House looks to move trade agenda in first week back

The House of Representatives is tentatively scheduled to begin moving trade bills next week, shortly after it returns from its August recess, a GOP aide confirmed.

The first bill up will be a renewal of the lapsed Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program.

GSP grants duty-free access to some products from developing countries; it lapsed at the end of 2010. Importers have been pushing vigorously for its renewal.

The passage of GSP in the House will set up an elaborate series of votes that could lead to the passage of the long-stalled Colombia, Korea and Panama free-trade agreements that have been languishing since 2007.

President Obama said passing the deals will create jobs, but he has yet to submit them to Congress due to a dispute over renewing an expanded Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) benefits program.

Expanded TAA lapsed in February, and the administration wanted to force renewal by including TAA in one of the unamendable bills implementing one of the stalled FTAs.

The GSP bill could become the vehicle in the Senate for TAA. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced last month they had a deal to move TAA and the FTAs through the Senate.

Enough Senate Republicans support expanded TAA that it should pass there separately, but a real test will be whether it can pass unamended in the House.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) helped craft a compromise extension of the expanded program, but there is a cost associated with extending it. Some conservatives can be expected to try to block it on fiscal grounds.

At this point TAA continues to dole out benefits to some workers who can show they lost their jobs due to trade, but other workers, such as those in the service sector, are unable to obtain benefits.

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