The House Appropriations Committee approved by bipartisan voice vote on June 11 fiscal year (FY) 2015 appropriations legislation for the Department of Homeland Security. The measure includes nearly $8.3 billion in funds for CBP border security, immigration, customs, agricultural inspections, regulatory activities related to plant and animal imports, and other fundamental resources and operations. The draft bill mandates that $3.3 million should be derived from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund to fund CBP. The draft also directs $810.2 million, of which $446.6 million should remain available through FY16, to be spent on automation. Of the $810.2 million, $140.1 million should be reserved for development of the Automated Commercial Environment. The Senate Appropriations Committee has yet to consider or release counterpart legislation.
The U.S. agricultural industry continues to face a multitude of non-tariff trade barriers, such as unscientific sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures and geographical indications, to exporting agricultural goods to the European Union and Asia-Pacific region, industry representatives told lawmakers at a June 11 House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade hearing. The representatives urged the lawmakers to apply pressure on the Obama administration to remove the barriers through Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations.
Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo., filed an amendment to fiscal year 2015 agriculture appropriations legislation that would prohibit funding for the controversial Department of Agriculture (USDA) Catfish Inspection Program. The full House is scheduled to consider the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2015, HR-4800 (here), on June 11. Hartzler has been an outspoken critic of the program during recent legislative debates revolving around the program (see 13121124).
Recent trade-related bills introduced in Congress include:
The Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank facilitates export sales and provides employment for hundreds of small to medium sized enterprises, despite criticism that the credit agency is subservient to corporate interests, said David Ickert, vice president of finance for Olney, Texas-based Air Tractor Inc. in a June 18 Dallas Morning News op-ed. Lawmakers continue to spar over reauthorization of the credit agency as its Sept. 30 expiration looms (see 14052123).
The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies advanced fiscal year 2015 appropriations legislation on June 10 without amendment. The Appropriations Committee released the draft legislation the day before (see 14060916). The legislation would direct $1.1 billion to the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund in order to support U.S. exports, and would fund total navigation projects and studies at $2.3 billion, the committee said.
The advocacy group Public Citizen is urging constituents to pressure Senate lawmakers to prohibit funding for trade negotiations that undermine the Buy American Act, a decades-old law that requires the U.S. government to favor domestic industry for procurement purposes. The House passed on June 2 the Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS), and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for 2015, HR-4660 (here), which includes an amendment to bar such negotiations. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., offered the amendment (see 14060202).
The House Appropriations Committee unveiled on June 9 fiscal year 2015 Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies appropriations legislation that would direct $1.1 billion to the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund in order to advance U.S. “export ability,” the committee said in a press release. The draft bill will be considered in subcommittee on June 10. The bill funds total navigation projects and studies at $2.3 billion, the committee said. President Barack Obama is soon expected to sign into law the Water Resources Reform and Development Act, legislation that would require full use of the trust fund for harbor maintenance and dredging by 2025, with annual increases in use over the next 10 years (see 14052313).
The House will continue to pursue passage of appropriations bills, Highway Trust Fund legislation and a number of other legislative priorities, but apparently won't advance long-awaited trade legislation as part of the June agenda, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., told the House Republican caucus in a June 6 memo. Trade bills such as Trade Promotion Authority, trade preference program renewals and Export-Import Bank renewal were absent from Cantor's agenda. The full House will likely consider three more appropriations bills in June, including agriculture and transportation legislation, the memo said. The House Appropriations Committee advanced both the agriculture and transportation bills in recent days and weeks. Cantor chided the Senate for failing to consider any appropriations bills this legislative calendar year, but praised the House for moving faster on appropriations than the chamber has done in 40 years.
The International Trade Administration would report to the Senate Appropriations Committee on improving antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) investigations within 90 days after the fiscal year Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies appropriations bill is signed into law. The committee issued the directive, along with a number of trade-related reporting directives, as part of the report that accompanied the legislation’s release on June 6. The committee report also directs the Commerce Department to report to the committee on how the National Export Initiative NEXT will “affect the existing level of market-access and industry-based export assistance.”