Rep. Levin Calls for Separate Votes on All Four Trade Bills
House Ways and Means ranking member Sandy Levin, D-Mich., called on Congress on May 8 to debate and vote on trade legislation separately, pitting him against Senate Democrats who recently urge leadership in the chamber to roll the four trade bills into one package. Trade Promotion Authority, Trade Adjustment Assistance, a preference package, including renewal of the Generalized System of Preferences, and Customs Reauthorization all moved through committees in both chambers in late April.
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Levin hit back at Democratic arguments that the package would help ensure trade enforcement and currency provisions, which are included in the customs bill, pass into law alongside the other bills. “Each has to be evaluated on its own and voted on its own because I don’t want TAA … to be used essentially as a sweetener on TPA,” said Levin, speaking on C-SPAN. TPA “has to stand on its own. So does Trade Adjustment Assistance.” Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and other high-ranking Democrats in the Senate pushed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in recent days to combine all four bills (see 1505080008).
McConnell scheduled a preliminary vote on trade legislation on May 12, with details still unclear on which bill, or combination of bills, will be put to a vote. Although the Senate will act first on trade, Levin said he still intends to offer his alternate TPA bill on the House floor, assuming trade legislation makes it there in the near future. Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said committee rules prevented a vote on the alternate during the late April markup (see 1504270008). Levin says his legislation gives firm instructions on trade negotiations, instead of the "vague" guidelines in the prevailing TPA bill.