House Passes Bill To Fund CPSC, Including Cuba Regulatory Amendments
The House passed a fiscal 2017 spending bill on July 7 that would fund the Consumer Product Safety Commission at $120 million, $5 million less than current spending and $11 million less than the White House request, and would prohibit use of funds for transactions involving Cuban government-confiscated property. The Obama administration threatened to veto the House version of the legislation, in part because of its tightened regulations surrounding commerce with Cuba and the proposed CPSC funding level (see 1606210076).
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The full Senate would consider parallel legislation passed by the Senate Appropriations Committee June 16, which proposes to fund CPSC at $124 million (see 1606170045), a Senate Appropriations Committee spokesman said in an email. The Senate bill contains provisions to allow U.S. nationals to finance agricultural commodity sales to Cuba, to repeal the requirement for vessels entering a Cuban port to obtain a license from the Treasury secretary within 180 days in order to unload freight at any place in the U.S., and to bar the use of funds appropriated through the bill to restrict exports of U.S. consumer communication devices or telecommunications services to Cuba. It is unclear when the Senate will consider its legislation, and a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., didn’t comment on the matter, only saying: “No scheduling announcements.”
The committee spokesman said the "outlook is uncertain" for any floor consideration, directing blame toward Senate minority leadership. The office of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., didn't immediately comment. In a letter to McConnell and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran, R-Miss., Reid, along with Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said they will block the committee's 12 passed funding bills until Senate GOP leadership publicly commits to "core tenets" of the 2015 bipartisan budget agreement, "including fair funding, parity, and a rejection of poison pill riders." The letter goes on to say: "If you cannot give us such assurance, we will be forced to oppose proceeding to future appropriations bills until you agree to keep your promises and honor our agreement."
This week, Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., offered, and on July 6 withdrew, an amendment to the House bill aimed at allowing U.S. agricultural producers to sell their products through extending credit to the Cuban government in fiscal 2017. Crawford pulled back the amendment after House Republican leadership and Florida congressmen assured him the House would work on a longer-term proposal that would erase the cash requirement for Cuban government purchases of U.S. goods, and that would result from congressional committees’ vetting of the Cuban market and potential opportunities for U.S. agriculture producers. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., commended Crawford for offering the amendment but recited political concerns expressed by several conservative Republicans surrounding the Castro regime. Nonetheless, Diaz-Balart pledged to talk with Crawford, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., and Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., to hammer out legislation that balances commercial and national security considerations.
Email ITTNews@warren-news.com for a copy of Senate Democratic leaders' letter to McConnell and Cochran.