Industry News

Congress Adjourns without Action on MTB

December 28, 2009


Last week, the Senate adjourned without taking any action towards passing a Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) due to political difficulties. As a result, many duty suspensions that importers have benefited from over the last two years are set to expire on December 31, 2009.

Congressional aides are now discussing the possibility of passing a scaled back MTB early next year when members return from their holiday recess, and a second MTB containing more duty suspensions later in 2010. The first MTB would include bills designed to extend expiring tariff suspensions and have been vetted by the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC). Additionally, the first package may include some new duty suspensions that have been introduced in both chambers and cleared by the USITC.    The second MTB could include all measures not yet vetted by the Senate or the USITC. This would also include any measure that has only been introduced in one chamber.

A key issue moving forward will whether or not the Congress will authorize refunds for higher duties paid between December 31, 2009 and whenever reinstates existing duty suspensions.   In the past, when duty suspensions had lapsed, companies did not normally receive refunds.

Already, Senate aides are cautioning that the path forward on MTB next year is still uncertain. Although the differentiated plan discussed above represents an informal, staff-level agreement, there has been no agreement amongst members on how to proceed. At least one Senator, Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), has raised objections over the general idea of passing an MTB, calling it “exactly the wrong strategy for our economy.”

The House MTB, introduced on December 16th, included over 600 tariff measures vetted by the Ways and Means Committee. The Committee excluded “controversial” bills and legislation that involved liquidations and reliquidations, and has removed retroactivity from bills that requested it. However, due to the tight calendar in Congress, the House failed to move forward on the MTB before adjourning.