The U.S. surface transportation infrastructure is failing to keep pace with the global marketplace, said Stu Levenick, a Caterpillar group president, in testimony delivered to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Jan. 14 (here). The Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, signed into law in 2012, improved federal surface transportation infrastructure efforts, but the legislation fails to enable U.S. companies to compete globally. "While other parts of the world are integrating and modernizing their infrastructure to meet the economic challenges of the 21st century, we are failing to act comprehensively and decisively," said Levenick, according to a Caterpillar press release (here). "Our transportation system is the backbone of our economy. However, we are relying on investments made decades ago to sustain our growing and changing economy. We must renew our commitment to this system if we are to ensure our nation's global competitiveness." Caterpillar exported over $22 billion in products from the U.S. in 2012, said Levenick.
House and Senate lawmakers should be permitted to repeal the U.S. Department of Agriculture Catfish Inspection Program in a Farm Bill final conference report vote, said Congressman Rick Nolan, D-Minn., in a Jan. 10 letter and accompanying press release. Nolan addressed the letter to House Farm Bill conferees Frank Lucas, R-Okla., and Collin Peterson, D-Minn. Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., remains the lone obstacle to including a repeal measure in the final conference report, said Nolan. “During Farm Bill markup in 2013, the House Agriculture Committee included a repeal of this program by a bipartisan vote of 31-15. Similarly, the Senate voted to eliminate this program by an undisputed voice vote in 2012,” said Nolan. “One member of Congress should not be allowed to hinder the will of the majority in what should be a transparent and engaging process.”
The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing (here) on Jan. 15 at 10 a.m. to consider the pending nomination of Gil Kerlikowske to be CBP Commissioner. The Finance Committee will also hold a hearing (here) on Jan. 16 at 10 a.m. titled “Advancing Congress’s Trade Agenda, The Role of Trade Negotiating Authority.” Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., Finance Committee ranking member Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., introduced updated Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) legislation on Jan. 9 (see 14011013). The Finance Committee has not yet released the names of witnesses scheduled to attend the trade agenda hearing.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Authorization Act, HR-3846 (here), would deliver formal congressional authorization to CBP and clarify CBP security missions for the first time since Department of Homeland Security (DHS) inception in 2002, said the legislation sponsor, House Homeland Security Border and Maritime Security Subcommittee Chairman Candice Miller, R-Mich.,in a Jan. 10 press release. The legislation would specifically authorize the CBP Office of Border Patrol, Office of Field Operations, Office of Air and Marine and Office of Intelligence.
The U.S. should consider increasing the role of African regional economic communities (RECs) through African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) renewal in order to streamline U.S. export and import capacity with the continent, said Manchester Trade President Steve Lande at a Jan. 9 House Foreign Affairs Committee subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations titled “Will there be an African Economic Community?” The African continent is making significant advances toward economic integration, aided by U.S. efforts through U.S. Trade Representative Trade and Investment Framework Agreements and State Department missions to African RECs, said Lande.
The Obama Administration continues to fail to address “strong and enforceable” currency manipulation in Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, said Sens. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., in a Jan. 8 letter to President Barack Obama. The administration has also repeatedly declined to respond to Congressional pressure urging the incorporation of currency disciplines in a final TPP pact, said the Senators.
The absence of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) will not hamper progress in finalizing Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, despite conventional wisdom that suggests otherwise, said CATO Institute trade policy analyst William Watson in a Jan. 8 blog post. Moreover, TPA passage prior to the conclusion of TPP negotiations may limit the flexibilities U.S. negotiators are able to exercise in making sensitive concessions, said Watson. The notion that TPA guarantees smooth passage of implementation legislation through Congress is also a false presumption, said Watson.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Catfish Inspection Program will embroil the U.S. in a multi-billion dollar trade war if it is permitted to remain law following the anticipated release of a Farm Bill conference report and future passage of Farm Bill legislation, said Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., in a Jan. 8 letter to Senate Farm Bill conferees. In the event conferees fail to include a Catfish Inspection Program repeal measure in the conference report, McCain pledged to pursue other legislative means to eliminate the program.
The Obama Administration should lift the prohibition on U.S. exports of domestic crude oil and condensate, such as liquefied natural gas (LNG), exports, said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska., in a Jan. 7 keynote speech to the Brookings Institution Energy Security Initiative. The removal of the ban will send a signal to the that the U.S. is resolute in pursuing the role of a major global hydrocarbon producer, said Murkowski.
President Barack Obama on Jan. 7 sent the following nominations to the Senate, according to an administration press release: