Senate Majority Leader Says China Package With MTB/GSP Renewals May Be Added to NDAA
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, in a letter to colleagues, said it's "likely" that the Senate will consider the National Defense Authorization Act this week, and the China package that passed the Senate in June may be attached to it. That bill, the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act of 2021, included a renewal of the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program and the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (see 2106090041). Schumer said “there seems to be fairly broad” bipartisan support for adding USICA to the National Defense Authorization Act, which would allow a USICA negotiation with the House “to be completed alongside” the NDAA before the end of the year. The House plans to write its own version of USICA.
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Schumer wrote, "I have had a number of conversations with Senators on both sides of the aisle and there seems to be fairly broad support for doing so, which would enable a [China package] negotiation with the House to be completed alongside NDAA before the end of the year. One of the core goals of USICA is bolstering U.S. domestic manufacturing and supply chains. The funding and policies included in USICA will help alleviate the supply chain challenges facing our small business and consumers on a daily basis, making its passage this year critical."
However, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, in a floor speech Nov. 15, after Schumer's letter, said that "extraneous items" should be left on the sidelines as senators debate the NDAA. The entire China package is not the only possible addendum to the defense policy bill; Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., proposed that his Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act be an amendment on the must-pass bill (see 2111050021).