[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5940 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5940

  To remove preferential trade treatment for certain textile articles.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 29, 2010

 Mr. Aderholt introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To remove preferential trade treatment for certain textile articles.

    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 ``Save U.S. Manufacturing and Jobs 
Act''.

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Congress should enact measures to save and create jobs 
        in the United States, which has suffered the worst recession 
        since World War II.
            (2) United States production of certain sleeping bags is 
        under immediate threat due to preferential trade terms afforded 
        to foreign manufacturers under the Generalized System of 
        Preferences (GSP) program under the Trade Act of 1974.
            (3) Certain sleeping bags imported from countries eligible 
        for duty-free trade benefits under the GSP program have 
        increased in a short period of time, from less than one percent 
        in 2009 to more than seven percent by April 2010, and will 
        continue to increase dramatically, given recent trends.
            (4) The production of sleeping bags in the United States 
        supports a domestic supply chain of inputs and component parts.
            (5) Sleeping bags made in beneficiary countries under the 
        GSP program are made almost entirely with Chinese components. 
        In most cases, the value of the sleeping bags is attributable 
        predominantly to components made in a third country, 
        particularly China. The sleeping bags are then assembled in 
        ``free zones'', meaning that no duty is paid on the Chinese 
        fabrics and other raw materials entering those GSP beneficiary 
        countries. Conversely, United States manufacturers must pay 
        duty on any imported components. This creates an unfair 
        advantage for foreign manufacturers.
            (6) Continuing preferential treatment for certain sleeping 
        bags will lead to the loss of domestic textile jobs during a 
        time of record unemployment.
            (7) Congress determined that certain textile products and 
        other import sensitive items should not be provided 
        preferential trade treatment under the GSP program. Sleeping 
        bags are textile products, and, as such, should be exempt from 
        GSP.
            (8) Reinstating the otherwise applicable most-favored-
        nation (MFN) tariff rate for sleeping bags will level the 
        playing field for United States manufacturers.

SEC. 3. REMOVAL OF PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT FOR CERTAIN TEXTILE ARTICLES.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any provision of title V of the 
Trade Act of 1974 (relating to the generalized system of preferences), 
no product classifiable under subheading 9404.30.80 of the Harmonized 
Tariff Schedule of the United States is eligible for duty-free or other 
preferential treatment under such title V.
    (b) Applicability.--Subsection (a) applies to goods entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after the 15th day 
after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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