Senator Rockefeller, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, released a statement after President Obama nominated Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to be U.S. Ambassador to China, in which he stated, among other things, that Locke will be an outstanding U.S. ambassador to China, and hopes the President nominates another strong candidate to run the Commerce Department.
On March 9, 2011, the Senate failed to pass both the House-passed (i.e., Republican) continuing appropriations act (H.R. 1) for the remainder of fiscal year 2011, and the Senate (i.e. Democratic) alternative.
The following are trade-related highlights of the Executive Communications sent to Congress from February 11 to March 4, 2011:
On March 8, 2011, the following trade-related bills were introduced:
The following hearings, markups, or meetings are scheduled for March 9, 2011:
On March 8, 2011, a bipartisan group of 27 Senators sent a letter to the President regarding Japan’s interest in joining the Trans-Pacific partnership (TPP) negotiations. The Senators state that while Japan’s interest in TPP is encouraging, they have reservations regarding Japan’s inclusion in the TPP negotiations until certain conditions are met, specifically regarding Japan's restrictions on imports of U.S. beef.
On February 10, 2011, Representative Lummis (R) introduced the Collectable Firearms Protection Act (H.R. 615). After introduction, H.R. 615 was referred to the House Committees on Foreign Affairs and Ways and Means.
On January 25, 2011, Senator Shaheen (D) introduced the Stop Unfair Giveaways and Restrictions (SUGAR) Act of 2011 (S. 25), which would increase tariff rate quotas on certain sugar and decrease/eliminate certain federal price support and protection for sugar producers.
On March 9, 2011, the Senate is scheduled to proceed with consideration of the House-passed continuing appropriations act (H.R. 1) for the remainder of fiscal year 2011, and a Senate alternative. According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, House-passed H.R. 1 would cut $51 billion more in spending than the Senate alternative.
On March 8, 2011, the Senate amended and passed the Patent Reform Act (S. 23), a bill to amend 35 USC to provide for patent reform.