Miscellaneous Tariff Bill Finally Passes the House, Awaits Senate Action

July 22, 2010

After a delay of nearly three years of delays, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the U.S. Manufacturing Enhancement Act of 2010 (H.R. 4380, commonly known as the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB)) on July 22, 2010. The legislation suspends or lowers duties on hundreds of manufacturing inputs, raw materials and other products.

While both democrats and republicans agree that the legislation cuts business costs for thousands of U.S. companies and helps support employment in the U.S., the Republican leadership had resisted supporting the legislation due to its self-imposed ban on earmarks, which was determined to include limited tariff benefits.

H.R. 4380 was considered under suspension of the rules, requiring two-thirds of those present to support the bill for passage. When the final tally neared the two-thirds threshold, dozens of Republican representatives, who had initially registered no votes, abandoned their leadership and voted in favor of passing the legislation.

Provisions included in the legislation undergo an extremely thorough vetting process to ensure the benefits do not come at the expense of domestic manufacturers.  During the process, the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Finance Committee, the Administration, and the independent U.S. International Trade Commission thoroughly review each tariff relief request to ensure that there is no domestic opposition. 

In fear of Republican objections however, measures included H.R. 4380 are limited to: (1) bills requesting new duty suspensions or reductions that have a House and Senate counterpart; (2) House bills extending expired provisions; and (3) Senate bills extending expired provisions. Duty suspension and other tariff bills not included in the manager’s amendment will be considered in a second MTB package at a later date.

Before the President can sign the duty suspensions/reductions into law, the Senate must pass the legislation which sources indicate could happen before it adjourns for its August recess.