Customs Reauthorization Bill Expected to Progress Mid-Week As Internet Tax Negotiations Continue
A vote to end debate on customs reauthorization legislation and pave the way for a final vote could happen as early as Feb. 10 if Senate negotiations over the inclusion of controversial internet tax provisions continue apace, International Trade Todayhas learned. Supporters of including the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act (PITFA) language in the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act (HR-644) have been lobbying in recent weeks to ensure they get at least 60 senators to vote to overturn an expected challenge by Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill. Alexander and Durbin are expected to seek a point of order ruling that an ITFA extension is outside the scope of the customs bill (see 1601140004).
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“I hope we can do something soon [with HR-644], maybe next week,” said Senate GOP Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, to reporters Thursday. Stakeholders on Capitol Hill Thursday to brief reporters and rally support for keeping PITFA in HR-644 said they still expect the Senate to take up the bill before the Presidents Day recess begins Feb. 13 as previously indicated (see 1601280052). Several told us they believe Feb. 10 is the likeliest date for invoking cloture on the customs reauthorization bill if negotiations continue to progress.
Durbin and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who co-wrote the Senate PITFA equivalent Internet Tax Freedom Forever Act (S-431) and led the charge to include that bill's language in HR-644, revealed little Thursday about PITFA's current status. Alexander and Durbin “are still talking to members about their votes on cloture” for customs reauthorization, Durbin told reporters. “We expect to move [HR-644] forward,” Wyden said in an interview. “What we are trying to do now is address concerns members have on other issues.” Alexander and Durbin are pushing to remove PITFA from customs reauthorization and instead renew their push to have PITFA considered in combination with the controversial Marketplace Fairness Act (S-698).
Senate supporters of overturning an attempt to remove PITFA from customs reauthorization are believed to outnumber supporters of sustaining Alexander and Durbin's planned challenge, but the margin “is tight,” said National Taxpayers Union President Pete Sepp in an interview. “It's somewhere north of 50, but it's going to come down to a handful of votes.” Many factors are complicating the current state of play on PITFA as part of customs reauthorization, including whether some of S-698's current co-sponsors would vote to keep PITFA in HR-644 despite wanting further Senate consideration of S-698, Sepp said. Other senators may concentrate on the customs reauthorization bill's underlying text and “may say that if there's any chance that this debate could derail passage of the underlying bill, 'don't do it,'” Sepp said.