House Majority Leader Says Trade Bills on His Radar
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., the man in charge of setting the calendar of floor votes, did not directly answer a question on whether the Haiti trade preference bill and the African Growth and Opportunity Act will get a vote in January, but indicated they're on his radar.
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Votes on bills that are expected to easily pass, such as these, often move on the suspension calendar, which limits the time for debate, can limit the time for voting, and prevents amendments. The Haitian trade preference bill passed out of the House Ways and Means Committee with no opposition; AGOA passed 37-3 (see 2512100010).
"I'll be talking to Chairman [Jason] Smith -- he's done a lot of really good work on trade, obviously, on tax policy," Scalise told International Trade Today in a brief hallway interview at the Capitol. Scalise noted that the Republicans are consumed with moving a health care bill this week, which is also in Ways and Means' jurisdiction.
AGOA is important to Smith; he led a trip to sub-Saharan Africa in 2024. He said that year that Congress aimed to renew the program with updates before it expired at the end of September 2025. Earlier this month, he told ITT he's been working on renewal "for a long time."
Scalise continued, "So Jason Smith's doing a lot of really important work for our conference, but you know, the bulk of the work we've been doing the last few weeks is on this healthcare bill, but we'll be talking about the trade bills as we look towards January, in the new year."
The bills that passed the committee provide for three-year renewals, through the end of calendar year 2028, with retroactive benefits since their expiration. Requests for liquidation or reliquidation would have to be filed within 180 days of enactment of the law, and CBP would have to pay within 90 days.
The White House has said it supports a one-year renewal of AGOA.