 years.

WHEREAS, Extension of the steel Voluntary Restraint Arrangements (VRAs) will
provide America's steel industry with a necessary, yet measured, defense against
conditions abroad that have not changed much since the VRA program was first instituted
in 1984 (e.g. foreign producers still receive massive subsidies, from their governments,
foreign steel markets are still tightly restricted to imports, foreign producers still engage
in pervasive "dumping" of steel, and there is still a serious structural imbalance between
world steel supply and demand on the order of at least 100 million tons); and

WHEREAS, A five-year extension will give the United States government the time
it needs to. negotiate an end to these ongoing trade-distorting conditions abroad, and the
United States cannot "unilaterally disarm" in steel (by terminating the VRAs) until such
negotiations have been successfully concluded; and

WHEREAS, VRAs have enabled domestic steel producers to take significant steps to
improve their international competitiveness — costs are down 35 percent since 1982, labor
productivity is up 40 percent and quality has been greatly improved; and

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