Republicans from the United States Senate, including Senate Leader Mitch McConnell and its Finance Committee Ranking Member Orrin Hatch, have sent a letter to President Obama urging him to submit the pending free trade agreements (FTAs) with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea to Congress for a vote.

On September 22 this year, the Senate approved H.R. 2832, legislation to extend the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) until July 31, 2013, and extend and expand Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) until December 31, 2013. GSP is a programme designed to promote economic growth in the developing world by providing preferential duty-free entry for up to 4,800 products, while TAA provides benefits to US workers who lose their jobs as a result of freer trade.

While the Republican-led House of Representatives had passed a similar GSP-renewal bill earlier in September, but without the TAA re-authorization, the Democrat-led Senate bill, by attaching the re-authorization of TAA, has now fulfilled a condition insisted upon by President Obama before introducing the pending FTAs to Congress.

The Republican Party had originally proposed to take the FTAs through Congress first, to be followed by TAA, but the President has always insisted that all the bills should be introduced and passed together.

The letter points out that, almost immediately after the passage of H.R. 2832, “Speaker of the House John Boehner reiterated his commitment to consider TAA in tandem with legislation to implement the long-stalled FTAs with Colombia, Panama and South Korea. While not all members supported H.R. 2832, these actions demonstrate that all that remains for the FTAs to be successfully considered is for your Administration to submit them to Congress for a vote. As you know, a vote in Congress will not occur until you take this action.”

“Submitting the FTAs to Congress is a concrete step you can take to help the American economy recover,” it adds. “We urge you to take that step immediately. Once you submit these agreements, we are confident that they will be quickly considered and approved by a bipartisan majority in both houses of Congress.”

However, while the United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk has applauded the Senate’s passage of H.R. 2832, he has also pointed out that “discussions continue with congressional leadership on how (the pending FTA) bills will move through the legislative process.” The Administration still appears to remain concerned at the ability of the Republican Party to deliver a TAA renewal in the House at the same time as the FTAs.

October 2, 2011

Source: Tax News

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