Lawmakers introduced the following trade-related bill since International Trade Today's last legislative update:
The Senate will vote to allow debate on the Iran Nuclear Review Act of 2015, S-625, when the chamber reconvenes on March 9, Senate Republican leadership said. The legislation would require congressional approval of any nuclear enrichment deal the U.S. brokers with Iran and other countries and would also put constraints on sanctions relief.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., vowed in a March 3 statement to put the Iranian Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015, S-615, on the chamber’s calendar in the coming days (here). Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Bob Menendez, D-N.J., introduced the legislation on Feb. 27. The bill would force the White House to release to Congress the text of a final nuclear agreement with Iran, along with other documentation, within five days of wrapping up talks, those lawmakers said in a statement (here). The measure would also give Congress more influence in lifting sanctions and monitoring compliance. Business and trade leaders often argue more sanctions legislation will hamper global commerce (see 1501200072). The U.S. and other countries face a deadline in March for progress in talks (see 1412090026).
Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and all other members of the Oregon congressional delegation should move to support Trade Promotion Authority “as soon as possible,” said several large companies with Oregon facilities, including Gap and BSA The Software Alliance, in a recent letter. TPA will allow U.S. negotiators to broker trade pacts that open global markets for U.S. goods and services, said the letter. “Congress needs to pass TPA soon, and we hope you will support it,” said the Feb. 18 letter.
The Senate Finance Committee’s failure to reach a bipartisan deal on trade continues to push back introduction of Trade Promotion Authority, but the Senate can still float a bill, debate it and send it over to the House by early April, said Jeff Schott, senior fellow with the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Schott discussed the issue during a March 3 conference call. Finance ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., recently criticized a Finance Committee hearing planned for Feb. 26, and committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, ultimately postponed it (see 1502250075).
Labor unions are united in opposing Trade Promotion Authority, also known as fast track, over concerns new trade deals will cut employment in the U.S., said leaders of dozens of unions in a March 2 letter to House and Senate members (here). “Fast-track is an undemocratic, unaccountable and completely unacceptable way to develop economic policies that affect us all,” said the letter, signed by the Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO and others. “America needs a new version of trade negotiating authority that brings the process out from behind closed doors and prioritizes making life better for people, instead of just making life easier for corporations. Working people have heard enough broken promises about the benefits of fast-track.” Unions and other trade critics criticize the Obama administration for negotiating in secret and sacrificing U.S. jobs in free trade agreements (see 1410270010). The AFL-CIO, along with other unions, will take to Capitol Hill on March 4 to lobby more than 120 lawmakers on TPA opposition, the AFL-CIO said in a separate release.
Senate Democrats prevented Republican leadership attempts to go to conference on Department of Homeland Security funding legislation, in a 47-43 vote late on March 2. Ten lawmakers, including three Democrats, didn't cast a vote. The House voted for conference to resolve difference between the Senate and House bills on Feb. 27, after the Senate last week approved HR-240 (here)(see 1503020016). Democrats amended that legislation to remove all immigration language, and then pledged to reject conference, instead calling only for a "clean" funding bill.
U.S. Trade Representative staffers only allowed Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and four other lawmakers, to view some Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiating text on Feb. 26, but the USTR staffers prohibited aides for those lawmakers to also participate in the viewing, said DeLauro in a letter to House colleagues on the following day. DeLauro went to view the text in a secure office on Capitol Hill after railing against TPP pharmaceutical provisions (see 1502270018).
The U.S. proposal for 12 years of biologic data exclusivity in the Trans-Pacific Partnership will hamper pharmaceutical research competition globally and raise prices for life-saving drugs, said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and a National Nurses United delegation to Capitol Hill at a press conference on Feb. 26. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, is a supporter of that exclusivity lifespan and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is also rallying behind that demand (see 14030520).
The House Ways and Means Committee championed the potential for the Trans-Pacific Partnership in strengthening U.S. agricultural exports and national security in two releases on Feb. 26 and 27. Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., recently called for Japan and Canada to concede more on agriculture market access in TPP or leave the talks (see 1502200019), but the committee touted the critical market access opportunity TPP will generate. “If we’re not expanding markets to sell American crops, dairy, and meat, we’re falling behind,” said the committee (here). “All the time, other nations are working to put in place trade agreements. If we’re not a part of that effort, agricultural exports from other countries will be cheaper, ours will be more expensive, and American farms and ranches will suffer.” In a separate release, the committee said TPP and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership will safeguard U.S. security because “deeper trade ties strengthen our national security and enhance U.S. leadership (here).”