Industry News

House and Senate Introduce GSP Renewal Bills; House Proposes Miscellaneous Tariff Suspension Bill

July 18, 2013


In a bipartisan effort, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Came (R-MI), Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI), Trade Subcommittee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA), and Ranking Member Charles Rangel (D-NY) introduced two trade related bills in the House.  In addition, Senate finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-UT) introduced the same bill in the Senate.

H.R. 2709 and its Senate counterpart extend the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) through September 2015.  The program is currently set to expire July 31, 2013.  “GSP provides important benefits to U.S. Manufacturers and consumers and supports more than 80,000 American jobs,” Representative Camp said in a press release.  “We cannot allow this bill to be bogged down by amendments, and I urge the Senate to act quickly on a clean bill.  Time is of the essence.”

In addition, H.R. 2708, the U.S. Jobs Creation and Manufacturing Competitiveness Act of 2013 (also referred to as the “Miscellaneous Tariff Bill”), was introduced only in the House.  It includes 2,000 bills which were cleared for action during the legislative tariff suspension process.  The omnibus bill was originally brought to the House floor near the end of the 112th Congress.  Representative Levin commented, “(MTB) helps U.S. manufacturers have the resources necessary to compete in the global marketplace.  It is written to provide complete transparency in order to be certain that imported inputs will support American products and jobs.”

The Senate has delayed action on the MTB due to a dispute over whether its provisions should be considered “earmarks.”

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