Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI) and Trade Subcommittee Ranking Member Jim McDermott (D-WA) gave their support to the World Trade Organization decision ruling against several aspects of Chinese antidumping and countervailing duties on U.S. electrical steel.
The chairman and ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee said they remained concerned with the national security threat posed by two Chinese telecommunications companies, Huawei and ZTE, that want to sell telecom products in the U.S. Committee Chair Mike Rogers, R-Mich., and Ranking Member Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., asked the two companies to answer more than a dozen detailed questions about the companies' corporate and financial connections with the Chinese government, in separate letters June 13 (here). The committee has been investigating the extent to which the companies give the Chinese government an opportunity for increased foreign espionage, threaten critical infrastructure, and further the opportunity for Chinese economic espionage. Rogers and Ruppersberger asked Huawei and ZTE executives specific questions about their companies' interactions with Chinese government officials; the funding they receive from Chinese agencies; the information they share with the Chinese government; their cybersecurity practices; and their business relationships with Iran, among other queries. Huawei Vice President-External Affairs Bill Plummer said the company welcomes the opportunity to "further enhance" the committee's understanding of the facts, "after which we look forward to re-focused attention to addressing the true threats to critical infrastructure from the global information and communications technology supply chain. Huawei shares concerns related to network security. We support universal and industry-wide solutions to effectively address cyber threats and vulnerabilities." ZTE did not comment.
The House Ways and Means Committee scheduled a hearing on Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and granting Russia permanent normal trade relations (PNTR), said Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) The hearing will be June 20 in 1100 Longworth House Office Building. The first panel will consist of Administration witnesses and will begin at 9:30 a.m. The second panel, of private sector witnesses, will begin at 2 p.m., said Camp's office.
Despite a threatened Presidential veto, the House of Representatives approved a $46 billion budget bill (HR-5855) June 7 for the Homeland Security Department on a vote of 234-182. The budget bill includes increases in funding for border and immigration enforcement, but includes a slight cut for the Transportation Security Administration. The bill now goes to the Senate, where Democratic leaders have indicated opposition to it.
The House Homeland Security Committee approved in a voice vote HR-4251, the Securing Maritime Activities through Risk-based Targeting (SMART) for Port Security Act , June 6. The legislation is meant to authorize, enhance, and reform port security programs through increased efficiency and risk-based coordination within the Department of Homeland Security. Text of the bill is here.
The House Homeland Security Committee will consider H.R. 4251, the Securing Maritime Activities through Risk-based Targeting (SMART) for Port Security Act , in a markup June 6. Text of the bill is (here).
The House Natural Resources Committee will mark up bills June 7, beginning at 10 a.m. including two that would revise Lacey Act provisions. Congress expanded the Lacey Act in 2008 to ban trade in products containing illegally harvested wood or plant material. The changes also require importers to document the genus, species and country of harvest of any wood or plant material contained in an imported product.
Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) introduced May 30 a bill in the House of Representatives to improve the regulatory process for preventing the introduction of non-native wildlife to the U.S. The bill (HR-5684) would, among other things, "establish an electronic database that describes, using scientific names to the species level (or subspecies level, if applicable), all quantities of imports of all live wildlife, and the regulatory status of the wildlife, in a form that permits that information to be rapidly accessed" and later make that information publicly available.
The House of Representatives passed the Export Promotion Reform Act (HR-4041) May 30 under suspension of the rules. The legislation would give the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee (TPCC) budget review authority over the export promotion programs managed by the Administration. The measure would also require the President to give the TPCC chair additional authorities to ensure that the committee's duties and its plan are implemented. The bill would also deploy U.S. Commercial Service personnel and budgets to help U.S. firms win sales in the markets with the best opportunities and require performance assessments of the effectiveness of embassies in carrying out commercial diplomacy and helping U.S. exporters. The legislation, co-authored by U.S. Reps. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) and Don Manzullo (R-Ill.), will next move to the Senate for consideration.
The International Sugar Trade Coalition voiced approval May 28, 2012 for the Farm Bill (S-3240), recently passed by the Senate Agriculture Committee, for giving sugar producers in developing nations a guaranteed level of access to the U.S. sugar market at fair predictable prices. The ISTC wrote to House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) and Ranking Member Pat Roberts (D-Minn.) to express its support for the Farm Bill, which would extend the current sugar policy through 2017.