Daily Update on Capitol Hill Trade Actions
"Daily Update on Capitol Hill Trade Actions" is a regular feature of International Trade Today. The following are brief summaries of recent Capitol Hill actions.
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Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Hearing on Export Controls
On January 15, 2010, the House Foreign Affairs Committee held a hearing in Palo Alto, CA on the impact of export controls on national security, science, and technological leadership. The purpose of the hearing was (1) to help the Committee prepare for a complete revision of the statute that authorizes the U.S. system of licensing and controlling dual-use technologies; and (2) contribute to congressional oversight of the export control policy review that the President ordered and that is now under way.
Proposal to End a Wool Trust Fund Program Withdrawn
On January 25, 2010, Senator Schumer (D) announced that a proposal to end a Wool Trust Fund program has been taken off the table as way to raise revenue for a proposed jobs bill. Senator Schumer, after being contacted by Hickey Freeman officials, wrote OMB Associate Directors to urge them to maintain funding for the Wool Trust Fund.
Firms, Associations Ask for Extension of Business Tax Provisions
On January 21, 2010, hundreds of companies and trade associations sent a letter to Congress urging the enactment of legislation that would extend business tax provisions that expired at the end of 2009 as soon as possible.
The expiring provisions they urge Congress to extend include the R&D provision; the election to deduct state and local general sales tax; the look-through treatment of payments between related controlled foreign corporations (CFCs) under Subpart F; the biodiesel, renewable diesel, and alternative fuels provisions; and the railroad track maintenance provision.
Agr Chair Co-Sponsors Resolution Against EPA's GHG Regulation
Senator Lincoln (D), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, issued a statement announcing her support for legislation to block efforts by the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. Chairman Lincoln agreed to cosponsor a resolution of disapproval to be introduced by Senator Murkowski (R). In her statement, Chairman Lincoln expressed concern that EPA regulation, as well as the current cap and trade bills in Congress, will cost the U.S. jobs and put the U.S. at an even greater competitive disadvantage to China, India and others.