The House of Representatives on Nov. 17 voted to pass the “Midnight Rules Relief Act,” which would allow Congress to disapprove of "midnight rules" -- regulations issued during the final 60 congressional legislative days during a president's term -- at a rate of several at a time, pursuant to the Congressional Review Act, rather than one by one as directed under current law. The legislation now goes to the Senate for consideration. President Barack Obama said he plans to veto the bill (see 1611160020).
The House of Representatives on Nov. 15 passed H.R. 5732, the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act (here), which would require the president to level sanctions on anyone who conducts business with transportation or telecom sectors controlled by the government of Syria, or with the government itself; provides aircraft or spare parts to Syria’s airlines, including financing; or supports Syria’s energy industry. Should the government of Syria engage in “meaningful negotiations” or if violence against civilians stops, the legislation would allow the president to suspend sanctions, according to the House Foreign Affairs Committee (here).
The House of Representatives on Nov. 15 voted to pass H.R. 6297, the Iran Sanctions Extension Act (here), which would reauthorize the primary Iran sanctions rolled back by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which are set to expire at the end of this year. The bill, which now heads to the Senate for consideration, would ensure that the U.S. could bring back sanctions on Iran if the nation breaks its JCPOA obligations. “If we let the clock run out on the Iran Sanctions Act, Congress will take away an important tool to keep Tehran in check,” said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., the bill’s sponsor (here). “And that, in turn, will only further jeopardize America’s national security.”
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, called for President-elect Donald Trump to follow through on his pledge to withdraw the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, overhaul the U.S. trade relationship with China and utilize countervailing duty trade cases to investigate foreign currency manipulation claimed by U.S. petitioners, in a Nov. 16 letter (here). Specifically, Brown urged Trump to endeavor to renegotiate China’s Accession Protocol to the World Trade Organization after the nation violated several WTO rules that also hurt U.S. jobs, to pursue WTO cases against unfair Chinese steel and aluminum trading practices, and to maintain the U.S.’s designation of China as a non-market economy for antidumping purposes.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. and all other House committee chairs on Nov. 15 sent a letter to government agencies urging them to not finalize any new regulations between now and the end of the Obama administration. “It’s now time to change the tide to get the economy moving,” McCarthy said during a press conference (here). The letter warns that lawmakers will scrutinize any regulations issued before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, adding that Congress could overturn them pursuant to the Congressional Review Act (CRA) “if appropriate.” By refraining from “acting with undue haste,” the administration can ensure that agency staff will fully assess the costs and benefits of rules and can decrease the likelihood of unintended consequences harming consumers and businesses, the lawmakers said.
Lawmakers recently introduced the following trade-related bills:
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, on Nov. 14 called for president-elect Donald Trump to make good on his campaign promise to renegotiate NAFTA within his first 100 days in office and plans to “hold Trump accountable” for following through, he said in a statement (here). An amended NAFTA should erase investor-state dispute settlement, rewrite automobile and steel rules of origin, and make “sure all companies and countries are on a level playing-field so corporations don’t have incentive to ship jobs to Mexico in order to pay workers less,” Brown said in a statement. Brown opposed NAFTA in 1993 and the Central American Free Trade Agreement in 2005.
The Senate won’t bring up Trans-Pacific Partnership implementation legislation for a vote this year, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said during a Nov. 9 press conference, according to a transcript provided by a McConnell spokesperson. Any decisions on the deal and future trade agreements will depend on how president-elect Donald Trump will exercise presidential Trade Promotion Authority, passed in 2015, he said. "It's certainly not going to be brought up this year," though Trump has the ability to improve the TPP through TPA, he added. A State Department spokesperson said the TPP remains one of several priorities on which the Obama administration will try to make as much progress as possible before inauguration day in January.
House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, on Nov. 8 said during a CNBC interview (here) that it will be difficult to pass Trans-Pacific Partnership implementing legislation during the upcoming lame-duck session of Congress, as both presidential candidates remained opposed to the deal just before voters elected Donald Trump president. "We haven’t even seen the implementing legislation,” he said. “There are so many provisions that the Obama White House put in there that have nothing to do with opening up trade. We should be a great trading nation, but I’m not sure TPP makes the cut." Several lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. (see 1609300035), House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. (see 1609090013), and Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. (see 1609220036), have expressed doubts that Congress will ratify TPP during the final congressional session of President Barack Obama's tenure.
Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., plan to introduce the Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Act, which would require the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which includes the Food and Drug Administration, to determine whether such devices require a 510(k) premarket submission, the senators announced Nov. 7 (here). The 510(k) submissions are required for companies that want to market an FDA Class I, II or III device not subject to a formal premarket approval, in order to demonstrate that products are safe and effective, and substantially equivalent to a legally marketed device.