Senate Passes GSP/MPF/TAA Bill, Now Goes Back to House
On September 22, 2011, the Senate passed H.R. 28321, a bill to reinstate the GSP program retroactive to its expiration date, after amending it to include Trade Adjustment Assistance. Note that the bill, as amended, now appears to include two Merchandise Processing Fee provisions. See future issue for additional details.
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Senate Adopts TAA Amendment Prior to Passage
Prior to the passage of H.R. 2832, the Senate rejected three amendments (two of which were TAA-related and one related to providing aircraft to Taiwan). The only amendment to H.R. 2832 that was adopted was the Baucus-Camp compromise on TAA.
Bill Now Goes Back to House
Since the Senate-passed version of H.R. 2832 is different from the one passed by the House on September 7, 2011, H.R. 2832 now goes back to the House.
(Generally, in order for a bill to be implemented, identical versions of that bill must be passed by both the House and Senate, and then the bill must be approved (enacted) by the President.)
Speaker Says House Will Consider H.R. 2832 and FTAs in Tandem
After the Senate’s passage of H.R. 2832, House Speaker Boehner (R-OH) said that the House will act on H.R. 2832 and the three pending trade agreements once the President submits them to Congress.
Boehner stated that “we await the President’s submission of the three trade agreements sitting on his desk so the House can consider them in tandem with the Senate-passed GSP/TAA legislation. If the President submits these agreements promptly, I’m confident that all four bills can be signed into law by mid-October.”
Senate Majority Leader Previously Outlined Different Plan
Press reports have previously indicated that Senate Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) had announced a deal on a timeline for moving the free trade agreements (FTAs) forward. Under that plan, the Senate would amend the House-passed H.R. 2832 to include TAA provision, pass it, and then send H.R. 2832 as amended back to the House for approval. The House would then wait to adopt an enrollment rule (a prerequisite for the Presidential signature of H.R. 2832) until it passes the implementing legislation for the pending Korea (KORUS), Colombia and Panama FTAs. Once passed by the House, the FTA legislation would go to the Senate for its expected passage there, and H.R. 2832 would go to the President for signature into law.
(See ITT’s Online Archives or 09/14/11 and 09/15/11 news, 11091421 and 11091516, for BP summaries on these issues. See ITT’s Online Archives or 09/08/11 news, 11090818, for BP summary detailing the Generalized System of Preference and MPF increase provisions in the House-passed H.R. 2832. See ITT's Online Archives or 09/22/11 news, 11092224, for most recent BP summary on H.R. 2832.
See ITT's Online Archives or 09/11/11 news, 11090910, for BP summary about the use of GSP SPI by ABI filers as a refund request if GSP is retroactively renewed.)
1H.R. 2832 passed the Senate by a vote of 70 yeas to 27 nays.
House Speaker Boehner’s statement available here
USTR press release on Senate passage of H.R. 2832 available here
Senator Baucus' statement on Senate passage of H.R. 2832 available here
House Ways and Means Committee statements on Senate passage of H.R. 2832 available here