Bill to Renew GSP Introduced in House Ahead of July 31 Expiration
A bipartisan group of congressmen on July 17 introduced legislation in the House of Representatives to renew the Generalized System of Preferences Program. Reps. Dave Camp, R-Mich., Sandy Levin, D-Mich., Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., introduced HR-2709 (here) to extend the GSP program until Sept. 30, 2015. The program is currently set to expire July 31. The renewal legislation makes no other changes GSP, amending only the expiration date.
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“GSP has significant benefits for the U.S. economy and our geostrategic interests,” said Nunes, chairman of the Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee. “Last year, the GSP program saved U.S. companies nearly $750 million in import duties and supported tens of thousands of American jobs,” he said. “I will continue to work with Chairman Camp and Ranking Member Levin to find a path forward in the Senate to ensure that GSP does not lapse.”
“We are so happy that the renewal process has taken this very important step,” said Laura Baughman, executive director-Coalition for GSP. “The clock is ticking more loudly as the days advance towards July 31,” she said. “Nearly 300 American companies have called on Congress to renew GSP before it expires on July 31,” added Daniel Anthony, Director-Research and Government Relations at the coalition. “They urge swift consideration by the Senate to ensure that American companies do not face a $2 million per day tax hike on August 1.” GSP saved U.S. companies almost $750 million on Imports from 127 developing countries in 2012, the coalition said.
The prospect of Senate amendments remains a roadblock to timely renewal of GSP, said Camp, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee. “I’ve introduced this bipartisan legislation to demonstrate that the House is ready to move this bill as soon as the Senate also demonstrates that it has a credible path forward,” he said. “We cannot allow this bill to be bogged down by amendments, and I urge the Senate to act quickly on a clean bill,” he said. Time is of the essence.”
The problem is that, as a revenue bill, legislation to renew GSP is a magnet for amendments, said National Foreign Trade Council president Bill Reinsch in a July 18 blog post unrelated to the introduction of the bill (here). “And the Senate is historically the culprit because that body’s rules permit nongermane amendments,” he said. “As a result, the House, which under the Constitution must originate revenue bills, is reluctant to send it over for fear of what it might attract on the way. Their tactic appears to be to persuade the Senate to act first and then hold the bill at the desk waiting for the House vehicle, which hopefully would be identical.”
That appears to be the preferred route to renewal, according to the House Ways and Means press release announcing the GSP bill’s introduction (here). “The Senate has repeatedly used a procedure by which it passes legislation and holds it at the Senate desk. Upon House passage of identical legislation, the House bill is sent over to the Senate and is ‘deemed passed’ without further action by the Senate,” the press release said.
Reinsch said the House’s introduction of a GSP bill makes him more optimistic at the program’s chances for timely renewal. Last week, Reinsch would have given GSP renewal by July 31 a one-in-five chance, with passage by the end of the year a much more likely prospect. “Today I’m more optimistic … and I think people are now beginning to get on top of the issue,” he said. “I don’t think there are substantive disagreements, only procedural issues.”