Donna Millard of McMinnville Manufacturing Co. (McMinnville, Tenn.) on Thursday had a letter to the editor published in the Wall Street Journal in which she defends the Lacey Act as it is currently written.
In the letter, Millard argues the current version of the Lacey Act is a boon for U.S. businesses. She wrote, "Companies like ours cannot and should not have to compete with illegal logging operations that pillage national parks, don't pay taxes, often utilize forced labor and don't obey the law. Such activity costs U.S. industry an estimated $1 billion annually. The Lacey Act is the best tool we have for curbing illegal logging and saving jobs."
Millard's letter was written in response to an opinion essay cancelled a vote on the RELIEF Act, effectively putting the bill out of consideration for the time being.)
In response to Juszkiewicz supporting the RELIEF Act, Millward wrote, "The real job killer is H.R. 3210 the RELIEF Act … [which] would put thousands of law-abiding U.S. businesses at a competitive disadvantage with world-wide illegal logging operations … By gutting the Lacey Act, Congress would create an uneven playing field for companies like ours that play by the rules."
