House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Dave Reichert, R-Wash., won’t seek re-election in November 2018, his office said Sept. 6 in a news release.
The House Homeland Security Committee on Sept. 7 will mark up H.R. 3551, a bill to reauthorize the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, the committee announced. Rep. Martha McSally, R-Ariz, introduced the bill in July (see 1707310051). The committee will also mark up H.R. 2142, the International Narcotics Trafficking Emergency Response by Detecting Incoming Contraband with Technology (INTERDICT) Act, a bill to expand the use of chemical screening devices to detect narcotics arriving at U.S. ports shipped through international mail and express carriers.
House Financial Services Committee ranking member Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and House Financial Services Monetary Policy and Trade Subcommittee ranking member Gwen Moore, D-Wis., urged the Securities and Exchange Commission Aug. 28 to reverse an April decision to defer enforcement of its conflict minerals reporting requirement (see 1704100023). In a letter to SEC Chairman Walter Clayton released Aug. 29, the congresswomen pressed the SEC to immediately announce it will enforce Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street and Consumer Protection Act, which mandated the reporting. Waters and Moore accused then-Acting SEC Chairman Michael Piwowar of misinterpreting the court’s decision. They argued it is inappropriate for the SEC to use the court’s decision as a basis for their “position of non-enforcement of the due diligence reporting requirement.” The lawmakers added that the court’s final judgment held only that the SEC couldn’t enforce the rule’s requirement for companies to disclose to the SEC and report on their website a descriptor that products have “not been found to be ‘DRC conflict free,’” and that such subject companies should still be required to follow other requirements of Form SD 1.01(c). In addition to the descriptor requirement, that section of the form requires companies to conduct due diligence on a mineral’s source and chain of custody, get an audit of the due diligence, and include a Conflict Minerals Report as an exhibit to those forms. The SEC didn’t comment.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., on Aug. 25 announced the BuyAmerican.gov Act, which would direct the General Services Administration to create a website where the public can view every “Buy American” waiver that federal agencies employ to “skirt” domestic procurement requirements, Murphy’s office said. The website would also list the contact information for contracting agencies. “For years, the government has operated in secrecy to improperly ignore rules that they must purchase American-made goods,” Murphy said in a statement. “Every single time a federal agency sends a contract overseas, it means fewer jobs here at home.” The bill would also require agencies to report on the implementation of and compliance with “Buy American” laws, Murphy’s office said.
Eight Democratic senators on Aug. 22 urged the Food and Drug Administration to ban the sale of menthol cigarettes in the U.S. A letter to FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb led by Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., cites an FDA scientific assessment and “numerous independent studies” indicating that menthol cigarettes are linked with increased nicotine dependence in young smokers and make it more difficult to quit smoking. A 2011 FDA report found that removal of menthol from cigarettes would benefit public health, the letter says. While the agency issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking in 2013, no action has yet been taken. The FDA recently indicated it will issue another ANPRM on the role of flavors, including menthol, in “attracting youth smokers,” but it’s unclear what benefits another notice would produce, given the hitherto significant public comment and data the FDA has received on menthol, the senators wrote. The letter also asked FDA to tell them, by the close of business Sept. 18, the steps it has taken to address the risk of menthol in cigarettes since the 2013 ANPRM, the factors contributing to FDA’s “delay” in finalizing action to remove menthol from cigarettes, and a timeline for FDA finalizing regulations to address the risk of menthol in cigarettes.
Five Oregon Democratic lawmakers on Aug. 17 nudged the International Trade Commission to find injury to domestic industry based on an April Suniva petition to raise tariffs and set minimum prices for solar module imports. A letter from Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden, and Reps. Suzanne Bonamici, Earl Blumenauer, Kurt Schrader and Peter DeFazio to ITC Chairwoman Rhonda Schmidtlein follows an Aug. 11 letter to Schmidtlein urging a rejection of the petition (see 1708140025). “A global surge of imports has jeopardized the survival of the high-tech U.S. solar manufacturing industry, and we believe that the evidence presented, including with respect to producers in our state, supports a positive finding of injury.” Over 30 U.S. solar manufacturers have closed since 2010 because of global overcapacity and imports from countries including China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and others, despite two successful U.S. antidumping and countervailing duty cases (see 1707240047), the lawmakers said.
A bipartisan group of 16 senators and 53 House lawmakers urged the International Trade Commission Aug. 11 to reject an April Suniva petition to impose “high” tariffs and “high” minimum prices for solar module imports. If the trade case significantly raises solar prices, recent growth in solar investments, installations and jobs could be at risk, according to the senators' letter to ITC Chairwoman Rhonda Schmidtlein, led by Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C. Reps. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., Mike Thompson, D-Calif., Pat Meehan, R-Pa., and Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., led the House letter. “As U.S. Senators representing states that have a growing solar industry, we write to express our deep concern with the pending Section 201 global safeguard case,” the officials wrote. Suniva’s petition seeks four years of duties on solar cells starting at $0.40 per watt, as well as a minimum price for solar modules starting at $0.78 per watt (see 1704260045).
Four Republican senators cautioned President Donald Trump in an Aug. 10 letter against blocking Venezuelan crude oil imports, which the officials said could cede U.S. economic benefits to China and/or Russia. “Blockading imports could inflict great harm on this industry and burden U.S. taxpayers with the cost,” wrote Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, John Cornyn of Texas, and Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker of Mississippi. “It is clear that there is a market outside of the U.S. to receive the Venezuelan oil. Without cooperation by the international community, including Russia and China, the U.S. energy industry and American citizens will bear the economic consequences of the sanctions.” The senators commended the Trump administration for targeted sanctions against the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (see 1708090045 and 1708080001), who has been widely accused of administering sham parliamentary elections to consolidate his power. Broad unilateral sanctions could drive the Maduro regime into “further disarray” and prompt Venezuela to shift some commerce with the U.S. to Russia and China, the senators wrote. “We urge a coordinated, multi-lateral approach that deprives the Maduro regime of all funding options, rather than simply closing the door to the United States’ market.”
The International Trade Commission sent its final report on miscellaneous tariff bill (MTB) petitions to Congress on Aug. 8, the ITC said. In the report sent to the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees, the ITC classified 1,825 petitions as meeting MTB statutory requirements with or without modification, 54 petitions as not containing information required by the statute or that weren’t filed by a likely beneficiary, and 645 petitions as not recommended for inclusion in an MTB. The largest product categories were chemicals, accounting for 1,464 petitions; machinery and equipment, accounting for 457 petitions; and textiles, apparel and footwear, accounting for 456 petitions, the ITC said.
While the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act’s elimination of the “consumptive demand” loophole for child and forced labor imports has helped slow the flow of such goods, "the Chinese government continues to use forced labor to produce exports destined for the United States, in violation of U.S. law and bilateral trade agreements," according to a report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. Visibility within China remains an issue, it said. No ICE agents have been allowed to make site visits in China since 2009 and there's indication "forced labor continues to occur at these sites but under a different penal framework," the report says.