House appropriations officials should prioritize CBP resources in Department of Homeland Security appropriations legislation for fiscal year 2015 in order to enable personnel levels to meet the demands of improved and expanded U.S. ports of entry, said Reps. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., and Ron Barber, D-Ariz., in a letter currently circulating in the House. U.S.-Mexico trade generated $494 billion in commerce in 2012, the letter notes. The increased CBP resources will also combat human trafficking and help prevent illicit materials from entering the U.S., said the letter, which will continue to circulate for more signatures through close of business on Feb. 27.

President Barack Obama appears to have caved to Democratic resistance on Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., in a Feb. 25 Reuters op-ed. "The president has given into members of his party who oppose granting fast-track authority because the trade deals might alienate friendly special-interest groups in an election year," said Thune. The legislation would allow the U.S. to approve pending Trans-Pacific Partnership and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership pacts, said Thune. “After five years of economic stagnation and high unemployment, we should be seizing every opportunity to create more jobs and get the economy growing at a faster pace,” said Thune. “We could do that today in both the Senate and House by passing legislation giving the president the authority to wrap up the two trade pacts — all without adding a dime to the deficit.” TPA is the “best way” to break down foreign trade barriers for U.S. products and services, said Thune.

New lobbyist registrations on trade-related issues include:

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations should not be completed until Japan agrees to eliminate tariff and non-tariff barriers on U.S. agricultural exports, said a bipartisan group of 15 senators in a Feb. 21 letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman. Japanese intransigence will encourage other TPP partners to refuse to make concessions, and could even jeopardize U.S. objectives in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, said the senators, led by Michael Bennett, D-Colo., and Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.

Following a request for signatures in early February, 120 House lawmakers endorsed a letter calling for strict environmental rules in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and submitted the letter to U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman on Feb. 20. Reps. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., and Peter Defazio, D-Ore., initially circulated the letter (see 14020426). The letter insists the TPP agreement builds on a May 10, 2007 congressional accord (here) that requires adherence to a host of multilateral environment agreements.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., declined to mention trade as a priority issue in his Feb. 14 statement following his formal takeover as chairman. “In the early days of my Chairmanship I intend to meet with my colleagues to find the right paths forward on reforming the tax code, protecting the Medicare guarantee while lowering costs, improving America’s ability to compete overseas and ensuring that Americans continue to have access to quality, affordable health care,” said Wyden. Former Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., departed the Senate to take on the China ambassador role (see 14021111). Trade Promotion Authority faces stiff resistance among Democrats in both chambers of Congress (see 14021322).

Foreign trade partners have “little incentive” to negotiate with U.S. officials until Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) fast-track voting mechanisms are in place, said a Feb. 18 Chicago Tribune editorial. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., recently sided with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in opposing the legislation, according to the Tribune (here). The fast-track mechanisms largely exclude Congress from the table by preventing the amendment process, said Durbin. “But that argument holds no water. In deciding what to demand in a trade deal, the administration will have to keep in mind what Congress wants -- and what it won't tolerate. Members and their concerns figure prominently in decisions about how to shape a deal. The White House knows that if it ignores the concerns of Congress, any pact would be dead on arrival,” said the editorial. “The real reason for blocking TPA is that doing so allows lawmakers to kill the talks without seeming to reject trade outright. A lot of Democrats in Congress are hostile to the idea of free trade, which organized labor has long resisted. A battle to get the bill through Congress would divide the party and present risks at the polls this November.”

Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker should use her authority under the Export Administration Act to temporarily restrict propane exports in order to boost domestic supply amid rising propane demand and costs, said Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., in a Feb. 14 letter to Pritzker. New propane production over recent years is being shipped to more profitable foreign markets, instead of serving domestic demand, said the letter. “Average residential propane prices have jumped 60 percent in the past year, causing a significant strain on middle class and low-income families across the country,” said the lawmakers. “Demand for propane has risen significantly in recent months, driven by crop dying activities in the Midwest and the current cold weather gripping much of the country. However, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, propane production is at an all-time high and domestic production far exceeds domestic demand.”

Support for trade promotion authority (TPA) is decreasing among members of Congress, the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations said in a Feb. 13 release that accompanied a video denouncing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The 2014 version of the TPA, also known as fast-track, was introduced in both chambers in January as HR-3830 and S-1900. “Yesterday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was the latest prominent elected official to say no to Fast Track, no to H.R. 3830/S. 1900,” said the release. “Thanks to the efforts of tens of thousands of people -- including people like you -- more and more congressional leaders, including Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, are joining the chorus of voices standing up for us -- America’s 99% -- and saying that Fast Track is wrong.”

The Obama Administration’s failure to fix endemic problems in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), including significant domestic job loss, skyrocketing income inequality, agricultural instability and health and environment damage, is fueling congressional opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), said Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch in a report released on Feb. 13. “The TPP represents a stunning flip-flop that threatens to replicate the very NAFTA-style damage that Obama criticized on the campaign trail,” said the report. “But the administration and corporate proponents of the TPP will have difficulty getting the controversial deal through Congress. Twenty years of NAFTA’s damage has contributed to a groundswell of TPP opposition among the U.S. public and policymakers.”