Blumenauer Rejects Interim GSP Refund Proposal
While it's not yet clear if Democrats and Republicans can agree on whether the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program and Miscellaneous Tariff Bill will advance this month, House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., says he's not for the proposal to offer a partial refund while importers wait for GSP renewal. The preferences program will have been expired for two years if it does not get renewed this month. He said, "We had a nice conversation with [U.S. Trade Representative] Katherine Tai this morning. We know [renewal] should happen, and we hope it does."
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Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., said the two parties were trying to find a path forward. House Republicans say the Democrats' insistence on linking GSP and MTB to a renewal of Trade Adjustment Assistance is the stumbling block. "I think that is something that the administration and others, myself included, are concerned [about], because it takes away the momentum to actually fix it. And I just think people ought to accept our bill, and pass it," Neal said.