On December 22, 2010, the Senate amended and passed H.R. 6523, (the Ike Skelton National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011) to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2011 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy and to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year. The House agreed by unanimous consent to the Senate amendments. (The House passed an earlier version of H.R. 6523 on December 17, 2010. See ITT's Online Archives or 12/21/10 news, 10122007, for BP summary.)
On December 17, 2010, the following trade-related bills were introduced (in addition to those previously announced):
On December 20-21, 2010, the Senate and House passed H.R. 4748, the Northern Border Counternarcotics Strategy Act of 2010, to require the development of a northern border counternarcotics strategy1, and for other purposes. H.R. 4748 now heads to the President for his signature.
In accordance with H. Con. Res. 336, providing for the sine die adjournment of the second session of the 111th Congress, the House and Senate adjourned on December 22, 2010. Congress will reconvene at noon on January 5, 2011 for the first session of the 112th Congress.
On December 17, 2010, Representative Sanchez1 (D) introduced the Enforcing Orders and Reducing Customs Evasion (ENFORCE) Act of 2010 (H.R. 6549), a bill that is intended to help eliminate schemes by foreign producers to evade payment of antidumping and countervailing duties.
On December 21, 2010, the House passed S. 3243, the Anti-Border Corruption Act of 2010. (The Senate passed S. 3243 on September 28, 2010.)
On December 21, 2010, the House agreed to the Senate-passed version of H.R. 4748, the Northern Border Counternarcotics Strategy Act of 2010. (The Senate passed H.R. 4748 on December 20, 2010.) As both the House and Senate have passed H.R. 4748, the bill will go to the President for signature.
On December 21, 2010, the House and Senate passed H.R. 3082, a bill which funds the federal government through March 4, 2011. According to a Senate Appropriations Committee press release, H.R. 2751 would continue federal government funding at FY 2010 enacted levels for most programs.
On December 17, 2010, the President signed into law H.R. 4853, the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-312). Among other things, P.L. 111-312 extends the additional duties on ethanol through December 31, 2011 and reinstates the research and development tax credit through December 31, 2011.
On December 17, 2010, the House passed H.R. 6523 (the Ike Skelton National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011), amended, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2011 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy and to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year. (The FY 2011 National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 5136) previously passed by the House on May 28, 2010 contained provisions on Iran sanctions, military apparel, Buy American, DoD export reform study, etc.)