Catching up with last week’s blizzard of legislative action and regulatory excess…

• On Thursday, Dec. 23, the Environmental Protection Agency circumvented the policymaking branch of government, the U.S. Congress, and announced its plans to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from such sources as coal-fired power plants and refineries. In a statement, Jay Timmons, executive vice president of the National Association of Manufacturers, said, “Today’s announcements demonstrate the EPA’s commitment to move forward with an overreaching agenda that will only raise energy costs and hurt manufacturers’ ability to grow, create jobs and compete in the global marketplace.” 

• As its final legislative action before adjourning, the House on Wednesday, Dec. 22, agreed to the Senate’s stripped-down version of H.R. 6517, the Omnibus Trade Act. With removal of the critical Miscellaneous Trade Benefits language, the bill is more minibus: It extends for six weeks Andean Trade Preferences Act benefits for Colombia — well-deserved — and for Ecuador, now governed by the leftist government of Rafael Correa, which has attacked the rule of law and violated its treaty obligations. The bill also extends Trade Adjustment Assistance authority for retraining programs for workers affected by trade. The incoming Ways & Means chairman, Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), commented, “I would rather have passed a longer-term extension of ATPA and TAA, and unfortunately, the other provisions of the House bill died in the Senate.  I look forward to working in the next Congress on additional trade legislation, including enacting the trade agreements with Colombia, South Korea, and Panama.” 

• Also on Wednesday, the House approved the Senate-amended version of H.R. 847, the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, by a vote of 206-60, with 168 members not voting. The earlier House bill had a pricetag of $7.4 billion; thanks largely to the doughtiness of Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), the total cost has been reduced to $4.2 billion with stronger oversight provisions included and a cap imposed on trial lawyer fees. (Coburn news release.) The compromise language replaces the House’s early funding mechanism, a tax on multinational companies that do business in the United States. Instead, the law charges  “a 2 percent excise fee on foreign manufacturers/companies located in countries where the U.S. does not have an international procurement agreement receiving government disbursements made under future procurement agreements.  In addition, the bill would extend fees on H-1B and L-1 visas until 2015.” (Senate GOP release.) 

• The Senate confirmed federal judges, but did not act on two controversial nominees to U.S. District Court of interest to manufacturers: John “Jack” McConnell, the Rhode Island trial lawyer who masterminded the state’s litigation against paint manufacturers, and former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler, Jr., who helped strike down the state’s limits on medical liability and promoted the scheme of “market share liability” for paint manufacturers. 

• On Tuesday, Dec. 21, the House of Representatives agreed to the Senate amendments to the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act as contained in H.R. 2751, and the bill now goes to President Obama for his signature. The NAM supported the bill. For more, see Food Manufacturing’s report, “What The Food Safety Modernization Act Means To You.”  (continue reading…)

Senate supporters of expanded exports and economic growth will give another try today to obtain unanimous consent agreement to pass the Omnibus Trade Act. (H.R. 6517). They are unlikely to be successful. A Senate failure to advance this bill, which is vitally important to manufacturers large and small across the country, will be a setback for continued growth and job creation.

This bill is a tax cut for manufacturing in America: The Miscellanous Tariff Bill (MTB) provisions cut tariffs on manufacturing inputs unavailable domestically. By passing the MTB, the Senate will do what the House agreed to by bipartisan voice vote last week, eliminate added costs on making things in America.

The preference extensions for Colombia, and the GSP preferences extensions for developing countries, are crucial for global economic growth and are important for diplomatic and strategic reasons as well.

The Washington Post today has an editorial that sums up the Colombia issues at the heart of this bill, “The U.S. has no good reasons to stall on Latin America free-trade deals.” The National Association of Manufacturers has pushed the Obama Administration to send all three pending trade agreements (Colombia, Korea and Panama) since they were concluded. The time for those agreements is now. Meanwhile, the time for the Omnibus Trade bill, for MTB, GSP and ATPA, is running out.

Earlier this week, with strong bipartisan support and vibrant endorsement by top Republicans –- including incoming Ways & Means Chairman Dave Camp and Trade Subcommittee Chairman Kevin Brady –- the House passed the Omnibus Trade Act of 2010 (H.R. 6517). The bill contains measures that are critical to manufacturing in America: more than 300 new duty-suspension provisions (tranche 2 of the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill or MTB), extension of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) for developing countries, and extension of the Andean Trade Preferences, which provide our strong ally and partner Colombia with continued duty-free access to the United States. It is vitally important that the Senate pass this bill as soon as possible.

This bill appears to be stuck in the Senate, with opposition to several specific provisions. But if ever there’s a time for seeing the big picture — the big JOBS picture — this is it. Rejection of the bill would hurt manufacturers in the United States while being seen as a slap in the face of one of our closest allies, Colombia. Indeed, allowing the preference programs to expire will have a chilling economic and diplomatic impact. These programs benefit developing economies struggling to recover from the global downturn, as well as the American manufacturers who use those countries’ exports in their supply chain and production lines.

And not proceeding on the bill’s 300 new MTB provisions will result in what’s effectively a tax increase on inputs and raw materials needed by American manufacturers but unavailable in the United States. Enactment of MTB is one of the most important short-term actions Congress can take to preserve and expand good American jobs, cut the costs of doing business in the United States and boost American manufacturing exports. U.S. manufacturers large and small use the MTB’s tariff suspension provisions to obtain raw materials, proprietary inputs and other products that are not available in our nation. Without the MTB, the cost of these companies’ products will inevitably increase, forcing them to pass higher costs on to consumers and making their products less competitive. These higher costs translate into lost jobs for American workers.

