The U.S. House of Representatives passed a scaled-back version of the Farm Bill on July 11 in a narrow, partisan vote. The bill (here) earned the support of 216 lawmakers, with 208 members voting against the measure. No Democrats supported the bill. Many members of the Democratic caucus voiced criticism over the bill’s overhaul of food stamp provisions. The House failed last month to pass the original, much larger version of the bill.
A bipartisan group of 15 prominent U.S. Senators submitted a letter (here) to newly inducted USTR head Michael Froman on July 9, urging decrease in footwear tariffs as part of the ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations. The Senators emphasized the need to liberalize footwear imports with prospective TPP signatory Vietnam, noting 8 percent of U.S. footwear imports originate in the Southeast Asian nation. The letter said 99 percent of footwear sold in the U.S. is imported, and therefore duty relief will not jeopardize U.S. manufacturing employment. Forty-five U.S. House members submitted another letter (here) to Froman the following day on July 10. While the letter largely reiterated the arguments of the Senate submission, House members stressed U.S. innovation jobs will be produced through footwear tariff relief. Footwear design, engineering and technological development positions are located in the U.S., according to the letter.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., announced July 11 the committee will hold a hearing on President Obama’s trade policy agenda on July 18 at 9 a.m. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman is slated to attend. In the announcement, Camp urged the administration to support maximizing American trade competitiveness with partners. The lawmaker also emphasized the need to negotiate aggressively to implement pending trade partnership, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, along with bi-lateral agreements.
Senior congressional leaders on July 9 submitted a letter to the Obama administration voicing worries ahead of this week’s U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) meeting. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., House Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sandy Levin, D-Mich., and Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, expressed concern over continued Chinese state dominated economics, trade-distorting subsidies, economic protectionism and a broader lack of market reform.
As Ecuador surfaced as a possible asylum destination for NSA leaker Edward Snowden, two U.S. Senators challenged the country’s Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) eligibility, in statements released June 27. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) (here) and U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) (here) accused Ecuador of violating preferential status terms. The press releases followed an Ecuadorian government call to sever the preferential trade relationship, manifested through the Andean Trade Preference Act .
The Senate Homeland Security Committee's Financial and Contracting Oversight Subcommittee is taking a close look at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of the Inspector General in response to a number of whistleblower allegations about misuse of agency resources. Subcommittee Chairwoman Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Ranking Member Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) requested a number of documents from Acting Inspector General Charles Edwards related to the allegations, including the sharing of confidential whistleblower material with agency officials "potentially in violation of law" and the inappropriate hiring of Edwards' wife within the office.
Sound public policy, including public-private partnerships and improved multimodal connections, will be crucial to maintaining the U.S. freight network’s efficiency and competitiveness, testifiers told members of Congress at the Panel on 21st Century Freight Transportation on June 26. Officials from various logistics and package delivery companies emphasized the value of America’s railroads in “nearly every industrial, wholesale, retail, and resource-based sector” of the U.S. economy and made recommendations to increase future potential of the overall freight network.
The Senate confirmed Penny Pritzker as Secretary of Commerce June 25. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., called Pritzker "a force of nature," in a news release following the vote. "The unanimous bipartisan support she received in the committee, and the decisive 97-1 bipartisan vote today by the full Senate, reflects our confidence that she will be a highly successful driver for growth and change," he said. The only vote in opposition was cast by Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt. Pritzker is the founder and CEO of PSP Capital Partners and a board member of the Hyatt Hotels Corp., which her father, Donald Pritzker, co-founded. Ms. Pritzker was one of President Barack Obama's top fundraising bundlers, is a former member of Obama's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness and a former member of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Pritzker replaces acting Secretary Rebecca Blank, who took over in 2012 after John Bryson took a medical leave last June following reports that he was involved in car accidents related to a seizure that he suffered.
Nine senators urged President Obama to advocate for safer working conditions in Bangladesh by suspending trade preferences, following last month’s Rana Plaza garment factory collapse, according to a press release (here). Senators including Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Ben Cardin, D-Md., said the accident that killed 1,100 workers and left hundreds of others permanently disabled was entirely “avoidable” if documented safety and workers rights violations from recent years were not left “unheeded.” “More than 1,100 lives could have been saved if the public and private sectors stepped up,” Brown said. “It’s time our government takes a strong stand and works with the Bangladesh government and the private sector to prevent future tragedies.”
Elissa Alben joined the Democratic Senate Finance Committee as international trade counsel for issues including the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the World Trade Organization, said committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) in a press release. Alben previously worked in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative as deputy assistant USTR for monitoring and enforcement.