President Barack Obama on Dec. 8 signed H.R. 4902, legislation that allows any law enforcement officer working for CBP Air and Marine Operations to be compensated for working outside scheduled duty. The enacted legislation will allow the employees to receive “availability pay,” which is a premium pay reserved for federal law enforcement officers who are criminal investigators often required to work or be available to work several hours of unscheduled duty. Previous law specified that pilots working for the U.S. Customs Service were eligible for the availability pay, according to the bill text (here). The legislation will take effect on the first day of the first applicable pay period, on or after Dec. 22.

The House and Senate last week passed H.R. 6431, the Promoting Travel, Commerce, and National Security Act of 2016, which would give the U.S. jurisdiction over prosecutable incidents involving U.S. border security personnel in Canada, per the terms of the U.S.-Canada preclearance agreement signed in March 2015 (see 1503160009). The Canadian American Business Council (see 1610250040) and a 25-member coalition (see 1611230032) said the legislation is an important step toward expanding preclearance activities to cross-border trade. The coalition urged top congressional appropriators to pass language similar to H.R. 6431 included in the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee’s fiscal 2017 spending legislation. But Rep. Ann Kuster, D-N.H., reintroduced the language as separate legislation on Dec. 2. The House on Dec. 7 passed H.R. 6431 under suspension of the rules, and the Senate approved it in the early morning hours of Dec. 10 by voice vote. The bill now awaits President Barack Obama’s signature.

The House and Senate last week passed H.R. 875, the Cross-Border Trade Enhancement Act of 2016, which would authorize the CBP commissioner to enter into alternative financing arrangements with entities to provide customs, agricultural processing or border security services at U.S. land ports of entry, compensating CBP for administering those services. The House passed the legislation Dec. 6 under suspension of the rules, before the Senate passed it under unanimous consent on Dec. 10. Specifically, the legislation would authorize the commissioner and General Services Administration (GSA) chief to enter into cost-sharing or reimbursement agreements for the construction or maintenance of a new or existing CBP or GSA facility, or other infrastructure, at land ports of entry. The bill would also allow CBP and GSA to accept "real or personal property" donations, including money to use toward these infrastructure activities.

House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee Chairman Joe Pitts, R-Pa., and industry officials during a Dec. 7 hearing railed against the federal government’s shift of inspections of catfish and related products from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to the Agriculture Department’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), according to a press release (here). The regulations include requirements for foreign exporter countries to demonstrate their inspection systems are equivalent to the U.S. system (see 1511270024). While the transfer was set for completion on Sept. 1, 2017, FSIS started screening catfish imports in April (see 1605040041). The FDA and industry are doing a better job than ever before on stopping infected catfish from being sold, Kimberly Gorton, CEO of seafood distributor Slade Gorton, told the subcommittee. “The USDA program is a complete waste of tax dollars,” Gorton said. “Our government is already squeezing job-creating small businesses, and this program is a needless, costly and duplicative regulation that burdens my company and all other seafood companies.” Pitts said catfish is an “extremely low risk” product, and said an exclusive USDA catfish inspection program is unnecessary and will siphon resources away from inspecting high-risk seafood. Despite pressure from the Energy and Commerce Committee (see 1606230051), House leadership has not brought up the Senate-passed S.J. Res. 28 for a vote. The bill would prevent the completion of the transfer of catfish inspections from the FDA to USDA.

The House on Dec. 8 passed a continuing resolution (here) that would avoid a government shutdown if passed by the Senate and signed by the president on Dec. 9. But the bill could face a Senate floor challenge with the shutdown threat looming, as Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has reportedly threatened to move to block floor consideration of the legislation until a provision to extend a health insurance fund for retired coal miners is adopted, according to CQ Roll Call (here). To stop procedural advancement of the CR, 41 senators would have to vote against its movement. Manchin's office did not comment. The CR would fund CBP until April 28. Section 163 of the CR would give the Office of Management and Budget authority to grant the Department of Homeland Security the ability to allow CBP to transfer future funds from normal fiscal 2017 appropriations earmarked for the operations and support accounts of CBP, ICE, the Transportation Security Administration and the Secret Service to activities related to DHS staffing, immigration enforcement, border security, aviation security and the protection of Trump as president-elect.

The International Wood Products Association (IWPA) was one of several companies that met on Dec. 5 to discuss import-related concerns presented by the “border-adjustability” aspects of House Speaker Paul Ryan’s, R-Wis., and House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady’s, R-Texas, blueprint on tax reform, according to an IWPA email on Dec. 8. “While there are many aspects of the tax reform we support such as lowering corporate income taxes, the border adjustability provision, if included as described, would effectively function as a tax on imports because income on the sale of imports would be treated as business income while the cost of the goods could no longer be deducted,” IWPA said in the email. Among other things, the proposed tax model would exempt exports from taxes while making imports taxable (see 1612010056). IWPA said it looks forward to working with industry colleagues to explain what it says are expected negative business and consumer impacts of the proposal to policymakers.

Lawmakers recently introduced the following trade-related bill:

House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, holds China responsible for being the main obstacle to successful World Trade Organization Environmental Goods Agreement negotiations last weekend (see 1612050010), but expressed his hope that a strong agreement can be concluded under the incoming Trump administration, according to a statement (here). “This agreement is all about growing our economy and expanding access to affordable clean air and water technologies -- many of which are manufactured right here in the U.S.,” Brady said. “We are one of the world’s largest exporters of environmental goods in this dynamic and rapidly growing market. While U.S. tariffs on these manufactured products already are low, other countries charge taxes on American exports of these goods that can increase their prices by as much as one third, making them uncompetitive.”

As the Trans-Pacific Partnership awaits an expected rejection from the U.S., the incoming Trump administration should consider bilateral negotiations with Japan and Taiwan, a top GOP lawmaker and a trade analyst said during a Dec. 6 House hearing. House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific Chairman Matt Salmon, R-Ariz., said bilateral negotiations with Japan might bring a “core group” of modern economies to the table in a more feasible framework than the TPP. “Without a concerted economic engagement with all parts of Asia, China will fill the void with its willingness to fund much-needed infrastructure without regard to intellectual property, labor and environmental standards,” Salmon said. Negotiating a free trade agreement with Japan is a noble goal, but it would be more complicated and politically difficult than an FTA with Taiwan, American Enterprise Institute resident scholar Derek Scissors said during the hearing.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Dec. 6 cleared S. Res. 535 (here), a resolution calling for U.S. law enforcement to work with its Mexican and Chinese counterparts to reduce illicit trafficking of fentanyl from those countries into the U.S. Specifically, the bill, which now goes to the floor for consideration, calls for the secretary of state, the attorney general, the Homeland Security secretary, and the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy to use the “broad diplomatic and law enforcement resources” of the U.S., in collaboration with the Mexican and Chinese governments, to stop the production of illicit fentanyl and its trafficking to the U.S.