On September 15, 2010, the House is scheduled to consider, among other things, H.R. 2039, the Congressional Made in America Promise Act of 2009. H.R. 2039 would clarify the applicability of the Buy American Act to products purchased for the use of the legislative branch, to prohibit the application of any of the exceptions to the requirements of such Act to products bearing a Congressional seal, and for other purposes.
On September 14, 2010, the Senate reached agreement to continue its consideration of H.R. 5297, the Small Business Lending Fund Act, on September 15, 2010. According to a statement by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Baucus (D), the bill would, among other things, create new tools to help small businesses export goods and establish a new State Export Promotion Grant Program.
USChina.org has posted a September 14, 2010 letter to the House Ways and Means Committee leadership from 36 trade associations stating their strong opposition to H.R. 2378, the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act, which seeks to address concerns regarding the value of China's currency. The letter comes one day in advance of September 15-16 Ways and Means hearings on China's exchange rate policies.
On September 13, 2010, the following trade-related bill was introduced:
On September 2, 2010, during the adjournment, the following bill was reported in the Senate:
On August 5, 2010, Senators Wyden (D) and two cosponsors1 introduced S. 3725, the Enforcing Orders and Reducing Circumvention and Evasion Act of 2010 or "ENFORCE Act," a bill to prevent importation of merchandise that evades U.S. antidumping and countervailing duty orders, etc.
On September 10, 2010, House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Ranking Member Brady (R) urged the President to review the economy-wide effects of the Section 421 increased tariffs on certain Chinese tires. (In September 2009, the President imposed Section 421 additional duties on certain tires from China.) Brady notes that the law allows the President to request a report from the International Trade Commission to gauge whether or not the tariffs have proven effective.
The House Ways and Means Committee has announced that it will be holding a second hearing on China’s exchange rate policy on September 16, 2010. The purpose of this hearing is to consider what action Congress and the Administration may need to take to address China’s exchange rate policy and its effect on the U.S. and global economic recoveries and on U.S. job creation.
On September 1, 2010, the American Apparel and Footwear sent a letter to the Ambassador of Bangladesh expressing its concern about recent events in Bangladesh, particularly with regards to repeated news reports of police and government repression of workers in various Ready Made Garment (RMG) factories around the country.
The American Apparel and Footwear Association’s Government Contracts Committee has sent a letter to the Commander of the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support urging reconsideration of the decision to change DLA Troop Support’s acquisition procedures from the current “Best Value” mechanism to a Low Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) and/or Reverse Auction systems.