House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, railed into corporate support for the Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank in a recent letter to Boeing Chairman James McNerney and National Association of Manufacturing President Jay Timmons, saying “subsidies” provided by the credit agency represent a threat to the American economy and workforce. “It is undeniable that Ex-Im places credit risks on the taxpayers’ balance sheets that could instead be placed on your companies’ balance sheets,” said Hensarling. The credit agency largely provides financing for transactions that traditional lending institutions determine to be too high-risk. U.S. domestic competitors, such as Delta, of Ex-Im affiliated companies also suffer as a result of the lending, Hensarling said. Moreover, the argument that Ex-Im is necessary to compete with similar foreign credit agencies doesn’t hold water, he added. “The global marketplace remains an unlevel playing field in many areas -- especially the areas of corporate taxation, regulatory burden, and liability exposure,” said Hensarling. “American companies remain at a decisive competitive disadvantage in these areas.” Congress will likely have to take Ex-Im reauthorization legislation up following August recess, as the credit agency’s charter expires on Sept. 30 (see 14072539).
The Obama administration should pressure the removal of Japan from Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations over its unwillingness to offer sufficient market access concessions, said a bipartisan group of 138 House members in a July 30 letter to President Barack Obama. The U.S. should also consider moving forward in the negotiations without Canada or any other TPP participant that refuses to sufficiently liberalize its market, said the letter, led by House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and ranking member Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has released minimal information on the progress of negotiations over recent months, but observers have said Japan is protesting liberalization on more than 500 agricultural tariff lines (see 14071709). “This unprecedented and objectionable offer would significantly limit access for U.S. farmers and ranchers to the Japanese market, and most likely, to other TPP countries as well,” said the letter. “Caving to Japan’s demands would set a damaging precedent, compromising the U.S. negotiating position with future TPP members.” Some analysts have said U.S. threats to remove Japan are largely disingenuous (see 14022504).
The Senate passed an amended version of the Highway and Transportation Funding Act, HR-5021 (here), in a 79-18 roll call on July 29. The bill would keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent through May 2015. The House passed an initial version of the measure on July 15 (see 14071602). The legislation will now be sent back to the House for approval before President Barack Obama is able to sign the measure into law.
The U.S. should not weaken its “long-standing Buy American policies” by requiring all companies operating in TPP signatory nations to be treated equally with U.S. firms in government procurement contracts, said a bipartisan group of more than a 100 House Democratic lawmakers in a letter that continues to circulate in the chamber. Reps. Donna Edwards, D-Md., and Walter Jones, R-N.C., are leading the circulation of the letter intended to be submitted to President Barack Obama. The letter has so far garnered 121 signatures, said a spokeswoman for Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., a signatory to the letter. “We know that you are eager to finalize a TPP, so we urge you to reconsider the current ‘national treatment’ requirements included in TPP’s procurement chapter,” says the letter. “The recently-passed Fiscal Year 2015 Commerce, Justice, Science House Appropriations bill that funds the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative explicitly forbids expenditure of funds to negotiate trade agreement terms that would require a waiver of Buy American policy and we hope this will become U.S law.” Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., offered the Buy American Act amendment to the appropriations legislation (see 14060202).
The Senate confirmed by voice vote on July 28 the nominations of Elliot Kaye as Chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and Joseph Mohorovic to be CPSC commissioner. The nominations moved out of committee on July 15 (see 14071524).
The Senate Finance Committee is set to consider on July 30 the nomination of Robert Holleyman as deputy U.S. Trade Representative, along with a number of other nominations, the committee said. The vote is scheduled to take place during a hearing on the African Growth and Opportunity Act (see 14072537).
The House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade postponed a hearing on the potential economic and national security impacts of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership to an undetermined date. The hearing was previously scheduled for July 29 (see 14072401).
President Barack Obama should use executive power to immediately halt Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank financing for Russian firms, said House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, in a July 25 letter. Hensarling is one of the harshest critics of the credit agency in Congress. He has repeatedly called on lawmakers to allow the bank to expire on Sept. 30 (see 14072313). “While your Administration announces sanctions on Russian companies on the one hand, on the other it offers sweetheart deals to Russian companies through Ex-Im,” said the letter. “Some of the very same Russian firms that are being sanctioned by the United States have benefited from Ex-Im: Vnesheconombank and Gazprombank -- two state-owned Russian banks.” The Obama administration has unveiled a series of sanctions over recent months on individuals and firms it views as contributing to turmoil in Ukraine (see 14072417). The Ex-Im charter provides the president, after consulting with the House Financial Services Committee and its Senate counterpart, the authority to deny financing options (here).
The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing on July 30 to examine the future of the African Growth and Opportunity Act. The House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade will hold a July 29 hearing on the law and general U.S. trade with Africa (see 14072314). Stakeholders are pressing for quick renewal of the law in order to safeguard existing supply chains (see 14040402).
Business community proponents of the Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank will likely have to wait until September for Congress to take a genuine look at reauthorization legislation, said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., during a July 25 conference call. The Senate will prioritize highway legislation in the final week of July, the last week in session before August recess, he added. The House overwhelmingly passed on July 15 an $11 billion measure to keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent through May 2015, and the Obama administration expressed support for the bill (see 14071602).