The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Dec. 6 cleared the AGOA Enhancement Act of 2015 (here) for full chamber consideration. The House on Sept. 7 unanimously passed the legislation, which would require the president to establish an African Growth and Opportunity Act website and include on it information and technical assistance provided at U.S. Agency for International Development regional trade hubs, along with links to websites for U.S. embassies in AGOA-eligible sub-Saharan African countries (see 1609080043).

House appropriators on Dec. 6 released the text of a continuing resolution (here) that would avoid a government shutdown if Congress passes it by the end of Dec. 9. The CR would fund CBP until April 28. Notably, 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, according to a House Appropriations Committee spokesperson. Congress next year will immediately start work to determine the best ways to complete the standard fiscal 2017 spending process and move forward the fiscal 2018 funding cycle, a Senate Appropriations Committee spokesperson said.

Lawmakers recently introduced the following trade-related bills:

Sen. David Vitter, R-La., pushed back against a September petition by the Center for Invasive Species Prevention (CISP) for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to add Louisiana’s most populous crawfish, procambarus clarkii (the red swamp crawfish), to the “injurious wildlife” list. Production of the crawfish through the last 25 years has grown from 61.1 million pounds to 127.5 pounds per year, Vitter said in a Dec. 2 letter to FWS Director Daniel Ashe (here). “Based on those facts, CISP’s claim that the red swamp crawfish has no essential economic benefit is laughable,” Vitter wrote. “Any consideration of their petition to list the red swamp crawfish as injurious and to place it on the FWS list of injurious wildlife should immediately cease.”

Twenty-five senators wrote a letter to leadership of both parties in the Senate and House urging lawmakers to readopt "Buy America" provisions previously in the Water Resources Development Act passed by the Senate in September (see 1609150071), Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., said (here). Lawmakers stripped provisions requiring the use of U.S. iron and steel for U.S. water infrastructure projects from the compromise version of the Water Resources Development Act, after the House passed a different version later that month (see 1609300049). The Senate bill, S. 2848 (here), would obligate purchases through the federal-state Drinking Water State Revolving Fund to procure iron and steel made in the U.S. for water infrastructure projects. “Without domestic content requirements, foreign companies will reap the advantages of U.S. taxpayer spending at the expense of taxpaying U.S. iron and steel producers and workers across the country,” the letter says. “An opportunity to support and grow U.S. manufacturers will be squandered.”

The House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee voted to elect Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., announced Dec. 2 (here). Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, commended the pick of the new ranking member, saying that the two have collaborated for years to improve the lives of Americans. The House Democratic Caucus still must approve Neal's nomination before he assumes leadership, Pelosi said.

The Senate on Dec. 1 unanimously voted to pass H.R. 6297, sending the Iran Sanctions Extension Act (here) to President Barack Obama for final consideration. The bill would reauthorize Iran sanctions rolled back by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which are set to expire at the end of this year, and would ensure that the U.S. could bring back sanctions on Iran if the nation breaks its JCPOA obligations. “The House and the Senate’s broad, bipartisan vote to extend the Iran Sanctions Act demonstrates that the United States Congress is serious about reserving the right to credibly snapback sanctions on Iran should it violate the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action," Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Ben Cardin, D-Md., said in a statement (here). "These are the very sanctions that brought Iran to the negotiating table, and their extension is a key element in holding Iran accountable." Cardin said he looks forward to working with Republicans in 2017 on legislation that would strengthen congressional oversight of the JCPOA.

House Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sandy Levin, D-Mich., on Nov. 29 announced he will not seek re-election as the top Democrat on the trade policy-writing committee (here). Levin said his decision was based on allowing younger House members to assume leadership positions and the greater freedom he believes he will have to focus on healthcare and trade outside of such a position. Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, commended Levin’s service on the committee since 1987, and said he looks forward to working with him on important issues in the future. “Ranking Member Levin is a friend and a dedicated public servant who has spent years fighting for Americans of all walks of life,” Brady said. “He is an institution on the Ways and Means Committee.”

The U.S. lumber industry affected by unfairly priced imports of wood products from Canada and China deserves full attention from the executive branch, Senate Finance Ranking Member Ron Wyden said in a statement (here). The Committee Overseeing Action for Lumber International Trade Investigations or Negotiations on Nov. 25 filed a petition with Commerce and the International Trade Commission requesting antidumping and countervailing duties on softwood from Canada (see 1611250036). A moratorium on new AD/CVD petitions from the nation ended in October, one year after the 2006 Softwood Lumber Agreement’s expiration (see 1610120020). The Coalition for Fair Trade in Hardwood Plywood on Nov. 17 filed a petition with Commerce and the ITC requesting new AD and CV duties on hardwood plywood from China (see 1611180039). “Sawmill workers and communities devastated by unfairly traded softwood lumber demand full enforcement of U.S. trade laws and nothing less,” Wyden said in a statement. “American workers and forestry communities need relief from unfair trade and they need it now, on everything from today’s softwood lumber case to the recent case filed against Chinese producers of hardwood plywood.” The U.S. and Canada continue to discuss the effect of Canadian government softwood policies on the U.S. market, including the possibility of a new Softwood Lumber Agreement.

A coalition of 25 businesses sent a letter (here) to the four top appropriators across the House and Senate urging them to retain previously introduced provisions to expand CBP preclearance facilities at land, marine, air and rail ports of departure in Canada, in the final fiscal 2017 appropriations package. In the Nov. 18 letter, the associations representing “millions of businesses” called on Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran, R-Miss., Ranking Member Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky., and Ranking Member Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., to work to ensure inclusion of the preclearance provisions outlined in Senate appropriators’ pending fiscal 2017 Department of Homeland Security spending bill in any final funding legislation.