[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 14]
[House]
[Pages 19932-19933]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, there has been a great deal of 
discussion about trade agreements, but there is another important piece 
of legislation that deals with Customs. This is an often obscure 
element, but it makes a huge difference to be able to manage the 
hundreds of billions of dollars of products that leave the United 
States and those that are imported.
  The Customs bill represents important work by our Ways and Means 
Committee and our colleagues in the Senate Finance Committee finally 
reaching conclusion. I am pleased with many of the key results. It 
includes items that are not in the headlines, but are very important to 
the people that I represent.

[[Page 19933]]

  For example, the legislation will help our growing outdoor industry 
by creating new definitions and tariff classifications for recreational 
performance outerwear.
  It reduces costly taxes on outdoor footwear, which both supports the 
outdoor recreation industry and makes it more affordable for people to 
get outside and enjoy our beautiful parks and trails.
  It includes the full ENFORCE Act, requiring immediate action to 
investigate and address trade cheaters and take measures to stop those 
who continually attempt to circumvent the penalties already imposed 
upon them.
  As our trade agreements become more complex, so, too, has trade 
enforcement. We can no longer rely on a handful of agencies to 
effectively protect our market from tax cheaters. It requires a whole 
government approach, and this is why it is critical to see the bill 
permanently establish the Interagency Trade Enforcement Center to 
centralize and enhance trade enforcement efforts.
  It finally puts into law a ban on the import of goods made with child 
and forced labor. This will reshape markets and provide additional 
tools to confront horrific work conditions around the world.
  Very important for me, it will help ensure our trade agreements 
actually are enforced. A lack of enforcement is a justifiable criticism 
of people who are skeptical of trade agreements, who wonder is it worth 
the paper that it is printed on to have labor and environmental 
protections.
  Well, the greatest obstacle to enforcement has been lack of 
resources. Enforcing trade agreements is expensive, time consuming, and 
highly complex. That is why I fought hard to include in this 
legislation elements that I have introduced, along with Senator Maria 
Cantwell, the Trade STRONGER Act, which creates a trade enforcement and 
capacity-building fund which would not only provide more resources for 
the enforcement of labor and environment violations, but helps the fund 
managed by the USTR be accessible government-wide, not only for 
enforcement, but for in-country capacity building, helping our current 
and future trading partners implement the labor and environmental 
provisions they have committed to.
  This is an important step forward because, regardless of what one 
feels about a particular trade treaty, I think everyone agrees they 
ought to be enforced.
  This Customs bill, in addition to promoting the trade process more 
effectively and providing relief for some inequitable treatment for 
products so important to my constituents, establishes more resources to 
make sure our trade agreements are, in fact, enforced.
  This has been the result of long and arduous negotiations, but done 
in a spirit of cooperation and goodwill.
  I particularly want to thank the efforts of Speaker Paul Ryan and 
Ways and Means Committee Chair Kevin Brady, who have worked with me in 
a spirit of cooperation to make sure the enforcement provisions are 
effective. I appreciate this.
  I think this will be an achievement that we all should support 
because we will all benefit from it.

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