Dribbling Around the Limit

At the request of the Spalding sporting goods company in his Massachusetts district, U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal (D) on June 8 and 9, 2005, introduced six bills seeking to suspend the import tariffs on several categories of inflatable balls. Taken together, the bills were projected to save importers $3.7 million a year. But split into six bills, each stayed within or close to the congressional guideline that no tariff suspension should be worth more than $500,000. In August, suspensions or reductions in tariffs covering four of the categories of balls were signed into law.