The Census Bureau has issued a press release announcing that the U.S.' international deficit in goods and services decreased to $58.23 billion in March 2008 from $61.7 billion (revised) in February, as imports decreased more than exports. (Census press release, dated 05/09/08, available at http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/Press-Release/current_press_release/ft900.pdf)
Washington Trade Daily reports the Secretary of Agriculture Schafer as acknowledging that Congress may have enough votes to override a Presidential veto of the conference version of the Farm Bill. (WTD, dated 05/12/08, www.washingtontradedaily.com )
The House Agriculture Committee reports that on May 8, 2008, Congressional negotiators announced a final Farm Bill conference agreement. According to a Committee fact sheet, the conference agreement includes, among many other things, a provision to make country-of-origin labeling for meat and produce mandatory. (House Agriculture Committee statement available at http://agriculture.house.gov/inside/FarmBill.html; Fact Sheet on conference agreement summary available at http://agriculture.house.gov/inside/Legislation/110/FB/Conf/FarmBillOnePager.pdf.)
President Bush has issued Executive Order (EO) 13464, effective May 1, 2008 at 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time, expanding the Burma (Myanmar) sanctions by blocking the property or interests in property of additional "persons" (i.e. individuals or entities).
The General Services Administration has posted to its RegInfo.gov Web site the Spring 2008 semi-annual regulatory agendas for Federal government agencies.
The World Shipping Council's President Koch recently stated before the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee that a decision not to proceed with the "10 plus 2" initiative could easily raise more difficult supply chain security strategy questions than what the trade faces today. Koch stated that the most significant questions about 10 plus 2 won't be its format or the length of its implementation phase-in period, but the strategic question of whether and how CBP intends to improve its advance cargo risk assessment capabilities. (Hearing statement, dated 04/02/08, available at http://www.worldshipping.org/testimony_house_approps_homeland_security_subcommitee_42008.pdf)
On May 1, 2008, both the House and Senate passed S. 2954, a bill to extend certain trade and other provisions of the 2002 Farm Security and Rural Investment Act (2002 Farm Bill) another two weeks, until May 16, 2008. This is the third extension. (S. 2954 available at http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_bills&docid=f:s2954enr.txt.pdf.)
The Bureau of Industry and Security has issued a press release announcing the establishment of a new process to systematically review one third of the Commerce Control List each year to ensure that the export control regime meets today's challenges.
The Bureau of Industry and Security has issued a final rule, effective April 18, 2008, which makes technical corrections to the Export Administration Regulations, 15 CFR Parts 748 and 774, as part of BIS' 2007/2008 systematic review of the Commerce Control List1.
CongressDaily reports that the Food and Drug Administration reversed an earlier decision, which had been sharply criticized by Congress, to close seven of its 13 labs nationwide. The FDA now states it will refrain from closing any of its field laboratories equipped to analyze potentially dangerous food and drugs. (CongressDaily, dated 01/31/08, available at http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=39170&ref=rellink)