Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Hits Snag in Senate
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., sought unanimous consent to pass the compromise text of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act on Dec. 15, but Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., prevented quick approval of the bill after Rubio declined to attach a child tax credit extension. Passage will likely have to wait until sometime in 2022 at the soonest because of Wyden's action.
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Wyden said he was completely sympathetic to the fight against genocide and forced labor. "I also feel incredibly strongly about our vulnerable children and our vulnerable families that are going to be cut off from an essential lifeline unless the Senate acts," he said. Because Rubio didn't agree to add the child tax credit to the Uyghur bill, Wyden blocked a vote on the Uyghur bill. The combined bill likely would not have gotten unanimous consent even if Rubio had agreed to Wyden's ask.
The bill's co-sponsor is Wyden's fellow Oregon Democrat, Jeff Merkley, who had argued just before Wyden blocked the bill: "I don't think any one of us wants to be complicit in this by buying these products. Let's get this done."
The bill, which passed the House Dec. 14, faced complications earlier in the day too. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., objected late afternoon Dec. 15 and said on the floor that he agreed on the underlying bill, but that the Senate needs to confirm Ambassador Nicholas Burns to go to China, as well as an assistant secretary of state for economic and business affairs and an ambassador at large for religious freedom, so that the policy can be implemented properly. He said he would agree to unanimous consent if Rubio agreed that votes be scheduled on those three nominees. Rubio agreed to the condition, but then Wyden made his request.
Rubio had said during a hallway interview with International Trade Today around noon that he didn't know how many more imports would be stopped by the legislation because the burden of proof shifted from the government to importers. "We'll find out now, but the fact that there are any tells you how dependent we have become [on China], and how many have looked the other way because of that dependency, on something that's really outrageous."
Rubio said that he wonders how aggressively CBP will implement the law once it is enacted, since the administration, in his experience, isn't "enthusiastic about it, to say the least."