Posts Tagged ‘levin’
The Russia Trade Pile-Up
So how can legislation supported by business groups, democracy activists, Senate Democrats, House Republicans and the Obama Administration be in danger of failing? Answer: Only in Washington.
That’s where things stand with a bill to normalize trade with Russia that includes a provision to sanction gross abusers of human rights. Early last week all looked good. Montana Democrat Max Baucus and Arizona Republican Jon Kyl crafted a compromise in the Senate Finance Committee that’s ready for a floor vote. Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp and ranking Democrat Sander Levin knocked together a House version in a few hours.
Then on Monday every House Member received a letter from the United Steelworkers and the Communication Workers of America. The unions called the bill “woefully deficient” in enforcing Russian compliance with World Trade Organization rules. This is false, since Russia will join the WTO on August 22 no matter what, and failure to adopt “permanent normal trade relations” would only hurt U.S. companies in Russia. Yet Democratic support notably softened.
Meanwhile, the Administration has been missing in action. President Obama hasn’t pressed Members, while Secretary of State Hillary Clinton isn’t lobbying the Hill. We’re told that when he met with House Democrats on Thursday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner stressed taxes but not this ostensibly high trade priority.
White House enthusiasm has ebbed since the Senate overrode its objections and added the Magnitsky Act, which bans Russian rights abusers from visiting or banking in the U.S. Mr. Obama also may not want to push a bill disliked by unions and that some criticize unfairly as rewarding Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bad behavior. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid hasn’t committed to a floor vote before the August recess.
If Democratic leaders won’t lead, then some Republicans ask why they should. After the Ways and Means voice vote, Speaker John Boehner scotched quick House floor action. “If the president really thinks this is an important issue that we have to deal with, then maybe he ought to be out there making the case for it,” he said. “I haven’t seen that as yet.”
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USTR’s Kirk, Rep. Camp Call For Russia Trade Bill Without Human Rights
Obama administration officials and a key House Republican Wednesday issued a similar message to Congress on the urgency of lifting trade restrictions on Russia, saying the bill should be passed quickly and without including human rights or other provisions.
However, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means committee said the so-called “Magnitsky” bill punishing Russian human-rights violators should be included in any trade legislation, while arguing that the House should hold up on approving the bill until Russia takes steps to help contain the conflict in Syria.
U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk told the House panel that lawmakers should act by Aug. 22 or risk putting U.S. companies at a competitive disadvantage when Russia formally joins the World Trade Organization by that date.
“Our priority is for Congress to terminate the Cold-War era Jackson-Vanik amendment as it applies to Russia in a clean bill that enables us to maintain our competitive edge,” Mr. Kirk said in prepared remarks at the hearing. Repealing Jackson-Vanik, a 1974 measure that prevents the U.S. from granting most-favored-nation status to countries that restrict emigration, won’t be a “gift” to Russia, he insisted.
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Top trade panel Dem splits with Obama, calls for linking Russia trade bill to Syria
The top Democrat on the House trade panel Wednesday split with the White House and called for the United States to hold off on improving trade relations with Russia until the Kremlin joins the world in condemning Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad.
“Trade is about commerce; it also can be about conscience,” Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-Mich.) said in prepared remarks at a hearing on the trade issue.
The Obama administration and Ways and Means Committee chairman David Camp (R-Mich) are calling for establishing Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) with Russia without preconditions. But Levin opened the hearing calling for linking the improvement of trade ties with Moscow to progress on Syria and passage of human rights legislation.
Levin urged Congress to pass a bipartisan, bicameral trade bill “with the clear understanding that after a bill is reported out of committee in the near future, action on the floor will be withheld for a period of time to determine whether Russia will join our nation and others in steps to address the Assad regime’s horrendous violence against its own people.”
Levin added that the trade issue should also be linked to a human rights bill that places financial and travel sanctions on Russian human rights violators. The bill is named after Sergei Magnitsky, a whistle-blowing lawyer who died in police custody in 2008.
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Soviet Jewry group supports easing US-Russia trade
As the Obama administration tries to remove Russia from US legislation restricting trade between the two countries, it has allies from an unlikely corner: those who originally lobbied for the restriction on behalf of Russian Jewry.
The US wants to remove Russia from a list of former Soviet countries penalized economically under the Jackson-Vanick amendment, since the restriction could hurt American businesses once Russia joins the World Trade Organization as anticipated in the coming months.
The amendment hurts Russia’s trade status unless the US certifies each year that Russia is allowing its citizens to emigrate freely, a waiver the US began issuing after Russia let its Jewish population leave en masse for Israel and other countries in the 1990s. Because the waiver must be renewed annually, however, it prevents the US and Russia from having permanent normal trade relations.
Since WTO rules require that countries not have any trade barriers against member states, US companies doing business in Russia would be subject to penalties once Russia finishes the process of joining the organization.
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