Schumer Says China Conference Can Conclude in September; Brady Skeptical
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaking on the floor of the Senate just before the CHIPS bill passed, said he wants the conference committee for the House and Senate China packages to continue negotiating.
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"While this bill contains many critical investments in chips and scientific research, there are other major proposals from both sides that are still in the works within the conference committee.
"That important work must continue, it will continue, and it is my intention to put the Conference Committee bill on the floor in September after their work is complete," he said.
Senate and House negotiators didn't reach agreement on any trade proposals, which included renewal of the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program and the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill, significant changes to trade remedies law, removing Chinese packages from de minimis eligibility, renewing Trade Adjustment Assistance, and directing the administration to re-start a broad Section 301 exclusion process.
"I would love to see us find common ground on GSP, MTB and [Section] 301 exclusions by September," Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, told International Trade Today July 27. Brady, the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, was holding a phone call with reporters. "I'm not necessarily optimistic about that, because there are some roadblocks here, and that would take a while to work, during that August work period. But my goal is to have these issues solved by the end of the year, and that tax and healthcare, and hopefully, trade package, sooner would be better, no doubt about it. But with the China bill essentially dead, the conference bill, dead, it really will be our responsibility -- [Ways and Means Committee] Chairman [Richard] Neal, [Senate Finance Committee] Chairman [Ron] Wyden, [Senate Finance Committee] ranking member [Mike] Crapo and I -- to try to piece together those elements that can be adopted by Congress and hopefully by the end of the year."
On the question of how far back the MTB retroactivity could go if the renewal comes in December, Brady said, "I don't know. That is one of those moving pieces in this discussion, on retroactivity."
He said retroactivity would be a tremendous help to businesses in this economy, but said there has been no draft agreement on retroactivity.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told ITT during a press conference at the Capitol that even though Neal was not able to reach agreement with his Senate counterparts on the trade title, he expects the proposals to continue to be debated until Congress adjourns in December. "I don't want to predict what action will be taken on" GSP and MTB, he said, but said that both Republicans and Democrats are interested in moving some of these trade proposals.