I
107TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 5578
To support the domestic shrimping industry by eliminating taxpayer subsidies
for certain competitors, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER 8, 2002
Mr. PAUL (for himself, Mr. KINGSTON, and Mr. JONES of North Carolina)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Fi-
nancial Services, and in addition to the Committees on Resources and
International Relations, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To support the domestic shrimping industry by eliminating
taxpayer subsidies for certain competitors, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Shrimp Importation
Financing Fairness Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) The United States domestic shrimping in-
dustry is a vital social and economic force for many
coastal communities across the United States, af-
fecting not simply those who own and operate
shrimp boats but entire community economies in-
cluding food processors, hoteliers and restaurateurs,
grocery markets, and all those who work in and
service these industries and others.
(2) In addition to the economic importance of
the domestic shrimping industry, the industry serves
as a key source of safe domestic foods at a time
when the nation is engaged in hostilities abroad.
(3) Many nations have blocked the importation
of shrimp from certain foreign countries because of
their contamination with various substances, but the
United States Government has yet to take any such
action.
(4) Existing international trade agreements are
ostensibly designed to decrease not just government
regulation of trade but also government trade sub-
sidies.
(5) The domestic shrimping industry has been
highly regulated by the Federal Government through
Federal requirements of usage of items, such as by-
catch reduction devices and turtle excluder devices
(in this Act referred to as ‘‘TEDs’’), which result in
a significant loss of product per trawl, hence dam-
aging the competitive position and market share of
the domestic shrimping fishery.
(6) Seven non-NAFTA foreign countries (Thai-
land, Vietnam, India, China, Ecuador, Indonesia,
and Brazil) have taken advantage of this Govern-
ment-imposed reduction in competitiveness, by each
exporting in excess of 20,000,000 pounds of shrimp
to the United States in the first 6 months of this
year.
(7) These foreign countries account for nearly
70 percent of all shrimp consumed in the United
States in the first 6 months of this year and nearly
80 percent of all shrimp imported to this country in
the same period.
(8) In the last 3 years our Government has pro-
vided more than $1,800,000,000 in financing and
insurance for these foreign countries through the
Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and our
Government’s current exposure relative to these
countries through our Export-Import Bank totals
some $14,800,000,000, bringing the total subsidy of
these countries by the United States to over
$16,500,000,000.
(9) Many of these countries are not market-ori-
ented, and hence their participation in United
States-supported 
international 
finance 
regimes
amounts to a direct subsidy by American taxpayers
in the shrimping sector of their international com-
petitors.
(10) In any case, any national economy that
benefits directly from participation in these finance
regimes indirectly grants benefits to our foreign
shrimping competitors simply because of the
fungibility of funds.
(11) The level of imports of shrimp by the
United States from these countries has compounded
the anticompetitive affects of our current Federal
regulatory regime in this sector, leading to a depres-
sion of the price of shrimp.
(12) There is a crisis developing in the domestic
shrimping industry, as evidenced by the fact that the
National Marine Fisheries Service, the lead Federal
agency in regulating the domestic shrimping fishery,
has recently held briefings with staff of the House
of Representatives and the Senate, and with indus-
try representatives, to discuss this crisis and seek
solutions thereto.
(13) Despite this meeting, the National Marine
Fisheries Service has not announced that it will fore-
go future regulatory encumbrances upon the domes-
tic shrimping industry such as previously proposed
TEDs modifications that would further harm com-
petitiveness of the domestic shrimping fishery.
SEC. 3. MORATORIUM ON RESTRICTIVE REGULATIONS ON
DOMESTIC SHRIMPING INDUSTRY.
The Secretary of Commerce shall not impose any new
restrictive regulations on the domestic shrimping industry,
including the proposed regulations modifying require-
ments relating to turtle excluder devices published on Oc-
tober 2, 2001, except as authorized by a law enacted after
the date of enactment of this Act.
SEC. 4. BAN ON OPIC FINANCING AND INSURANCE TO
COUNTRIES 
EXPORTING 
EXCESSIVE
AMOUNTS OF SHRIMP.
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation may
not issue any contract of insurance or reinsurance or any
guaranty, or enter into any agreement to provide financ-
ing, in connection with a project undertaken or to be un-
dertaken in a country which exported more than
20,000,000 pounds of shrimp to the United States in the
first 6 months of calendar year 2002, until 3 months after
the foreign country has reduced its shrimp exports to the
United States to less than 3,000,000 pounds per month
for a period of 3 consecutive months.
SEC. 5. UNITED STATES OPPOSITION TO IMF ASSISTANCE
TO 
COUNTRIES 
EXPORTING 
EXCESSIVE
AMOUNTS 
OF 
SHRIMP 
TO 
THE 
UNITED
STATES IN FIRST 6 MONTHS OF 2002.
The Bretton Woods Agreements Act (12 U.S.C.
635(b)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘SEC. 64. OPPOSITION TO IMF ASSISTANCE TO COUNTRIES
EXPORTING 
EXCESSIVE 
AMOUNTS 
OF
SHRIMP TO THE UNITED STATES IN FIRST 6
MONTHS OF 2002.
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treasury
shall instruct the United States Executive Director at the
Fund to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United
States to oppose the provision by the Fund of assistance
in any form to any foreign country which exported to the
United States more than 20,000,000 pounds of shrimp in
the first 6 months of calendar year 2002, until 3 months
after the foreign country has reduced its shrimp exports
to the United States to less than 3,000,000 pounds per
month for a period of 3 consecutive months.
‘‘(b) REDUCTION OF UNITED STATES CONTRIBU-
TIONS.—