President Barack Obama signed the House version of the Highway and Transportation Funding Act, HR-5021 (here), into law on Aug. 8, the White House said. The Senate passed the legislation on July 31. The law replenishes the Highway Trust Fund coffers with $10.8 billion and provides spending authority for highway projects through May 31, 2015.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) should immediately restore grain inspection services to the Port of Vancouver in Washington State in order to maintain the flow of grain products of the U.S., said House Agriculture Committee majority leadership in an Aug. 7 letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack. USDA suspended the inspection services in early July over security threats posed by International Longshore and Warehouse Union picketing, said U.S. Wheat Associates, an agricultural export advocacy organization. The union is locked in a labor dispute with United Grain, said the organization in a briefing. But USDA officials who conducted a recent security assessment said the security threats are insignificant, said the House Agriculture Committee leadership. “Those officials have confirmed that there are no security concerns that would prevent USDA grain inspectors from entering or exiting the facility through the vehicular gate, or by helicopter,” said committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., and Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, a subcommittee chairman, in the letter to Vilsack. “As someone who has spent considerable time and energy fighting to open international markets for our agricultural products, we know that you are concerned about the potential loss of those markets due to the closure of this important export terminal.” Moreover, the lawmakers said USDA officials refused to specify the precise threats that warrant suspension of services.
The Vietnamese government must make genuine reforms toward human rights, labor rights and religious freedom in order for Congress to support its membership in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, said a bipartisan group of 31 House members in a recent letter to President Barack Obama. The reforms should bring Vietnam into compliance with international labor standards and “demonstrate a clear commitment to the rule of law,” said the lawmakers. Vietnam should release the more than 200 political prisoners and “prisoners of conscience” jailed in the country, withdraw a recent decree that mandates religious organizations register with the government and allow workers to freely associate, the lawmakers added. Otherwise, the country’s inclusion in TPP will face significant resistance in Congress, said the letter. “Without ensuring that concrete benchmarks on human rights are met at the outset, TPP would exacerbate the Vietnamese government’s violations of human rights,” the lawmakers said. “TPP membership will inevitably be regarded as a badge of honor for those governments and represent a seal of approval from the United States.”
Recent trade-related bills introduced in Congress include:
Trade and investment barriers in sub-Saharan Africa are continuing to inhibit use of African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) preferences, said House Ways and Means and Foreign Affairs committee and the Senate Finance and Foreign Relations committee officials in a joint Aug. 4 statement meant to welcome African officials to Washington, D.C. for the high-profile U.S.-African Leaders summit. While the statement does not identify specific barriers Africans face in exporting goods, customs inefficiency and corruption are often blamed for impeding use of AGOA. Nonetheless, the congressional leaders praised African growth and bilateral U.S.-African trade, despite additional barriers that prevent U.S. firms from penetrating African markets. “We note that while per capita income in sub-Saharan Africa has grown more than threefold since 2001, nearly half the population in sub-Saharan Africa lives in poverty today,” said the statement. “In addition, diversifying sub-Saharan exports remains a goal of U.S. policy.”
The Senate will target passage of appropriations measures and reauthorization legislation for the Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank after the chamber reconvenes on Sept. 8, said Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., on the Senate floor on July 31 before adjourning the chamber the following day. The Senate has yet to pass an appropriations bill for fiscal year 2015, while the House has passed a number of trade-related appropriations measures, including Homeland Security and Commerce. Fiscal year 2014 wraps up on Sept. 30. Congress remains at loggerheads over Ex-Im Bank reauthorization (see 14072539). “We have not had a productive Congress,” said Reid. “We can’t push everything back to the so-called ‘lame duck.’ Much of what we’re able to accomplish in September depends on Republicans in the House.” Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., introduced a reauthorization bill on July 30 (see 14073027). The legislation stripped a controversial coal provision, included in a draft bill Manchin released in the preceding weeks, that aimed to garner Republican support, but met a backlash from some lawmakers and environmental groups (see 14071414). The House has produced two other measures in recent weeks (see 14072313). Reid said he plans to adjourn the Senate on Sept. 23 until the mid-term elections in November.
Rep. Bill Owens, D-N.Y., introduced legislation on July 30 to amend the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) to liberalize tariffs on certain knitted or crocheted apparel goods and accessories exported for purposes of processing abroad and then re-imported into the U.S. The bill, HR-5291, would add HTS subheadings that allow the import of such goods to enter the U.S. market at the duty rate and valuation of the initially exported products, even if the import contains added materials from other U.S. exports. The legislation currently has no co-sponsors.
The Senate passed the House version of the Highway and Transportation Funding Act, HR-5021 (here), in an 81-13 roll call on July 31, despite approving an amended version of the bill two days prior. The version passed on July 31 would keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent through May 2015, as opposed to the Senate amended version which would have provided funds only through Dec. 19. The legislation is now sent to President Barack Obama for his signature.
The Senate Finance Committee unanimously approved on July 31 the nomination of Robert Holleyman as deputy U.S. Trade Representative, the committee said in a press release. The full Senate will now consider the nomination.
Recent trade-related bills introduced in Congress include: