The Chamber of Commerce urged lawmakers in the House and Senate to jump on board the Export-Import Bank Reform and Reauthorization Act of 2015, S-819, in a March 23 letter. Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., is the lead sponsor for the legislation, and several Democrats, including lead co-sponsor Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., and key Ex-Im supporter Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., signed on (here). The credit agency's charter expires on June 30. "If Congress fails to reauthorize Ex-Im, the United States would become the only major trading nation without such a bank, putting American exporters at a unique disadvantage in tough global markets," said the letter. "Far from skewing the playing field, this bill would level it by reauthorizing the bank and ensuring transparency in its operations." But all Democrats in the House and a half dozen colleagues in the Senate endorsed an alternate reauthorization bill, HR-1031 (here), over the past month (see 1502250042).
The Senate voted 89-0 to confirm William Doyle for another term as Federal Maritime Commissioner on March 23 (here). Doyle first took his seat as commissioner in 2013.
No Trade Promotion Authority legislation should permit Congress to pass Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations with the legislation’s fast-track mechanisms, namely a ban on amendments and forced up-or-down votes, said a number of consumer, labor and environmental groups in a March 23 letter to members of Congress (here). Any TPA bill must require that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative regularly release “both U.S. draft textual proposals and the consolidated bracketed negotiating texts” of trade talks during the negotiating process,” said the letter, signed by Public Citizen, Food and Water Watch and others.
The U.S. and the 11 other Trans-Pacific Partnership trade delegations need to “reform” the TPP investor-state dispute mechanism to “ensure that governments preserve the ability to regulate in the public interest,” said House Ways and Means ranking member Sandy Levin in a March 20 blog post that explores the history of ISDS in U.S. investment treaties (here). U.S. ISDS provisions have changed significantly over past years to address public concerns, but the recent worldwide track record is still troubling, said Levin.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will vote on the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015, S-615 (here), on April 14, said committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and ranking member Bob Menendez, D-N.J., in a recent statement (here). The legislation would require congressional approval of any nuclear enrichment deal that the U.S. strikes with Iran. Some business and trade leaders have rejected Iran sanctions legislation as an obstacle to restoring commercial ties between the two countries (see 1412090026). Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., tried to bring the legislation to the Senate floor in early March, but Democrats cried foul and insisted on regular order, the process where legislation moves through committee and then is considered on the floor of the chamber (see 1503060012). Obama has threatened to veto the bill, but Capitol Hill supporters of the measure are aiming for a veto-proof majority of 67 votes. The U.S. faces a late March deadline for tentative progress in the talks (here).
Lawmakers introduced the following trade-related bills since International Trade Today's last legislative update:
Congress should quickly pass Trade Promotion Authority to allow the U.S. to lock down pending free trade agreements that will slash foreign barriers to the U.S. digital economy, said BSA/The Software Alliance in a March 20 letter to Senate Finance and House Ways and Means leadership (here). Those FTAs could ease cross-border data flows, and allow more U.S. sales of software through "digitally-delivered subscription models," said the letter. "In some cases these market access barriers are rationalized on privacy or security concerns, but in many cases they are simply aimed at creating opportunities for domestic entities to the disadvantage of American developers," said the trade group. "Such policies protect neither privacy nor security, and ultimately will hamper economic growth in the markets that enact them." Finance ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., hasn't yet publicly struck a deal with Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, to move forward with TPA legislation (see 1503190021). The letter didn't specifically mention the Trans-Pacific Partnership or the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, but many lawmakers have called for those agreements to break down digital barriers (see 1411040014).
Sen. Barbara Boxer has several concerns with legislation, led by Sens. David Vitter, R-La., and Tom Udall, D-N.M., to overhaul the Toxic Substances Control Act, she said in a March 18 statement (here). Her criticism followed a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (here), introduced in early March (see 1503110024). “The chemical industry is largely isolated in its unequivocal support for the bill,” said Boxer. “Now that the problems of the bill have been aired, we need to fix it. The current bill is worse than current law.” Boxer introduced her own TSCA overhaul bill in recent days (here).
House Republicans blocked two Democratic attempts this week to bring renewal legislation for the Export-Import bank to the House floor, said House Financial Services ranking member Maxine Waters, D-Calif., in a March 18 statement (here). Waters is the lead sponsor of the Promoting U.S. Jobs through Exports Act of 2015, HR-1031, introduced in late February (see 1502250042).
Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, urged colleagues to rally around Trade Promotion Authority legislation, in March 18 remarks on the Senate floor, but rejected calls to make fundamental changes to the TPA model already in place. Hatch said, though, he still aims to improve on the TPA bill he introduced last Congress in order to broad support among lawmakers.