Hal Rogers, R-Ky., the chief House Republican appropriator, introduced a measure, HR-240 (here), in recent days to extend Department of Homeland Security funding past Feb. 27, the cutoff mark agreed to during the last appropriations fight. The bill would provide $10.7 billion for CBP through the end of fiscal year 2015, more than $100 million above FY14 funding levels, said the House Appropriations Committee (here). The House and Senate struck a deal in December to authorize fiscal year 2015 funding through September for all government agencies except those in DHS (see 1412170007). Many Republicans insisted on separate funding for DHS to contest President Barack Obama’s recent executive order on immigration. The legislation would give CBP enough money to fund 21,370 Border Patrol agents and 23,775 CBP officers, said the committee. Observers say Republicans may use the bill to obstruct funding for the immigration order, which bans deportations for certain illegal immigrants.

Passage of Trade Promotion Authority will "jumpstart" a U.S. trade agenda that has the potential to fuel American job growth, said Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, in a Jan. 8 statement following the Senate's ratification of his chairmanship (here). Many trade advocates eye the Trans-Pacific Partnership as central to that agenda. “We must act to tear down barriers to international trade and increase market access for American goods and services," said Hatch. "At the same time, we need to promote and enforce robust international trade rules, including strong intellectual property rights protections, so that our domestic innovators and job creators can reap the benefits of their competitive advantage and creativity." Lawmakers and industry representatives say Congress may move ahead on TPA in the coming weeks (see 1501070057).

Ways and Means Democrats tapped Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., to again serve as ranking member on the Trade Subcommittee. Reps. Richard Neal, D-Mass., Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., Ron Kind, D-Wis., Xaxier Becerra, D-Calif., Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., will also sit on the subcommittee for Democrats, the committee said. These appointments are recommendations, and the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee and the Democratic Caucus will still need to approve them.

Newly-minted House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said barriers to U.S. goods and services exports continue to hamper the U.S. economy, in publicizing a hearing scheduled for Jan. 13 (here). The hearing will focus on the broad strength of the U.S. economy and options for growth.

Democrats are still committed to tacking on a Buy America provision to Keystone XL legislation, and fears over a World Trade Organization dispute aren’t influencing the debate, said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., on Jan. 7. Alongside Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Stabenow recently called for an amendment to the Keystone bill that would require only U.S.-produced construction materials to be used in the project (see 1501050050). “From my perspective, if Canada wants to run a pipeline, and create all the risk associate with that through America, the oil should stay here; we should be using American steel and manufacturing and American jobs,” said Stabenow. Republicans in both chambers introduced measures to approve the pipeline in recent days, but the White House threatened a veto (here). The Senate legislation, S-1, has 60 sponsors, is likely short of a veto-proof majority. Foreign trade officials often criticized such provisions as protectionist.

The new chairmen of the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committees should move quickly to address expired or expiring trade programs, said the American Apparel and Footwear Association in a Jan. 7 letter to the lawmakers. The committee chairmen, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, "have an historic opportunity to expand US trade," the association said. The AAFA encouraged "immediate enactment of legislation to renew expired and expiring trade programs, such as the Generalized System of Preferences, the African Growth and Opportunity Act, and the Nicaragua Tariff Preference Level. The AGOA program is set to expire later this year, while GSP and the Nicaragua programs are already expired.

A Chamber of Commerce trade official hit back at congressional criticism of opaque Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations on Jan. 7, saying pressure from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and others to disclose the negotiating texts is “misguided” and dangerous. Going public with the texts will showcase U.S. strategy in trying to get the best agreement possible, and such a move may jeopardize the prospect of a final agreement, said the group's international trade expert John Murphy in a blog post (here). Sanders called on the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to release the text to his staff and chosen consultants, not to the general public (see 1501050019). “Disclosure of negotiating texts would risk giving foreign governments a roadmap to U.S. sensitivities and ‘red lines’ that could be used to our disadvantage,” said Murphy, echoing a common USTR argument that lawmakers are able to view the texts if they choose to do so. “It could produce a weaker agreement that isn’t in the public interest at all—at significant cost to American workers and companies.” Murphy called on Sanders to participate in the trade debate during consideration of Trade Promotion Authority. A TPA bill may be introduced in Congress by March, some observers say (see 1501040001).

President Barack Obama sent the nomination for Jeanne Davidson, a Justice Department lawyer, for a seat on the U.S. Court of International Trade to the Senate on Jan. 7 (here). Obama re-nominated Davidson because the Senate didn't act on her nomination before the 113th Congress came to a close (see 14090823).

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Democratic allies in the chamber plan to introduce an amendment to a Keystone XL pipeline bill that would force contractors to use U.S. materials in the project’s construction, Schumer said on Jan. 5 and later in a letter to Senate colleagues. American-made iron, steel and manufactured goods will have to be used in the pipeline’s construction, operations and maintenance, said the letter, also endorsed by Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.

Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich., will again chair the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security, said full committee chairman Mike McCaul, R-Texas, on Jan. 5. McCaul has not yet named the subcommittee members. Miller has chaired the subcommittee since 2011.