[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5960 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5960

     To amend the Trade Act of 1974 to provide for a limitation on 
   presidential discretion with respect to actions to address market 
                              disruption.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 5, 2008

 Mr. Altmire (for himself and Mr. English of Pennsylvania) introduced 
  the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and 
 Means, and in addition to the Committee on Rules, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To amend the Trade Act of 1974 to provide for a limitation on 
   presidential discretion with respect to actions to address market 
                              disruption.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Supporting America's Manufacturers 
Act''.

SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON PRESIDENTIAL DISCRETION.

    Section 421 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2451) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) by inserting ``any'' before ``increased 
                duties''; and
                    (B) by striking ``, to the extent and for such 
                period'' and all that follows to the end period and 
                inserting ``recommended by the International Trade 
                Commission'';
            (2) in subsection (e), in the second sentence, by striking 
        ``agreed upon by either group'' and all that follows to the end 
        period and inserting ``shall be considered an affirmative 
        determination under subsection (b)'';
            (3) in subsection (f)--
                    (A) in the heading, by striking ``on Proposed 
                Remedies'' and inserting ``for Relief'';
                    (B) in the first sentence--
                            (i) by striking ``the President or Trade 
                        Representative may consider as'' and inserting 
                        ``is to be considered''; and
                            (ii) by striking ``the Commission shall 
                        propose'' and inserting ``the Commission shall 
                        recommend''; and
                    (C) in the second sentence, by striking ``proposed 
                action'' and inserting ``recommended action'';
            (4) in subsection (g)(2)(B)--
                    (A) by striking ``or may be considered by the 
                President or the Trade Representative as'' and 
                inserting ``or if the determination is considered to 
                be''; and
                    (B) by striking ``on proposed remedies'' and 
                inserting ``for relief'';
            (5) in subsection (h)--
                    (A) in the heading, by striking ``Proposed Measure 
                and Recommendation to the President'' and inserting 
                ``Recommended Relief and Report by Trade 
                Representative'';
                    (B) in paragraph (1)--
                            (i) by striking ``measure proposed by the 
                        Trade Representative to be taken pursuant to 
                        subsection (a)'' and inserting ``relief 
                        recommended by the Commission under subsection 
                        (f)''; and
                            (ii) by striking ``proposed measure'' and 
                        inserting ``recommended relief'';
                    (C) in paragraph (2), by striking ``on the measure 
                proposed by the Trade Representative'' and all that 
                follows to the end period and inserting ``, shall 
                transmit a report to the President recommending what 
                action to take under subsection (k)''; and
                    (D) by adding at the end the following new 
                paragraph:
    ``(3) The Trade Representative, after submitting a report to the 
President under paragraph (2), shall promptly make the report available 
to the public, excluding any proprietary or confidential information. 
The Trade Representative shall publish a summary of the report in the 
Federal Register.'';
            (6) in subsection (i)--
                    (A) in the flush sentence at the end of paragraph 
                (1), by striking ``agreed upon by either group'' and 
                all that follows to the end period and inserting 
                ``shall be considered an affirmative determination of 
                the Commission''; and
                    (B) by striking paragraphs (2), (3), and (4), and 
                inserting the following:
    ``(2) On the date on which the Commission completes its 
determinations under paragraph (1), the Commission shall transmit a 
report on the determinations to the President and the Trade 
Representative, including the reasons for its determinations. If the 
determinations under paragraph (1) are affirmative or if the 
determinations are considered to be affirmative under paragraph (1), 
the Commission shall include in its report its recommendations on 
provisional relief to be taken to prevent or remedy the market 
disruption. Only those members of the Commission who agreed to the 
affirmative determinations under paragraph (1) are eligible to vote on 
the recommended provisional relief to prevent or remedy market 
disruption. Members of the Commission who did not agree to the 
affirmative determinations may submit, in the report, dissenting or 
separate views regarding the determination and any recommendation of 
provisional relief referred to in this paragraph.
    ``(3) The provisional relief referred to in paragraph (2) may 
include--
            ``(A) the imposition of or increase in any duty;
            ``(B) any modification, or imposition of any quantitative 
        restriction on the importation of any article into the United 
        States; or
            ``(C) any combination of actions under subparagraph (A) or 
        (B).
    ``(4) If the determinations under paragraph (1) are affirmative or 
if the determinations are considered to be affirmative under paragraph 
(1), the Trade Representative shall, within 10 days after receipt of 
the Commission's report, transmit a report to the President 
recommending what action to take with respect to provisional relief 
under subsection (k).
    ``(5)(A) The President shall proclaim any provisional relief 
recommended by the Commission not later than 10 days after the date the 
President receives the report described in paragraph (4) from the Trade 
Representative.
