[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 103 (Tuesday, July 20, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S8876]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BAUCUS:
  S. 1395. A bill to require the United States Trade Representative to 
appear before certain congressional committees to present the annual 
Nation Trade Estimate; to the Committee on Finance.


                presentation of national trade estimate

  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, the bill I am introducing today requires 
that the United States Trade Representative, the USTR, appear before 
the Finance Committee in the Senate and the Ways and Means Committee in 
the House, on the day that the National Trade Estimates Report is 
released.
  USTR must deliver the NTE Report to the Committees. He or she must 
provide an analysis of the contents of the NTE Report. And they must 
outline the major actions that will result from the NTE findings or 
give the reasons for not taking action.
  The NTE is an important document. It is the major opportunity each 
year for the Administration to set out the key trade barriers we 
confront with our major trade partners.
  At present, our trade law requires merely that USTR report the NTE to 
the President, the Finance Committee and the appropriate committees in 
the House. The change I am proposing means that the NTE will be made 
public on Capitol Hill rather than at USTR. The U.S. Trade 
Representative will present both its analysis of the trade barriers and 
its plan of action to deal with those barriers. That presentation will 
be made directly and immediately to the Congress. USTR should also 
explain what they have done over the past year to address trade 
barriers listed in the prior year's report.
  This is a small change, but an important symbolic one.
  The NTE should be the plan of action the Administration will pursue 
to dismantle foreign trade barriers. And USTR and the Administration 
must be accountable to the Congress for the results of this plan.
  During twenty-nine years of service in the United States Congress, I 
have watched a continuing transfer of authority and responsibility for 
trade policy from the Congress to the executive branch. The trend has 
been subtle, but clear and constant.
  I want to see this trend reversed. We in the Congress have a clear 
constitutional responsibility for trade. Article I of the Constitution 
reads: ``The Congress shall have power . . . To regulate commerce with 
foreign nations.'' I want to use this constitutional authority to 
provide more effective and active congressional oversight of trade 
policy. And I would like to see more congressional direction for the 
executive branch in the area of trade policy.
  Again, this bill is a very small step in that direction. In the 
coming weeks and months, I will introduce further measures to ensure 
that the Congress implements fully its constitutional prerogatives on 
trade.
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