Trade Agenda Moves Forward in the Senate

June 29, 2011

On June 28, 2011, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) announced that the Senate Finance Committee will hold a “mock” markup of the draft implementing bills for the South Korea, Colombia, and Panama Free Trade Agreements on Thursday, June 30^th. The FTA draft implementing bills include renewals for the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), the Andean Trade Preferences Act (ATPA)/ Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA), and Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA). The Korea, Colombia, and Panama Free Trade Agreements have been stalled since May, largely due to disputes involving renewal of TAA.

According to a Senate Finance Committee news release, the TAA provisions reflect bipartisan, bicameral agreements on the underlying substance of the program. The proposal to renew TAA through December 31, 2013, which is included in the draft Korea FTA bill, provides for retroactively extending coverage to TAA petitions filed since February 12, 2011. It also provides for inclusion of the key eligibility requirements and fundamental reforms from the 2009 TAA expansion. The draft implementing bill for the Colombia FTA includes renewals of GSP and ATPA/ATPDEA through July 13, 2013. The renewals are retroactive to December 31, 2010, and February 12, 2011.

The “mock” markup is an informal step traditionally taken by Congressional committees with trade policy jurisdiction, because under Trade Promotion Authority procedures, Congress cannot offer amendments to the formal implementing bills that the Administration submits. The “mock” markups therefore serve as an opportunity for the trade-related committees to offer amendments to the Administration’s proposals.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) announced that the decision on how to move trade related items through the House would be up to the Republican leadership. Senator Camp further stated that he needs to review more fully recent changes in the draft bills Chairman Baucus released. Senator Hatch (R-UT), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, also released a statement on Tuesday. Senator Hatch expressed his opposition to including TAA in the Korea FTA bill and stated that the Administration should allow for a clean vote on each of the three pending FTAs.

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