Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., is jumping on as the fourth co-sponsor of a bill that would create a new U.S. government sanctions category to designate foreign governments that fail to stop terrorist financing, Peters said Aug. 15 (here). S. 3125, the Stop Terrorist Operational Resources and Money Act, would give the president a new option to label a country a “Jurisdiction of Terrorism Financing Concern” if U.S. government measures to stop terrorist financing don’t succeed. The legislation would also allow the president to impose restrictions on or enter into an agreement with a country that has received the designation, to help the country finance its counterterrorism efforts, Peters’ office said. Introduced in June by Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., the bill’s other co-sponsors include Sens. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.
A bill that would exempt certain echinoderms and mollusks from export licensing requirements wouldn’t cost or earn the U.S. government any significant finances, the Congressional Budget Office said Aug. 12 in a cost estimate (here). CBO said enactment of the bill, H.R. 4245, which was introduced in December by Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine (see 1512150006), would decrease licensing and inspection fees by less than $500,000 per year, but that a similar cut in direct spending would offset the revenue loss. “On net, CBO estimates that enacting the bill would have a negligible effect on the federal budget,” the cost estimate says.
Lawmakers across the political spectrum spoke out against a lame-duck congressional vote on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, after President Barack Obama Aug. 12 started the Capitol Hill review process for the deal by sending a draft Statement of Administrative Action to lawmakers (see 1608120052 and 1608120020). Sens. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., and Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., each released a statement critical of TPP on Aug. 12. “In my view, it is now time for the leadership of the Democratic Party in the Senate and the House to join Secretary Clinton and go on the record in opposition to holding a vote on this job-killing trade deal during the lame-duck session of Congress and beyond,” Sanders said in a statement (here). “We need to defeat this treaty and fundamentally rewrite our trade policies to create good-paying jobs in this country and throughout the world and end the race to the bottom. I will continue to do everything I can to make sure that the TPP does not get implemented.” Noting his disappointment with Obama’s continued push for TPP ratification, Sanders said “every trade union” in the U.S. and “virtually the entire grassroots base of the Democratic Party” opposes the agreement.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., on Aug. 10 announced legislation geared toward boosting U.S. exports that would provide federal economic development grants to manufacturing-intensive regions across the country (here). Under the legislation, for a region to earn a beneficial “manufacturing communities” designation, it would need to form a coalition including local and state economic development officials, local government officials, manufacturers, labor unions, and/or higher education or other training providers; the bill directs that the partnering entities demonstrate to the federal government a sound strategy for investment in export promotion, supply chain support and advanced research, among other things. Communities that meet all the criteria will get preferred consideration when applying for up to $1.3 billion in currently available federal economic development funding for manufacturing, Gillibrand’s office said.
The offices of Reps. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., and Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., plan to urge U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman to hold the line in ensuring Canadian softwood lumber imports are capped at a bilaterally agreed-upon U.S. market share, according to a letter the lawmakers plan to send to Froman next month and obtained by International Trade Today. DeFazio and Zinke said ongoing Softwood Lumber Agreement (SLA) negotiations should secure fair competition for U.S. industry, even if negotiations run until October, when a one-year reprieve on trade cases involving Canadian softwood imports expires. “Current Canadian trade practices harm U.S. producers,” the lawmakers said in a notice seeking additional supporters. “Market downcycles accelerate and deepen for U.S. producers while Canadian producers are protected from normal market fluctuations. The resulting low lumber prices force U.S. mill closures -- in effect, Canada exports its mill closures to the United States. Until Canada changes its timber system to operate on open and competitive terms, border measures to offset the Canadian market distortions remain critical to U.S. manufacturers, landholders, and communities.” The government of Canada pays stumpage to domestic companies for exported lumber, which the U.S. executive branch considers to be subsidies.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called on the Army Corps of Engineers to approve dredging of the Ogdensburg Harbor, which he said would reduce shipping costs and open new business opportunities (here). The Corps is nearing completion of its now five-year-old feasibility study for harbor and port improvements at Ogdensburg, which sits along the St. Lawrence Seaway/Canadian border in northern New York and serves as a port of call. Deepening the harbor to 27 feet is estimated to cost $7.3 million, $2.7 million of which would come from the federal government if the Corps signs off on the project. The port was last dredged in 1984, and its main dock can’t be accessed by Seaway vessels, causing congestion, higher shipment handling costs and lost business opportunities, Schumer said. Dredging, along with planned dock upgrades and storage expansion, would allow the port to handle two or more vessels -- instead of one vessel -- at the same time. Failure to deepen the port, which brings in over $4 million in yearly government revenue, would yield continued losses of channel depth and increase transportation costs by up to $79,000 annually, or potentially prompt the closure of port commercial traffic, Schumer said.
Nine senators urged Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to engage the governments of South Africa and South Korea over requirements that poultry exported from the U.S. be hatched and raised in this country. The Agriculture Department has sufficiently worked to prevent and respond to the presence of avian flu since the first positive test of 2015, which sparked overseas health concerns, the lawmakers said. In a letter to Vilsack (here), five Republicans and four Democrats said South African and South Korean import requirements that contain the phrase, “must be hatched and raised in the United States” is significantly disrupting trade, while no scientific evidence points to avian flu's existence in U.S. poultry products. The South African and South Korean restrictions set negative precedents for future trade negotiations with other nations, the senators said.
The White House needs to speed up and intensify efforts to address Republican lawmakers’ concerns about the Trans-Pacific Partnership to clear the way for a congressional implementation vote to be held by the end of this year, a House Ways and Means Committee Republican spokesperson said. “While the White House has made progress on addressing some members' concerns, [Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas], believes they have more work to do and they need to pick up the pace on resolving outstanding issues,” the spokesperson said. “If that work is done, Chairman Brady hopes Congress can consider the agreement this year.” The White House on July 29 indicated it is pushing for a vote on TPP implementation legislation before the end of 2016, despite a challenging political environment (see 1608010018). House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said he doesn’t believe a vote on TPP implementation legislation will happen this year.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., urged Congress to pass legislation that would ban 22 synthetic substances, including their imports, citing concerns with illicit forms of fentanyl and the rise of designer drugs (here). The bill (here), co-sponsored by Schumer, would help crack down on chemists who cook synthetics in China and other places, he said. If passed, substances listed in the bill text would be subject to regulations under the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act, which prohibits imports of Schedule I and II drugs. Schumer predicted passage of the bill after Congress returns from its August recess. “These dangerous, often deadly substances, leave our emergency rooms bulging with stupefied users with zombie-like symptoms -- and this is a sign of what’s to come if Congress doesn’t act quickly,” Schumer said in a statement. “We need a federal hammer to nail these toxic concoctions of synthetic drugs before things get worse. This federal legislation will ban 22 synthetic drugs, including powerful forms of fentanyl, crippling the unlawful chemists cooking up these drugs and the cartels that push them to our local stores and streets.” Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, on July 14 introduced S. 3224, the Dangerous Synthetic Drug Control Act of 2016, which is pending in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
A group of 27 trade associations on July 26 expressed support for a bill that would boost U.S. aid for expanding trade in developing countries, including a five-year interagency pilot program to help those nations implement trade facilitation reforms and the World Trade Organization Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA). The Global Gateways Trade Capacity Act, which passed committee June 23 (see 1606270034), lays out a strategy much more focused than previous capacity building approaches for strengthening developing countries to bust the most restrictive trade barriers that also hurt U.S. businesses, the groups said in a letter to Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Ranking Member Ben Cardin, D-Md.