The Senate Appropriations Committee approved an FY 2026 transportation appropriations bill July 24 that would fully fund the Trump administration’s $40 million for the Federal Maritime Commission. The House version of the bill, which the House Appropriations Committee endorsed July 17, contains the same amount for the FMC (see 2507140005).
Reps. Celeste Maloy and Burgess Owens, two Republicans from Ohio, asked the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative this week to open a safeguard investigation on imports of lamb and mutton. They said Utah sheep ranchers will be submitting a new Section 201 petition to the International Trade Commission.
The Congressional Dads Caucus introduced a package of six bills this week that would, if passed, remove baby formula, high chairs, baby bottles, baby clothing, cribs, car seats and other goods for babies from both reciprocal tariff and fentanyl tariff actions.
Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., is leading a bipartisan effort to convince Mexico to stop its effort to seize the port owned by Vulcan Materials Company, on the Caribbean coast.
A bipartisan group in the House publicized a letter they sent last month to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, asking him to remove 10% tariffs on coffee, and to avoid hiking tariffs on coffee beans in future deals.
Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., joined by two moderate Republicans, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and other Democrats, introduced a bill this week that would exempt small businesses from paying tariffs levied on Canada under the fentanyl emergency. Small businesses are defined by the Small Business Administration, based on either average employment or recent annual revenues, and some manufacturers can have as many as 1,500 employees. Small retailers, depending on the sector, may qualify with annual revenues at or below $9 million to $47 million.
The top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, who, like the chairman, represents a state where logging is an important part of the economy, said the U.S. and Canada should return to a quota system to resolve the softwood lumber irritant.
The Senate Appropriations Committee passed a bill to increase funding for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative by $6 million, more than 10%, and to increase funding for the Bureau of Industry and Security, which handles Section 232 action, by $20 million -- almost 10%.
House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., is trying to force votes in the House to end the emergency that justifies reciprocal tariffs and on a bill that would hike tariffs to 500% on Russian products.
A bill has passed the House of Representatives that requires the Consumer Product Safety Commission to run a pilot program to see if artificial intelligence can advance its mission. It tasks the CPSC to see if AI can monitor internet websites, for the sale of recalled consumer products, and identify products that the CPSC has found should be refused admission to the U.S.