A House Energy and Commerce Committee discussion draft of a bill to overhaul the Toxic Substances Control Act marks a “good start” toward finding legislation “that truly can become law,” said the ranking member of the committee’s Environment and Economy subcommittee, Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., at an April 14 hearing. The legislation must still do more, however, to protect public health and keep state sovereignty over chemical regulation, said Tonko.
The United Steelworkers and AFL-CIO will be leading a protest on April 15 at the U.S. Capitol to pressure the defeat of Trade Promotion Authority. USW President Leo Gerard and AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Tefere Gebre will speak alongside a number of union leaders and hundreds of workers, USW said in a statement (here). Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Al Franken, D-Minn., will be in attendance, and Reps. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and Keith Ellison, D-Minn., will also deliver remarks.
Legislation to require congressional approval of a final Iran nuclear deal could jeopardize “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee should push back a rapidly-approaching markup on the bill, said Senate Democrat Barbara Boxer, Calif., in an April 8 letter to Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., the lead sponsor of the bill. Corker plans to mark up the legislation, S-615, on April 14 (see 1504020058).
Increased trade through the Trans-Pacific Partnership would further weaken the Food and Drug Administration’s regulation of seafood imports, said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., in a March 9 letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman (here). DeLauro demanded an explanation from USTR on how the Obama administration aims to make sure FDA will have enough funding to protect Americans from harmful seafood imports, particularly from Vietnam and Malaysia. Those countries fall far short of U.S. regulatory standards, and the FDA has turned back hundreds of Vietnamese and Malaysian seafood shipments over the past year, said DeLauro.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., rejected Senate legislation to require congressional approval of a final Iran nuclear deal in an April 8 statement, saying the bill "undermines" the talks between the U.S., Iran and several other world powers. "These negotiations must be allowed to proceed unencumbered," said Pelosi in the statement (here). The "legislation undermines these international negotiations and represents an unnecessary hurdle to achieving a strong, final agreement."
Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., the former Foreign Relations Committee ranking member, voiced opposition on April 9 to reports that the Obama administration aims to remove Cuba from the State Department’s list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, saying the removal would be “another significant misstep in a misguided policy” on Cuba. State hasn’t yet indicated publicly it intends to remove Cuba from the list, although the agency is reportedly headed in that direction (here). In his statement (here), Menendez listed several instances of Cuban government involvement in terrorism activities. Cuba is one of four countries on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list (here), which authorizes U.S. sanctions. Menendez stepped down as Foreign Relations ranking member following a Justice Department indictment against him over corruption allegations (see 1504020058).
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, re-introduced the Leveling the Playing Field Act, S-891 (here), in late March. Brown originally introduced the bill, which aims to strengthen the Commerce Department's antidumping enforcement, in December 2014. The legislation would make it easier for the Commerce Department to apply “adverse facts available” in antidumping investigations. The measure would also require importers to pay cash deposits, instead of bonds, during new shipper reviews, and would penalize importers for failing to provide certificates, such as those pertaining to country of origin. Brown said recently he intends to tack the bill onto Trade Promotion Authority, despite his likely opposition to that legislation (see 1503100016). He introduced the enforcement bill before Congress departed for recess. Both chambers of Congress will reconvene on April 13.
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., pushed hard for Trade Promotion Authority and the Trans-Pacific Partnership in an April 6 statement (here), but blamed Democrats for hindering legislative progress. Many trade supporters view TPA as critical for locking down TPP implementation legislation. “Republicans and the White House have found common ground on trade policy,” said Wicker in the statement. Many Senate Democrats have voiced skepticism and criticism of the Obama administration's trade agenda (see 1501270028). Wicker pointed to the boost in export-related jobs free trade agreements provide the American economy. Congress should also work to ensure the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund is used to strengthen U.S. ports, namely through increased dredging. Wicker is not a member of the Senate Finance Committee, the chamber’s committee of jurisdiction for trade, but he does sit on the Environment and Public Works Committee, which oversees port infrastructure.
CBP should boost its staff levels at several California and Washington State ports to tackle ongoing commercial backlogs following slowdowns and a number of shutdowns over recent months, said four Democratic senators in an April 2 letter to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson (here). Sens. Sherrod Brown, Ohio, Maria Cantwell, Wash., Richard Blumenthal, Conn., and Tammy Baldwin, Wis., signed the letter. “According to port officials in Los Angeles and Long Beach, dozens of ships with thousands of cargo containers are waiting to be unloaded, and clearing them will take three months,” said the letter, which also urged staff increases at the Seattle port. “Additional CBP personnel at these ports will increase the number of inspections that can be completed and speed up the processing of the containers.” The lawmakers applauded the 2,000 additional CBP officers that President Barack Obama paved the way for in his 2016 budget. CBP should also collaborate with Congress to prioritize port improvements, the letter said. Despite a recent labor agreement, West Coast port operations have continued to be slow as the ports deal with a backlog of goods (see 1502240004).
The Canadian government still hasn't "seriously engaged" demands for improved dairy market access in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a bipartisan group of dozens of lawmakers said in a March 31 letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack (here). Seventy-six lawmakers, led by Congressional Dairy Farm Caucus chairs Reid Ribble, R-Wis., and Peter Welch, D-Vt., said they are “very troubled” by Canada's intransigence.