    ``(B) Any provisional relief proclaimed by the President pursuant 
to a determination of critical circumstances shall remain in effect for 
a period not to exceed 200 days.
    ``(C) Provisional relief shall cease to apply upon the effective 
date of relief proclaimed under subsection (a), upon a decision by the 
President not to provide such relief under subsection (k), or upon a 
negative determination by the Commission under subsection (b).'';
            (7) in subsection (j)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``which the Trade 
                Representative considers to be'' and inserting ``that 
                is considered to be''; and
                    (B) by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the 
                following:
    ``(2) If no agreement is reached with the People's Republic of 
China pursuant to consultations under paragraph (1) in the time 
required for Presidential action under subsection (k), or if the 
President determines that an agreement reached pursuant to such 
consultations is not preventing or remedying the market disruption at 
issue in the time required for Presidential action under subsection 
(k), the President shall provide import relief in accordance with 
subsection (a).'';
            (8) in subsection (k)--
                    (A) in the heading, by striking ``Standard for 
                Presidential Action'' and inserting ``Timing for 
                Presidential Action; Exceptions'';
                    (B) in paragraph (1), by striking ``a 
                recommendation from the Trade Representative'' and all 
                that follows to the end period and inserting ``a report 
                from the Trade Representative under subsection (h)(2), 
                the President shall, pursuant to subsection (a), 
                proclaim the relief recommended by the Commission''; 
                and
                    (C) by amending paragraph (2) to read as follows:
    ``(2) The President may decline to proclaim relief pursuant to 
subsection (a), may proclaim relief pursuant to subsection (a) that 
differs from the relief recommended by the Commission, may decline to 
proclaim provisional relief pursuant to subsection (i), or may proclaim 
provisional relief pursuant to subsection (i) that differs from the 
relief recommended by the Commission--
            ``(A) only in extraordinary cases; and
            ``(B) only if the President determines that providing 
        relief or provisional relief pursuant to subsection (a) or (i) 
        or providing the relief recommended by the Commission pursuant 
        to subsection (a) or (i)--
                    ``(i) would have an adverse impact on the United 
                States economy that clearly and significantly outweighs 
                the benefits of such action; or
                    ``(ii) would cause serious harm to the national 
                security of the United States.'';
            (9) in subsection (l), by amending paragraph (1) to read as 
        follows:
    ``(1) The President's decision under subsection (k) shall be 
submitted to the Committee on Finance of the Senate and the Committee 
on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and shall be 
published in the Federal Register within 15 days of the decision. In 
the submission to the committees and in publication in the Federal 
Register, the President shall include the reasons for the decision and 
the scope and duration of any action taken. If the President takes 
action that differs from the action recommended by the Commission under 
subsection (f) or declines to take action pursuant to subsection 
(k)(2), the President shall state in detail the reasons for such action 
or inaction.'';
            (10) by redesignating subsections (m) through (o) as 
        subsections (n) through (p), respectively;
            (11) by inserting after subsection (l) the following new 
        subsection:
    ``(m) Implementation of Action Recommended by Commission.--(1) If 
the President takes action that differs from the action recommended by 
the Commission under subsection (f) or declines to take action pursuant 
to subsection (k)(2)(B)(i), the action recommended by the Commission 
under subsection (f) shall take effect (as provided in subsection 
(n)(2)) upon the enactment of a joint resolution described in paragraph 
(2) within the 90-day period beginning on the date on which the 
President's decision is transmitted to the Congress pursuant to 
subsection (l).
    ``(2) For purposes of this section, the term `joint resolution' 
means a joint resolution of the 2 Houses of the Congress, the sole 
matter after the resolving clause of which is as follows: `That the 
Congress does not approve the action taken by, or the determination of, 
the President under section 421 of the Trade Act of 1974, notice of 
which was transmitted to the Congress on ______.', with the blank space 
being filled with the appropriate case number and date.
    ``(3) The provisions of section 152 (b), (c), (d), (e), and (f) of 
the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2192 (b), (c), (d), (e), and (f)) 
shall apply to joint resolutions under this section.'';
            (12) in subsection (n), as redesignated, by striking 
        ``Import relief under this section'' and all that follows to 
        the end period and inserting the following:
    ``(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), import relief under this 
section shall take effect not later than 15 days after the President's 
determination to provide such relief.
    ``(2) If the action recommended by the Commission takes effect 
pursuant to subsection (m), the President shall, within 15 days after 
the date of the enactment of the joint resolution referred to in 
subsection (m), proclaim the action recommended by the Commission under 
subsection (f). Such action shall take effect not later than 15 days 
after the date of the President's proclamation.'';
            (13) in subsection (o), as redesignated--
                    (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``6-month'' and 
                inserting ``1-year''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (3), by inserting ``or (m)'' after 
                ``subsection (k)''; and
            (14) in subsection (p), as redesignated--
                    (A) in paragraph (1), by inserting ``or (m)'' after 
                ``subsection (k);''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (3), by striking ``subsection 
                (m)'' and inserting ``subsection (n)''.
                                 <all>