A bill to require the Justice Department to establish a trade-crime task force, and to allow for parallel criminal and civil enforcement actions, passed the House Judiciary Committee unanimously. The bill, called the Protecting American Industry and Labor from International Crimes Act, was sponsored by the leaders of the House Select Committee on China and Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, another China committee member.

The chair and co-chair of the House Select Committee on China told an audience of Uyghur activists and others concerned about Chinese human rights abuses that they are pleased recommendations from their committee have become legislation.

The House Homeland Security Committee passed the Contraband Awareness Technology Catches Harmful (CATCH) Fentanyl Act on Sept. 25, sending the bill to the full House. It would require CBP to establish a pilot program to test at least five types of non-intrusive inspection equipment for goods coming in all modes of conveyance across the land borders. At least one of those approaches must include machine learning or artificial intelligence. No more than three years after passage, the agency would have to report to Congress the effectiveness of the systems tested in finding illegal drugs, guns and other contraband, whether it would work to use the equipment to serve all the land ports of entry, how much it would cost to do so, and how much time would CBP officers need to run these screens.

Advocating for a bipartisan bill introduced by Southwestern lawmakers to direct certain fees to land port expansions, equipment investments and staffing was the top priority for customs brokers in town to lobby as part of the group's annual government affairs conference.

A bipartisan group of senators, led by Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., have introduced a bill that would prohibit entry into the U.S. of both cargo and passenger ships that call on a port that was expropriated. Passenger ships are described as those that carry at least 149 people, with sleeping quarters. It also requires the U.S. trade representative to report to Congress on what the U.S. position will be during USMCA review on such expropriations.

Sens. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., introduced a bill that would ban the import and sale of kangaroo skin and products made with kangaroo skin, called "k-leather." According to the senators, the U.S. is the second-largest commercial market for k-leather products, such as soccer cleats. According to Pan-Am leathers, it's also used for boxing gloves and baseball gloves.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., the top Republican on the Senate committee that covers labor, criticized the Biden-Harris administration for not intervening to prevent a strike of union dockworkers at East and Gulf coast ports. The Longshoremen's contract ends Sept. 30.

A bill that would set up a pilot program for non-asset-based third-party logistics providers and warehouses to participate in the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program passed the House of Representatives on a voice vote Sept. 23, after passing the Senate in July. The CTPAT Pilot Program Act of 2023 would require that CBP run the pilot program for 20 3PLs in total, of which 10 will be non-asset-based and 10 others will be entities that manage and execute logistics services with their “own warehousing assets and resources on behalf of its customers.” Both warehousing companies and non-asset-based 3PLs currently aren't allowed to join CTPAT.

The leading Democrat in efforts to restrict de minimis in the House of Representatives, Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore, has tried to restrict de minimis eligibility since the beginning of 2022, and has said that getting a bill passed is how he'd like to end his career in Congress (see 2402150060).

Reps. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., and Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., along with two other Republicans and one Democrat, recently introduced a bill to amend the Controlled Substances Act to require that all manufacturers, distributors, importers and merchants involved with pill presses only import, carry, or sell machines with serial numbers affixed to them.