Recent trade-related bills introduced in Congress include:
The ongoing government shutdown has forced Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to furlough at least 95 percent of its staff, including all port inspectors, bringing the total employees to less than 25 and depriving the agency of all capacity to screen imported products, said a report (here) prepared for an Oct. 11 Senate Committee on Science, Commerce and Transportation hearing . The hearing focused on broad impacts of the government shutdown. The CPSC is no longer able to publish reports of consumer damages and threats via www.saferproducts.gov, a website that receives roughly 100,000 visits and publishes over 1,000 reports each month, according to the report compiled by the majority staff under Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va.
The drive to push Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) legislation in Congress may help usher in pending trade pacts, the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, and ultimately benefit U.S. consumers, Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., told a National Foreign Trade Council event on Oct. 9. “Our economy is quite different from that of the economy of 2002, when TPA was last written, and there are new opportunities and challenges related to international trade and investment that I think will be huge winners for American workers and American families,” said Wyden. The Senator also echoed calls by an Oct. 8 George Washington University panel to include rules on the digital economy in future free trade agreements (see 13100811). “Right now, the trade rules don’t neatly apply to the digital economy. They don’t apply despite the fact that there is a growing number of protectionist practices that we’re facing with overseas and barriers popping up.”
The House on Oct. 10 passed H.J. Res. 79, the Border Security and Enforcement Continuing Appropriations Resolution 2014 that would fund CBP. After passing with 249 votes, the bill will be sent to the Senate. Lawmakers remain deadlocked on government appropriations legislation.
The recently introduced Lacey Act Amendments Act of 2013 would grandfather any plant or plant product purchased before the enactment of the 2008 Lacey Act Amendments, relieving U.S. importers of considerable risk, said House Natural Resources Subcommittee Chairman Congressman John Fleming, R-La., through a press official. Congressman Fleming introduced the legislation on Oct. 9 (see 13101004). The legislation addresses the Lacey Act Amendments of 2008 and lower restrictions on:
Recent trade-related bills introduced in Congress include:
The North American Energy Infrastructure Act will strip the Department of Energy (DOE) of powers to determine if public interest is met by liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to non-free trade agreement countries, read a Industrial Energy Consumers of America letter (here) on Oct. 8 to Congressman Fred Upton, R-Mich., the bill’s author and Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The bill (here) aims to consolidate and standardize cross-border energy transfer, the committee said (here). The legislation has yet to be introduced and remains in discussion draft form, according to a committee spokeswoman. “Non-free trade countries discriminate against U.S. manufacturing goods, and shipments of LNG to those countries undermine free trade negotiations,” read the letter.
Recent trade-related bills introduced in Congress include:
The Senate-passed Small Airplane Revitalization Act of 2013 will modernize aviation regulations and reduce costs for American manufacturers, said J.P. Freire, Communications Director for the bill’s original sponsor Congressman Mike Pompeo, R-Kan. The legislation passed the Senate on Oct. 4 through unanimous consent after receiving it from the House on July 17. The legislation was amended and will have to return to the House before going to President Barack Obama’s desk.
New lobbyist registrations on trade-related issues include: