Congress Passes Economic Stimulus Bill Conference Report (President Expected to Sign Today)

As the conference report has been passed by both the House and Senate, it now goes to the President for approval (enactment), which is scheduled to occur on February 17, 2009.

Aspects of H.R. 1 specific to international trade include the following provisions (partial list):

Funds for NII Systems, SW Border Security, Land Border Port Construction, Etc.

H.R. 1 would provide U.S. Customs and Border Protection with an additional:

$100 million for the procurement and deployment of non-intrusive inspection systems;

$100 million for expedited development and deployment of border security technology on the Southwest border;

$420 million for planning, management, design, alteration, and construction of CBP owned land border ports of entry; and

$60 million for procurement and deployment of tactical communications equipment and radios.

H.R. 1 would also provide $20 million to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for the procurement and deployment of tactical communications equipment and radios.

In addition, H.R. 1 would provide the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) with an additional $1 billion for procurement and installation of checked baggage explosives detection systems and checkpoint explosives detection equipment.

H.R. 1 would require the Secretary of Homeland Security to submit to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, within 45 days of enactment, expenditure plans for the funds provided to CBP, ICE, and TSA.

Buy American Provisions

Iron, steel, and manufactured goods. The conference report contains a provision that, unless excepted, would prohibit its funds from being used for a project for the construction, alteration, maintenance, or repair of a public building or public workunless all of the iron, steel, and manufactured goods used in the project are produced in the U.S. (see conference report for details on exceptions).

The conference report also states that this provision shall be applied in a manner consistent with U.S. obligations under international agreements.

The Joint Statement of the House-Senate Conference Committee² states that the conferees anticipate that the Administration will rely on the authority under 19 USC 2511(b) to the extent necessary to comply with U.S. obligations under the World Trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement and under U.S. free trade agreements and so that this provision will not apply to least developed countries to the same extent that it does not apply to the parties to those international agreements.

Clothing, textiles, etc. The conference report also includes a provision that, unless excepted, would prohibit Department of Homeland Security funds from being used for the procurement of certain textiles and apparel³ directly related to the national security interests of the U.S. if the item is not grown, reprocessed, reused, or produced in the U.S. (see conference report for details on exceptions).

The conference report also states that this provision shall be applied in a manner consistent with U.S. obligations under international agreements.

According to the Joint Statement, this provision is modeled after the Berry Amendment (10 USC 2533a), which has required the Department of Defense to purchase domestically manufactured textiles and apparel.

(The European Union, among others, had expressed concerns about the House-passed version of H.R.1's Buy American provisions.)

Restrictions on Byrd Amendment Duty Refund Recollections

According to the Joint Statement, the H.R. 1 conference report would:

prohibit the Secretary of Homeland Security, or any other person, from requiring repayment of, or in any other way recouping, duties that were (1) distributed pursuant to the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000 (i.e., the Byrd Amendment); (2) assessed and paid on imports of goods from Canada and Mexico; and (3) distributed on or after January 1, 2001 and before January 1, 2006;

prohibit CBP from offsetting any current or future duty distributions on goods from countries other than Canada and Mexico in an attempt to recoup duties described above;

require CBP to refund any such duty repayments or recoupments it has already received. Further, it requires CBP to fully distribute any duties it is withholding as an offset against current or future duty distributions; and

clarify that CBP is not prohibited from collecting payments resulting from (1) false statements or other misconduct by a recipient of a duty payment or (2) re-liquidation of entries with respect to which duty payments were made.

(The Joint Statement notes that the conferees do not intend this provision to amend U.S. antidumping or countervailing duty laws.)

Reauthorization and Expansion of Trade Adjustment Assistance

According to a Senate Finance Committee summary, the conference report would:

reauthorize all Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) programs (which expired December 31, 2007) through December 31, 2010;

extend TAA to trade-affected services sector workers and workers affected by offshoring or outsourcing to all countries, including China or India;

increase training funds available to states by 160% to $575 million per fiscal year;

create a new TAA program for trade-affected communities;

allow for automatic TAA eligibility for workers suffering from import surges and unfair trade;

make training, healthcare and reemployment TAA benefits more accessible and flexible; and

improve the TAA for Firms and TAA for Farmers programs.

¹The House passed its version of H.R. 1 on January 28, 2009. The Senate passed its own version of H.R. 1 on February 10, 2009. A House-Senate conference was held to resolve the differences between the two versions. On February 12, 2009, the House-Senate conference committee filed its conference report (i.e., a House-Senate compromise bill).

²The Joint Statement explains the effect of the accompanying conference report.

³An article or item of (a) clothing and the materials and components thereof, other than sensors, electronics, or other items added to, and not normally associated with, clothing (and the materials and components thereof); (b) tents, tarpaulins, covers, textile belts, bags, protective equipment (including but not limited to body armor), sleep systems, load carrying equipment (including but not limited to fieldpacks), textile marine equipment, parachutes, or bandages; (c) cotton and other natural fiber products, woven silk or woven silk blends, spun silk yarn for cartridge cloth, synthetic fabric or coated synthetic fabric (including all textile fibers and yarns that are for use in such fabrics), canvas products, or wool (whether in the form of fiber or yarn or contained in fabrics, materials, or manufactured articles); or (d) any item of individual equipment manufactured from or containing such fibers, yarns, fabrics, or materials.

(See ITT's Online Archives or 02/10/09 news, 09021015, for BP summary on the House passage of its version of H.R. 1.

See ITT's Online Archives or 02/12/09 news, 09021299 3, for BP summary on the House and Senate negotiators reaching agreement on the H.R. 1 conference report.

See ITT's Online Archives or 02/09/09 news, 09020999 5 for BP summary on efforts to add expanded TAA to economic stimulus bill.)

H.R. 1 conference report (H. Rept. 111-16) and Joint Explanatory Statement available at http://thomas.loc.gov/home/approp/app09.htmlh1.

Senate Finance Committee summary of conference report (dated 02/12/09) available at http://finance.senate.gov/press/Bpress/2009press/prb021209.pdf.