Bill would encourage mergers: ; Lawmakers trying to aid struggling steel companies

DAILY MAIL WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON - House members from steel-producing states haveintroduced legislation that would encourage struggling domesticsteel companies to merge, something that has been advocated forNorthern Panhandle steel producers, Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp.and Weirton Steel. Reps. Alan Mollohan and Nick Joe Rahall, both D-W.Va., have signed onto the U.S. Steel Revitalization Act, which wasunveiled Thursday in a Capitol Hill press conference by theCongressional Steel Caucus. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, who also is amember of the caucus, has not signed onto the bill. A spokeswomansaid Capito, R-W.Va., "knows there is a real crisis out there" andis …