The following are the trade-related hearings scheduled for June 6-9, 2011:
The House Transportation Committee has announced that on July 7, 2011, it will roll out a comprehensive, multi-year transportation reauthorization proposal. According to the Committee, the reauthorization initiative will not only reauthorize and reform U.S. federal highway, transit, and highway safety programs, but will also make significant improvements to passenger and freight rail programs, and maritime and waterborne transportation policy. The multi-modal proposal will streamline federal programs, cut red tape and the bureaucratic project process, better leverage our federal resources, make wise investments in our infrastructure, and provide the long-term predictability that states need to undertake major construction projects.
On July 5, 2011, the following trade-related bill was introduced:
During a June 23, 2011 Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs hearing on legislative proposals to review federal regulations, Senators testified on pending reform legislation. For example, Senator Paul (R) stated that his REINS Act (S. 299) would give Congress the ability to review regulations for their adherence to what Congress intended, while Senator Landrieu (D) and Senator Snowe (R) commented on Senator Snowe's FREEDOM Act (S. 1030), which would allow for judicial review of proposed rules. Senator Vitter (R) noted that his Small Business Paperwork Relief Act would provide a one-time pass on fines for most minor paperwork violations.
At a June 22, 2011 Joint (House/Senate) Economic Committee hearing on "Manufacturing in the USA: Why We Need a National Manufacturing Strategy?," the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) testified that if Germany could balance its trade with China, so could the U.S. AAM recommended a national manufacturing strategy that has as its top goal the enactment of legislation to allow U.S. workers and firms to seek relief from "the effects of currency manipulation" by China and other countries, using existing U.S. laws. AAM's second recommendation was to retool the National Export Initiative to focus on reducing the manufactured goods deficit to zero.
On June 30, 2011, the following trade-related bills were introduced:
The following hearings, markups, or meetings are scheduled for June 30, 2011:
On June 29, 2011, the following trade-related bills were introduced:
On June 22, 2011, the Senate Judiciary Committee held an oversight hearing on intellectual property law enforcement efforts. At the hearing, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and other Administration officials discussed recent efforts to improve IP enforcement, including CBP’s efforts to improve penalty collection and overseas enforcement of intellectual property rights.
During a June 29, 2011 press conference, the President called on Congress to advance the pending free trade agreements as a way to help create jobs. The President stated that he thinks the FTAs are important and should be passed in order to “allow American businesses to sell more of their goods and services to countries in Asia and South America - agreements that would support tens of thousands of American jobs while helping those adversely affected by trade.”