Recent trade-related bills introduced in Congress include:
The Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to consider the nomination of Robert Holleyman as deputy U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) during a July 16 hearing, the committee said. Holleyman served as president of the Business Software Alliance for more than 20 years before stepping down in 2013 (here). Holleyman would replace outgoing deputy USTR Miriam Sapiro (see 14022705). President Barack Obama sent the nomination to the Senate in February.
A group of 14 House Democrats renewed a call for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to stop incorporating reexports in monthly export data, calling the practice an artificial inflation and manipulation of the statistics. The lawmakers, led by vocal trade policy critics Reps. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., George Miller, D-Calif., and Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., lambasted the way USTR uses Census Bureau trade data in a letter to USTR Michael Froman. Should USTR decide to continue the practice, the lawmakers threatened to oppose both Trade Promotion Authority and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) implementation legislation.
The Senate should reject the Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank reauthorization draft legislation introduced by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., in recent days because the bill’s removal of new coal-fired plant finance restrictions would degrade local environments and scale back efforts to address climate change, said a group of a dozen environmental groups in a July 11 letter. The credit agency adopted guidelines in December 2013 aimed at limiting coal financing by requiring carbon capture and storage practice by the international partner involved in the transaction, but the bill relaxes those limits (here).
The Senate Finance Committee on July 10 approved a measure (here) to provide funds for federal highway projects through spring 2015, the committee said. The bill is seen as the counterpart to a measure passed by the House Ways and Means Committee earlier on July 10. The House legislation, introduced by Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., provides mechanisms to make the Highway Trust Fund solvent through May 31, 2015 (see 14071026). “The Finance Committee took an important first step today to prevent a transportation shutdown,” Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in a statement. “But we all know what’s needed next is a long-term bill that rebuilds our broken infrastructure, which reportedly needs $3.6 trillion dollars in repairs.” The Finance Committee is eying the MAP-21 Reauthorization Act (here) as a long term legislative fix to the Highway Trust Fund, said the committee.
Nearly 30 members of the New Democratic Coalition, a pro-trade group of House lawmakers, wrote to Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman urging them to further scrutinize industry allegations of South Korean Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTG) dumping into the U.S. market . The Commerce Department ruled in February to not suspend liquidation or impose an antidumping duty cash deposit requirement on South Korean OCTG, after preliminarily finding that South Korean firms did not dump the products (see 14022425).
The House-passed Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies for the fiscal year 2015 appropriations bill would increase the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers funding to meet the Harbor Maintenance Tax (HMT) funding target included in the Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA), said the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) in a statement. President Barack Obama signed the WRRDA measure into law in June (see 14061102). The appropriations legislation hikes HMT funding as a result of passage of an amendment (here) prior to the vote on the bill. Co-chair of the Congressional PORTS Caucus Janice Hahn, D-Calif., and Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., offered the amendment. The passage of the amendment is “evidence of the impact of the strong education and outreach by the maritime industry and freight cargo community, including AAPA and its members, over the last few years related to the importance of fully using the HMT and its importance to maintaining our international competitiveness,” said AAPA Government Relations Vice President Susan Monteverde in the statement. The appropriations bill passed with 253 votes, largely on partisan lines with Democrats opposing the bill (here). Hahn voted against the full appropriations bill.
The Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Homeland Security will hold a July 16 hearing on strengthening U.S. trade enforcement policy. The witness list includes a number of attorneys, industry representatives and government officials, including CBP Acting Assistant Commissioner at the Office of Field Operations John Wagner and Acting Assistant Commissioner at the Office of International Trade Richard DiNucci.
Senate Banking Committee member Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., released a draft bill to reauthorize the Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank for five years that would provide a gradual increase in the credit agency’s lending authority, culminating in a $160 billion authority for fiscal years 2018 and 2019. The measure provides an annual $5 billion increase in lending authority from $145 billion in fiscal year 2015 to $160 billion in fiscal years 2018 and 2019. The legislation would require the Ex-Im Bank to submit a report to Congress and the U.S. Comptroller 180 days after the date of enactment that outlines anticipated growth of the credit agency by industry sector and specific loan terms, while also describing estimated lending risks. The Comptroller would then be required to report to Congress findings on the Ex-Im report. The legislation also would prohibit the credit agency from issuing regulations that preclude financing for coal-fired projects.
Recent trade-related bills introduced in Congress include: