[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 121 (Monday, September 25, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S10074]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. INHOFE:
  S. 3933. A bill to extend the generalized system of preferences; to 
the Committee on Finance.
  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation that 
will reauthorize a vital trade and development program--the Generalized 
System of Preferences (GSP). This is a program I have worked to 
reauthorize in the past, and I think it is a vital program for both 
developing countries and the American economy. As someone who 
frequently works to assist those who face the direst of circumstances 
in the poor countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, I feel that we must 
reauthorize this program as a key component of our efforts there.
  The GSP program is an effort of the United States and 19 other 
industrialized countries to aid developing countries through increased 
market access, which in turn fosters industrial development and 
enhanced opportunities for prosperity in some of the least-advantaged 
countries in the world. This program allows a specified list of 
developing countries, from the Asian Continent to Sub-Saharan Africa to 
Latin America, to export certain products duty-free to the U.S. market. 
A beneficiary country's GSP treatment is contingent upon that country's 
commitment to securing intellectual property rights and to protecting 
the rights of workers. In this way, the GSP program promotes the 
development of sound practices and institutions in those countries with 
which we are engaged in trade and thus fulfills some important 
objectives of U.S. trade policy. In sum, the GSP program promotes self-
sustaining production development in developing countries--not 
dependence on foreign aid--and also encourages respect for human 
dignity and property.
  While originally developed as a trade program to aid developing 
countries, GSP over the past 32 years has become an important component 
of the U.S. economy. American consumers enjoy lower prices on diverse 
products from oil to flashlights to broomhandles to cheese. 
Furthermore, numerous American small businesses retain their 
competitive advantage from the duty-free treatment of essential inputs, 
such as electrical equipment and automotive parts. American small 
businesses need every cost-cutting edge available to them in order to 
continue to create jobs and value. I first took an interest in the 
reauthorization of this program when a small business in Oklahoma that 
used GSP-covered drilling components to support domestic energy 
enhancement contacted my office and explained how failure to 
reauthorize GSP would seriously affect his business. After which, upon 
understanding how much this program also assists those in developing 
countries, its reauthorization became a priority for me. Very clearly, 
although designed to make other less-advantaged countries more 
competitive, GSP has contributed to our continued competitiveness here 
in the United States.
  Workers, consumers, and businesses in nearly 120 countries including 
our own will benefit from the continuation of this program, which 
affects the price of over 5,600 finished and unfinished goods. 
Therefore, I ask that you join me in reauthorizing the Generalized 
System of Preferences.
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