On July 13, 2011, the House Committee on Appropriations approved and ordered reported the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, FY 2012. (See ITT’s Online Archives or 07/11/11 news, 11071109, for BP summary of Subcommittee-approved version of bill.)
On July 8, 2011, the House passed H.R. 2219, the fiscal year 2012 appropriations bill for the Department of Defense (DoD). H.R. 2219 would appropriate funding for the DoD and contains several trade-related provisions. Highlights of the trade-related provisions in H.R. 2219 include:
On July 11, 2011, House Trade Subcommittee Ranking Member McDermott (D) introduced H.R. 2493, a bill to extend the African Growth and Opportunity Act’s third country fabric provision for three years, through September 30, 2015 and add the newly independent Republic of South Sudan to the list of sub-Saharan African countries (under 19 USC 3706).
On July 12, 2011, the House is failed to agree to suspend the rules and pass H.R. 2417, the Better Use of Light Bulbs (BULB) Act. According to the House Republican Web site, H.R. 2417 would repeal Sections 321 and 322 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which would federally ban the manufacture and sale of certain light bulbs. In addition, H.R. 2417 would also prohibit any state or local energy efficiency regulation from being imposed if that requirement could only be met by installing bulbs or lamps containing mercury.
On June 23, 2011, the House Appropriations Committee approved and reported the fiscal year 2012 Financial Services1 appropriations bill. Introduced on July 7 as H.R. 2434, it would ban funding for the CPSC public database, exclude youth off-highway vehicles and bicycles from CPSC’s lead content limits, require a GAO cost benefit analysis of the CPSIA, etc.
The following are the trade-related hearings scheduled for July 11-16, 2011:
The following hearings, markups, or meetings are scheduled for July 12, 2011:
On July 11, 2011, the following trade-related bill was introduced:
During the week of July 11, 2011, the House is scheduled to consider H.R. 2434, the fiscal year 2012 Financial Services appropriations bill which would, among other things, prohibit funding for the Consumer Product Safety Commission to carry out activities related to its public database of consumer product safety incidents and regulate lead in bicycles and youth off-highway and all-terrain vehicles. (The House Appropriations Committee amended and approved the fiscal year 2012 Financial Services appropriations bill on July 23, 2011. See ITT's Online Archives or 06/24/11 news, 11062413, for BP summary.)
On July 12, 2011, the House is scheduled to consider H.R. 2417, the Better Use of Light Bulbs (BULB) Act. According to the House Republican Web site, H.R. 2417 would repeal Sections 321 and 322 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which would federally ban the manufacture and sale of certain light bulbs. These sections impose energy efficiency standards which would effectively prohibit the sale of certain incandescent light bulbs after December 31, 2011, as well as require new regulations on light bulbs and lamps. In addition, H.R. 2417 would prohibit any state or local energy efficiency regulation from being imposed if that requirement could only be met by installing bulbs or lamps containing mercury. (On July 11, 2011, the House debated H.R. 2417, but postponed it vote.)