On February 9, 2013, the Senate began consideration of S. 1813, a bill to reauthorize Federal-aid highway and highway safety construction programs, after agreeing to the motion to proceed, and agreeing to the committee-reported amendments, and that the bill, as amended, be considered original text for the purpose of further amendment.
On February 9, 2012, the Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee released a list of issues that will be priorities for the Committee during the second session of the 112th Congress.
In late January 2012, Senator Brown (D-OH) announced that three reports had been issued by the Economic Policy Institute and a law firm1 indicating that China is subsidizing its auto part exports to the U.S. in a predatory manner, in violation of its World Trade Organization commitments. Brown argued that aggressive trade enforcement action is needed, citing President Obama's recent announcement of a new Trade Enforcement Unit (now called Trade Enforcement Center) to investigate unfair trade practices in countries such as China.
The following are the trade-related hearings scheduled for February 7-10, 2012:
On December 8, 2011, Senator Ayotte (R-NH) and three co-sponsors1 introduced S. 1966, a bill to require the Secretary of Homeland Security, not later than 90 days after the date of enactment, to reform the process for the enrollment, activation, issuance, and renewal of Transportation Worker Identification Credentials to require not more than one in-person visit to a designated enrollment center, except under extenuating circumstances2. Similar legislation was introduced in the House in October 2011.
On February 1, 2012 the following trade-related bills were introduced:
On February 2, 2012, the Senate Committee on Banking Committee ordered favorably reported "The Iran Sanctions, Accountability and Human Rights Act of 2012." Among other things, the legislation would impose mandatory sanctions on shippers of terror and WMD (weapons of mass destruction) material, make U.S. parent companies liable for the activities of their foreign subsidiaries, expand the current ISA menu of sanctions to senior corporate officials, and require firms traded on the U.S. stock exchanges to disclose Iran-related activity to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The Committee's press release states that the bill has garnered overwhelming bipartisan support, and leadership hoped that full Senate consideration would occur soon.
On January 31, 2012 the following trade-related bills were introduced:
On January 31, 2012, the House Rules Committee ordered reported, as amended, H.R. 3521, the “Expedited Legislative Line-Item Veto and Rescissions Act of 2011. H.R. 3521 which would, among other things, authorize the President to propose the rescission (line item veto) of all or any dollar amount of funding provided by any enacted bill or joint resolution. The bill would set forth procedures for expedited congressional consideration of a proposed rescission.
The American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act (H.R. 7), a five-year infrastructure bill that would reform transportation programs and promote increased domestic energy production to create U.S. jobs, was introduced in the House1 on January 31, 2012.