The House Appropriations Committee approved on May 29 agriculture appropriations legislation with a 31-18 vote. House and Senate subcommittees advanced respective agriculture appropriations bills last week (see 14052107). The House bill provides $142.5 billion in total funding for the Agriculture Department, the Food and Drug Administration and related agencies, including $20.9 billion in discretionary funding (see 14051919). Lawmakers tacked on a number of amendments during the House markup, including a measure to prohibit funding to purchase Chinese processed poultry for use in school lunch programs. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., offered the amendment.

Recent trade-related bills introduced in Congress include:

The House Appropriations Committee Subcommittee for Homeland Security advanced Department of Homeland Security fiscal year 2015 appropriations legislation by unanimous voice vote on May 28. Committee Democratic leadership expressed support for the legislation during the markup. Lawmakers did not offer or debate amendments to the legislation. The full Appropriations Committee will now consider the bill. The legislation would boost funding for CBP and mandate spending for completion of the Automated Commercial Environment (see 14052817).

The Commerce Department’s ongoing investigation of Chinese solar panel dumping in the U.S. market threatens to cost U.S. solar jobs and prevents cheap consumer access to solar power, said 23 House lawmakers in a May 28 letter to President Barack Obama. The administration should work to conclude a negotiated settlement with China over the dispute, said the lawmakers. Seven senators sent a similar letter to Vice President Joe Biden in April (see 14041111).

House lawmaker Diane Black, R-Tenn., introduced legislation on May 28 that would remove tariffs on a raft of electronic learning devices for children. The bill, the Elimination of Tariffs on Education for Children’s Act, would insert subheading 8543.70.94 into the Harmonized Tariff Schedule to provide for duty-free import of the learning devices. The legislation would replicate the duty-free status of 8543.70.92, a subheading that addresses electrical machines with translation or dictionary functions, flat panel displays and other goods. The bill would make the tariff removal on the products permanent, said Black, according to a spokesman. “Electronic learning devices have been used in hundreds of thousands of classrooms and households,” said Black. “Congress has already recognized the importance of eliminating duties on electronic educational devices and has approved three temporary tariff reductions under the Miscellaneous Tariff Bills since 2004.” Congress remains unable to find a trade legislation vehicle (see 14032429). The Black legislation has four co-sponsors.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce decision to send a business delegation to Cuba this week disregards ongoing labor abuses and overwhelming state financial control in the country, said Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., in a May 26 letter to Chamber President Thomas Donohue. The Cuban government has implemented only “cosmetic” changes to its economic policy in recent years as a means to attract “badly-needed foreign investment,” said Menendez.

The House Appropriations Committee released its Department of Homeland Security fiscal year 2015 (FY15) funding legislation, which includes a $219.6 billion boost in discretionary appropriations for CBP from FY14 levels (see 14011423). The legislation would authorize $10.78 billion in discretionary appropriations for CBP, of which $3.27 million should come from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund. The committee is seeking to appropriate $8.3 billion of the total discretionary appropriations for customs, agricultural inspections and other primary agency activities. The bill would also provide $810 million for the CBP operation and improvement of automated systems, including $141 million mandatory appropriations for the Automated Commercial Environment. The Appropriations Committee legislation requires $481 million in funds to remain available through FY19 for the operation, maintenance and repair of land ports of entry. The CBP appropriations are $98.3 million above the President Barack Obama’s FY15 request, according to the committee. The funding would support 23,775 CBP officers, said a committee fact sheet on the bill (here). The bill would also deny Obama's proposal to increase aviation passenger security fees and CBP user fees (see 14031217), it said.

Recent trade-related bills introduced in Congress include:

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman should launch a dispute at the World Trade Organization (WTO) against China for state-sponsored trade secret theft on U.S. industry, said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., in a May 22 letter to Froman. A grand jury in the Western District of Pennsylvania in recent days indicted five Chinese military officials accused of economic espionage on U.S. interests, including spying on attorney-client communications in trade litigation (see 14052008). “It is critical to the cyber security of American businesses that we have in place and take advantage of strong enforcement mechanisms to punish countries who sanction cyber-attacks,” said Schumer in the letter. “The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) requires each WTO member to protect trade secrets and Chinese policies that sanction cyber espionage are in clear violation of that agreement."

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative should reject any Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership provisions for geographical indication (GI) restrictions that would restrict the ability of U.S. producers to use common cheese names, said 55 senators in a recent letter, reiterating past calls to eliminate European Union (EU) rules. The EU is reportedly pressing for inclusion of the geographical indication language in a TTIP agreement, in line with similar efforts in other EU trade agreements, said the letter. The EU restrictions could limit U.S. use of cheese names such as “muenster,” “parmesan” and “feta,” according to Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., in a press release.“In country after country, the EU has been using its free trade agreements to persuade its trading partners to impose barriers to U.S. exports under the guise of protection for its geographical indications,” said the letter. “This trade-damaging practice is concerning anywhere, but it is most deeply troubling where the U.S. has an established FTA or has been actively in the process of negotiating a new agreement.” The senators submitted the letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman. House lawmakers sent a related letter to the two cabinet officials in the days preceding the Senate submission (see 14042201 and 14051534).