Lawmakers recently introduced the following trade-related bills:
The Senate Homeland Security Committee on Oct. 4 advanced legislation that would give the Department of Homeland Security more flexibility in hiring CBP officers to work at rural locations, the committee announced. DHS’s new employment tools for CBP officers would sunset five years after enactment, and include more flexibility to give bonuses -- of up to 50 percent or 100 percent of an employee’s salary in certain circumstances -- to CBP officers appointed or moved to fill positions in remote areas. The legislation would require within two years of enactment a DHS inspector general review to determine whether use of the employment flexibilities was helping DHS meet hiring and retention needs in rural and remote areas. The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) voiced its support for the legislation in a statement.
Domestic textile groups called for bipartisan backing from the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees to support their effort to eliminate the tariff preference level (TPL) system for textiles in NAFTA. In an Oct. 2 letter to the chairmen and ranking members of both committees, the groups note that recent reports have indicated that a removal of NAFTA’s TPLs “was discussed” during the most recent negotiation round in Ottawa. “TPLs are a blanket exception to the yarn-forward origin rule that diverts critical benefits under the agreement to non-NAFTA parties, namely China,” the leaders wrote. “This origin loophole allows product to be shipped duty free among the NAFTA parties, although none of the textile components are required to originate within the NAFTA region.”
The Senate Agriculture Committee on Oct. 2 voted to advance the nomination of Ted McKinney to be under secretary of agriculture for trade and foreign agricultural affairs, the committee announced. “With today’s vote, the Senate Agriculture Committee continues to do our part to vet and swiftly advance USDA nominees,” committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and ranking member Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said in a statement. “We will continue to work together to get Secretary [Sonny] Perdue a qualified, functioning team at USDA. Our farmers and ranchers are counting on us.” During his Sept. 19 confirmation hearing, McKinney said dismantling foreign sanitary and phytosanitary trade barriers would be his top priority if confirmed (see 1709190020). The office of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., didn’t comment on when the full Senate might vote on whether to confirm McKinney.
Bill Would Require USDA Regulations That Could Expand Organic Certification to Include More Products
Rep. John Faso, R-N.Y., introduced legislation Sept. 28 that would require the Agriculture Department to issue regulations within one year of enactment to limit “the type of operations” excluded from National Organic Program certification. The bill would require annual reports from USDA to Congress starting March 1, 2019, describing National Organic Program activities related to all “domestic and overseas” investigations and compliance actions taken during the preceding year. Further, H.R. 3871 would authorize $5 million from the Commodity Credit Corporation account to support modernization of trade and transaction certificates “to ensure full traceability without unduly hindering trade, such as through an electronic trade document exchange system,” according to the bill text. Additionally, the bill would give the agriculture secretary access to available data from cross-border documentation systems, including ACE, administered by other federal agencies, in organics certification investigations.
The Senate Finance Committee at 10 a.m. on Oct. 5 will hold a hearing to consider the nominations of Jeffrey Gerrish to be deputy U.S. trade representative for Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and industrial competitiveness; Gregory Doud to be chief agricultural negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative; and Jason Kearns to be a commissioner on the International Trade Commission, the committee announced. President Donald Trump nominated Gerrish on June 15 (see 1706160014), Doud on June 19 (see 1706200027) and Kearns on June 29 (see 1706290057).
Lawmakers recently introduced the following trade-related bills:
Reps. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., and Terri Sewell, D-Ala., on Sept. 27 introduced a bill to reauthorize the U.S.-Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA) until 2030, Sewell’s office announced. The trade preferences package is set to expire on Sept. 30, 2020. CBTPA has allowed for duty- and quota-free imports of goods from certain Caribbean countries made with U.S. yarns, fabrics and threads since 2000. Countries eligible for CBTPA include Barbados, Belize, Curacao, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission is planning to take steps toward a vote in coming months on whether to establish a voluntary safety standard for portable generators, Acting CPSC Chairman Ann Marie Buerkle said during her Sept. 27 Senate Commerce Committee confirmation hearing to be permanent chairman.. The agency proposed the new standards last year (see 1611180035). Committee ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., pressed her to work to make a mandatory standard for portable generators, citing deaths reportedly caused by carbon monoxide from portable generators during Hurricane Irma.
CBP "is continuing to work towards" Mutual Recognition Arrangements (MRAs) or "similar recognition" with several countries, including China and India, CBP Office of Field Operations Executive Assistant Commissioner Todd Owen said in written testimony for the House Homeland Security Transportation and Protective Security Subcommittee. The subcommittee held a Sept. 26 hearing on aviation security. Other countries mentioned were Brazil, Peru, Uruguay. MRAs allow for consideration of the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism and Authorized Economic Partnership programs at the borders.