The advocacy group Public Citizen is urging constituents to pressure Senate lawmakers to prohibit funding for trade negotiations that undermine the Buy American Act, a decades-old law that requires the U.S. government to favor domestic industry for procurement purposes. The House passed on June 2 the Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS), and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for 2015, HR-4660 (here), which includes an amendment to bar such negotiations. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., offered the amendment (see 14060202).
The House Appropriations Committee unveiled on June 9 fiscal year 2015 Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies appropriations legislation that would direct $1.1 billion to the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund in order to advance U.S. “export ability,” the committee said in a press release. The draft bill will be considered in subcommittee on June 10. The bill funds total navigation projects and studies at $2.3 billion, the committee said. President Barack Obama is soon expected to sign into law the Water Resources Reform and Development Act, legislation that would require full use of the trust fund for harbor maintenance and dredging by 2025, with annual increases in use over the next 10 years (see 14052313).
The House will continue to pursue passage of appropriations bills, Highway Trust Fund legislation and a number of other legislative priorities, but apparently won't advance long-awaited trade legislation as part of the June agenda, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., told the House Republican caucus in a June 6 memo. Trade bills such as Trade Promotion Authority, trade preference program renewals and Export-Import Bank renewal were absent from Cantor's agenda. The full House will likely consider three more appropriations bills in June, including agriculture and transportation legislation, the memo said. The House Appropriations Committee advanced both the agriculture and transportation bills in recent days and weeks. Cantor chided the Senate for failing to consider any appropriations bills this legislative calendar year, but praised the House for moving faster on appropriations than the chamber has done in 40 years.
The International Trade Administration would report to the Senate Appropriations Committee on improving antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) investigations within 90 days after the fiscal year Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies appropriations bill is signed into law. The committee issued the directive, along with a number of trade-related reporting directives, as part of the report that accompanied the legislation’s release on June 6. The committee report also directs the Commerce Department to report to the committee on how the National Export Initiative NEXT will “affect the existing level of market-access and industry-based export assistance.”
New lobbyist registrations on trade-related issues include:
Recent trade-related bills introduced in Congress include:
The Senate Appropriations Committee approved Fiscal Year 2015 appropriations bills for Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies. The Committee advanced both bills subject to amendment. The committee has not yet released subsequent amendments. Subcommittees approved both pieces of legislation on June 3 without amendment (see 14060323).
The additional increase of 2,000 CBP officers through Fiscal Year 2015 (FY15) appropriations, as well as more agriculture inspection personnel, is imperative to sufficiently mitigate risks associated with plant pests and diseases, said National Treasury Employees Union Colleen Kelley in a June 4 press release. Congress provided DHS funds to hire 2,000 more CBP officers in FY14, and the White House proposed funds for 2,000 additional CBP officers on top of that for FY15 (see 14040301). House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security Chairwoman Candice Miller, R-Mich., prevented an amendment to fund 2,000 more CBP officers during a recent markup on CBP authorization legislation (see 14052101).
The Senate confirmed on June 4 Stefan Selig to be the next Commerce Department undersecretary for international trade. The position heads the International Trade Administration. The Senate Finance Committee approved Selig’s nomination on May 21, after a hearing on May 8 (see 14052201). As head of the International Trade Administration, Selig will play a central role in the implementation of the National Export Initiative NEXT, said Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker in a statement. Pritzker unveiled NEI NEXT in mid-May (see 14051324).
The House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee will hold on June 11 a hearing on U.S. agricultural trade expansion and the elimination of barriers to U.S. exports, Subcommittee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., announced on June 4. Japan and Canada, among other countries, maintain high tariffs and import quotas that prevent U.S. agriculture exports, said the subcommittee in a release. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative continues to negotiate with both countries over trade barrier removal in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (see 14060404). U.S. agriculture exporters also face increasing non-tariff trade barriers, such as unscientific sanitary and phytosanitary measures and geographical indications, the subcommittee said.