The Foreign Agricultural Service has issued a notice announcing that it will hold a public meeting of the Consultative Group to Eliminate the Use of Child Labor and Forced Labor in Imported Agricultural Products1 on March 29, 2010.
The EPA is hosting a webinar March 26 to discuss with stakeholders proposed “enhancements” to requirements for Energy Star testing and verification. New testing and verification requirements and other changes proposed to the Energy Star program under a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Energy have caused concern in the CE industry. Despite a recent meeting with EPA officials to “review concerns and suggestions,” there are “still remaining concerns about imposing new requirements where none are apparently justified,” said Douglas Johnson, CEA senior director of technology policy.
An Oklahoma proposal for a statewide toll-free calling plan is “fundamentally flawed” and should be set aside in favor of a “more targeted solution,” Verizon said late Friday in preliminary comments to the Corporation Commission. The plan proposes to ban “an entire class of competitors -- interexchange carriers -- from serving an admittedly competitive market,” the company said.
The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners asked the Treasury Department for quick clarification of the tax status of broadband grants from the NTIA. NARUC warned that taxing the grants would mean they would do less to stimulate deployment. Meanwhile, Congress is closely monitoring who does and doesn’t get grants and whether they actually increase deployment, said a Congressional Research Service report released Monday.
The Transportation Security Administration has sent a request for renewal of an information collection on air cargo security requirements to the Office of Management and Budget. The information collection is made up of five categories: security programs, security threat assessments (STA), known shipper data via the Known Shipper Management System (KSMS), cargo screening reporting, and evidence of compliance recordkeeping. TSA requests comments on the renewal request by April 5, 2010. (D/N TSA-2004-19515, FR Pub 03/04/10, available at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-4443.pdf)
During the Senate Finance Committee's hearing on the Administration 2010 Trade Agenda, U.S. Trade Representative Kirk testified before the Committee and addressed numerous concerns of Committee members.
House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Joe Barton, R- Texas, asked the FCC, Commerce Department, Federal Trade Commission and six other agencies why so many of their staffers are making $100,000 or more annually. In a letter to the agencies, Barton said recent press reports show large increases in the number of federal employees earning more than $100,000, and the number reaching the highest level of government pay scales. The average federal worker’s pay is $71,206, compared to $40,331 in the private sector, Barton said. “This disparity between public and private-sector compensation for comparable work leads us to question the basis for these salaries and raises, especially during an economic recession when countless Americans have either lost their jobs or must accept sharp reductions in pay to keep their jobs.” Barton also asked if any stimulus money from the American Recover and Reinvestment Act “was used to augment already-high federal salaries rather than to stimulate the lagging private sector or to fund critical infrastructure.” The FTC received the letter Wednesday and is reviewing Barton’s request, said agency spokeswoman Claudia Bourne-Farrell. The FCC declined to comment and NTIA didn’t reply to a message.
Rural telcos continued their Hill campaign against the Comcast-NBC Universal deal, echoing concerns by Senate Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman Herb Kohl, D-Wis., about NBC’s Olympics coverage. In a letter Tuesday to Kohl, the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies condemned NBC for requiring visitors to its Olympics website to validate they have a pay-TV subscription. That practice “discriminates against consumers and reduces the value of their broadband connections, said President John Rose. “If the merger is approved, it could provide Comcast with additional ability and incentive to engage in more anti-consumer discrimination against video and broadband competitors."
"Daily Update on Capitol Hill Trade Actions" is a daily International Trade Today compilation of the most relevant legislation, hearings, and actions by Congress involving international trade. The following are brief summaries of recent Capitol Hill actions:
SAN FRANCISCO -- Unclassified descriptions of “all 12 initiatives” under the Comprehensive National Cybsecurity Initiative were to be posted online Tuesday, said Howard Schmidt, the White House cybersecurity coordinator. The action is part of the president’s commitment to “unprecedented openness in government,” he said in a brief keynote at the RSA Conference. It went live at www.whitehouse.gov/cybersecurity.