Yesterday, the World Trade Organization (WTO) authorized sanctions on the United States for failing to repeal an anti-dumping law. The "Byrd Amendment" authorized the government to reimburse manufacturers for losses sustained when foreign firms sell goods at below market values in the United States. These reimbursement are currently paid for by imposing duties on the foreign firms in question. The European Union (EU) argued successfully before the WTO in 2002 that the Byrd Amendment amounted to an illegal subsidy under WTO rules. Until today, however, the WTO had held off on imposing sanctions in response to the violation.

The sanctions are expected to cost around $144 million annually, but won't be imposed immediately as the EU is seeking to have the amendment removed by American lawmakers. This may be difficult, as the Byrd amendment has been supported in the past by a large majority of senators and representatives.

Both House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Illinois) and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tennessee) indicated on Sunday that they expect Congress to remain in session up to election day, November 2, in order to pass an intelligence reform package. Previously, Congress was set to adjourn October 1.

Yesterday, the Bush administration's new overtime rules went into affect. The administration believes that the new regulations are needed to replace outdated rules. They believe that the new regulations make overtime rules clearer and will make it easy to enforce and will reduce expensive litigation that hurts business.

Opponents to the new regulations say that they will exept up to six million additional workers from receiving overtime pay by redefining which workers qualify for overtime.