Lawmakers Still Hope to Finish Customs Bill Before August
Lawmakers are still aiming to formally launch and then wrap up legislative conference for Customs Reauthorization before the August recess, said several Senate Republican conferees on July 16. “I hope we can get that done before we go,” said Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. Hatch declined to comment on the fight over the PROTECT and ENFORCE Act and the prospect for Miscellaneous Tariff Bill process reform. Lawmakers will leave Washington on July 31 for a five-week recess.
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The Senate voted to go to conference over Customs Reauthorization in late June, but the House hasn’t yet acted on a similar vote. The two chambers passed different customs bills over the past several weeks, and trade architects on both sides of the Capitol have called for a quick compromise bill through conference (see 1505200025). Lawmakers are poised to hash out differences on a range of issues (see 1507070066).
Pre-conference negotiations are underway, said House and Senate staffers. "Preliminary conversations are ongoing between leaders of Finance and Ways and Means, but formal discussions are awaiting the House appointment of conferees," said one Senate aide close to the process.
The gaps between the two bills aren’t large enough to pose real obstacles, said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas. “I don’t think there’s anything terribly controversial that would prevent” lawmakers from passing a conference compromise before August, said Cornyn. “There’s a lot going on and I can’t tell you for sure it will happen by then. But I’m pretty confident it will happen.” If the pre-conference talks progress well, the actual conference will be just a "perfunctory experience ... without much more debate," he said.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., one of the Democratic conferees, put forth a less optimistic outlook for polishing off customs conference. “Don’t know when, don’t know when,” he said. Schumer spearheaded efforts to include a controversial currency provision in the Senate bill as it moved through the Finance Committee (see 1504270008). Many lawmakers, mostly Republicans, criticize the currency provision, which would allow the Commerce Department to impose countervailing duties on imports from currency manipulators.