The last MTB package passed the Senate this summer by unanimous consent, i.e., with no opposition, so it shouldn’t be controversial. Blocking it would be the real political problem. (continue reading…)

President Obama will host a White House bill-signing ceremony at 2:50 p.m. today  to sign H.R. 4380, the United States Manufacturing Enhancement Act, more commonly known as the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill.

This bill reduces tariffs for materials and chemicals that are essential for U.S. manufacturing processes but are not made or otherwise available in the United States. As the National Association of  Manufacturers’ “Key Vote” letter summarized:

The MTB is one of the most important short-term actions Congress can take to preserve and expand good American jobs, cut the costs of doing business in the United States and boost American manufacturing exports. U.S. manufacturers large and small use the MTB’s tariff suspension provisions to obtain raw materials, proprietary inputs and other products that are not available in our nation.

Without the MTB, the cost of these companies’ products will inevitably increase, forcing them to pass higher costs on to consumers and making their products less competitive. These higher costs translate into lost jobs for American workers.

Passage of the bill was complicated this year by political disputes over the nature of “earmarks” in the House, but H.R. 4380 still passed handily, 378-43, on July 21. The legislation’s signing into law today is terrific news for manufacturers and America’s workers.

But it is just one piece of a pro-jobs, pro-growth agenda. Depicting the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill as the foundation of a trade or manufacturing strategy is overselling it. For one thing, the legislation is about continuing tariff reductions about specific products and materials coming into the United States. The bill has never been controversial before and if considered by itself always elicits overwhelming votes of support. (See accompanying post, “Miscellaneous Tariff Bill, a Popular History.”)

More importantly, the bill does not address the lowering of trade barriers to U.S. exports shipped to foreign markets. Ninety-five percent of the world’s consumers live outside the United States, and U.S.-based companies have to compete to sell goods and services to those billions of people. That’s why it’s essential to enact agreements to lower tariffs and other barriers to U.S. exports, pacts such as the pending Free Trade Agreements with Colombia, Panama and Korea, then the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and multilateral agreements like the Doha round of the WTO.

President Obama has set a goal of doubling U.S. exports within five years, an ambitious goal that will require action on numerous fronts. The NAM recently released its “Blueprint to Double Exports in Five Years to detail the many steps — including major policy action — that Congress and the Administration must take to achieve the worthy, jobs-creating goal.

The President can be expected to highlight manufacturing and trade at the bill signing ceremony this afternoon, and manufacturers are delighted the tariff reduction bill will become law. And after that ….more work to do.

Praising the House last week for passing  H.R. 4380, the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill, re-dubbed the United States Manufacturing Enhancement Act, the National Association of Manufacturers also expressed hope that the bipartisan margin of passage, 478-43, would encourage swift action by the Senate.

It did!

The Senate approved the bill on a unanimous consent motion Tuesday evening. It now goes to the President for his signature.

Tuesday was a big news day, so Senate action made only modest news. Rest assured, it’s big news for many, many manufacturers. (More commentary later at Shopfloor.)

Thank you to the Senate.

As previewed last week, House Democratic leadership has scheduled several bills this week to emphasize the caucus’ commitment to the manufacturing economy. On the weekly floor schedule are pieces of the House “Make it in America” agenda:

The first bill creates a Clean Energy Technology Manufacturing and Export Assistance Fund in the Department of Commerce. The second calls for establishment of a President’s Manufacturing Strategy Board to research and propose a manufacturing strategy every four years.

Last week, the House passed H.R. 4380, the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill, which had been redubbed the U.S. Manufacturing Enhancement. The measure passed with strong bipartisan support, and the NAM issued a statement lauding its passage.

Anticipating this week’s emphasis on manufacturing, President John Engler of the National Association of Manufacturers has taped a video message, urging Congress to act on the NAM’s “Manufacturing Strategy for Jobs and a Competitive America.”

Excerpt:

The National Association of Manufacturers appreciates the fact that the House will spend the last week of July talking about the manufacturing economy. But it’s not enough…it’s simply not enough. (continue reading…)

The arguments on the substance — economic activity, jobs — won the day, as the House just passed H.R. 4380, the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill. The roll call vote is here.

The National Association of Manufacturers sent a Key Vote letter in support of the bill. Glad it helped!

The Miscellaneous Tariff Bill is not a topic we see many editorials on, so extra points to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune  for tackling the issue’s its importance to the U.S. economy. From “Take job-friendly approach on tariffs: Miscellaneous Tariff Bill needed to help manufacturers.” The newspaper argues that the issues has become unnecessarily involved in the political debate over Congressional earmarks:

[The] nation’s political leaders need to hammer out a compromise quickly. With the economy still struggling to recover, lawmakers need to do everything they can to encourage economic growth and preserve key measures such as the MTB that have helped firms in Minnesota and across the nation stay competitive for years.

The Strib cites a  May 5 letter to Congress on the issue from John Engler, president of the National Association of Manufacturers. Excerpt:

The MTB is one of the most important short-term actions that Congress can take to preserve and expand good American jobs, cut the cost of doing business in this country, boost American manufacturing competitiveness, and boost our manufacturing exports.

Another letter came from 130 companies affected by the MTB. Excerpt:

The last MTB, passed by Congress in 2006 has expired. As a result, manufacturers and businesses of all sizes across the country now face higher tariffs on inputs and other products not otherwise available in the United States. These higher costs translate to lost revenue and lower wages. In fact, the MTB has been estimated to support more than 90,000 U.S. jobs and $3.5 billion in GDP growth. The cost-saving achieved by the MTB allow U.S. manufacturers and businesses to maintain competitive operations, invest in new facilities, re-train workers, and preserve our manufacturing base. In short, the enactment of the MTB, including new duty suspensions that have been fully vetted, is vital to the U.S. economy.