Reclaiming Congressional Trade Authority Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3477 To limit the authority of the President to modify duty rates for national security reasons and to limit the authority of the United States Trade Representative to impose certain duties or import restrictions, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 25, 2019 Mrs. MURPHY (for herself, Mr. COOPER, and Mr. CUNNINGHAM) 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 con- cerned A BILL To limit the authority of the President to modify duty rates for national security reasons and to limit the authority of the United States Trade Representative to impose certain duties or import restrictions, and for other pur- poses. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Reclaiming Congres- 4 sional Trade Authority Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Jul 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3477.IH H3477 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 3477 IH SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON AUTHORITY OF PRESIDENT TO 1 MODIFY DUTY RATES FOR NATIONAL SECU- 2 RITY REASONS. 3 (a) AUTHORITY TO MODIFY DUTY RATES FOR NA- 4 TIONAL SECURITY REASONS.—Notwithstanding any other 5 provision of law and except as provided in subsection (c), 6 the President may proclaim a new or additional national 7 security duty on an article imported into the United States 8 only if— 9 (1) the President, not later than 30 calendar 10 days after making the national security determina- 11 tion that is the basis for the new or additional duty, 12 submits to the International Trade Commission the 13 duty proposal, including— 14 (A) a description of each article for which 15 the President recommends a new or additional 16 duty; 17 (B) the proposed new or additional duty 18 rate; and 19 (C) the proposed duration of that rate; 20 (2) the President, not later than 15 calendar 21 days after submitting the duty proposal under para- 22 graph (1), submits to Congress a request for author- 23 ization to modify duty rates in accordance with that 24 duty proposal, including— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Jul 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3477.IH H3477 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 3477 IH (A) a report by the Secretary of Defense 1 explaining why the proposal is in the interest of 2 national security; and 3 (B) a report by the International Trade 4 Commission assessing the likely impact of the 5 proposal on the economy of the United States 6 as a whole and specific industry sectors; 7 (3) the President consults with the Committee 8 on Finance and the Committee on Armed Services of 9 the Senate and the Committee on Ways and Means 10 and the Committee on Armed Services of the House 11 of Representatives regarding the duty proposal 12 under paragraph (1), including— 13 (A) the short-term and long-term goals of 14 the proposal; 15 (B) an action plan to achieve those goals; 16 and 17 (C) plans to consult with officials of coun- 18 tries impacted by the proposal to resolve any 19 issues relating to the proposal; and 20 (4) a joint resolution of approval under sub- 21 section (b) is enacted. 22 (b) JOINT RESOLUTION OF APPROVAL.— 23 (1) JOINT RESOLUTION OF APPROVAL DE- 24 FINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘‘joint resolu- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Jul 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3477.IH H3477 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 3477 IH tion of approval’’ means a joint resolution the sole 1 matter after the resolving clause of which is as fol- 2 lows: ‘‘That Congress authorizes the President to 3 proclaim duty rates as set forth in the request of the 4 President on lllllllllll’’, with the 5 blank space being filled with the date of the request 6 submitted under subsection (a)(2). 7 (2) INTRODUCTION.—A joint resolution of ap- 8 proval may be introduced in either House of Con- 9 gress by any Member during the 15-legislative day 10 period beginning on the date on which the President 11 submits to Congress the material set forth in sub- 12 section (a)(2). 13 (3) EXPEDITED PROCEDURES.—The provisions 14 of subsections (b) through (f) of section 152 of the 15 Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2192) apply to a joint 16 resolution of approval to the same extent that such 17 subsections apply to joint resolutions under such 18 section 152. 19 (4) RULES OF HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 20 AND SENATE.—This subsection is enacted by Con- 21 gress— 22 (A) as an exercise of the rulemaking power 23 of the Senate and the House of Representa- 24 tives, respectively, and as such is deemed a part 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Jul 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3477.IH H3477 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 3477 IH of the rules of each House, respectively, but ap- 1 plicable only with respect to the procedure to be 2 followed in that House in the case of a joint 3 resolution of approval, and supersedes other 4 rules only to the extent that it is inconsistent 5 with such rules; and 6 (B) with full recognition of the constitu- 7 tional right of either House to change the rules 8 (so far as relating to the procedure of that 9 House) at any time, in the same manner, and 10 to the same extent as in the case of any other 11 rule of that House. 12 (c) EXCEPTION FOR URGENT ACTION.—Notwith- 13 standing the requirements of subsection (a), the President 14 may proclaim a new or additional national security duty 15 for one period of 120 calendar days if the President deter- 16 mines that urgent action is necessary— 17 (1) to address a national emergency; 18 (2) for the prevention or mitigation of, or to re- 19 spond to, loss of life or property; 20 (3) to address an imminent threat to health or 21 safety; 22 (4) for the enforcement of criminal laws; or 23 (5) for national security. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Jul 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3477.IH H3477 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 3477 IH (d) NATIONAL SECURITY DUTY DEFINED.—In this 1 section, the term ‘‘national security duty’’ means the fol- 2 lowing: 3 (1) A duty proclaimed pursuant to— 4 (A) section 232 of the Trade Expansion 5 Act of 1962 (19 U.S.C. 1862); 6 (B) the Trading with the Enemy Act (50 7 U.S.C. 4301 et seq.); or 8 (C) the International Emergency Economic 9 Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.). 10 (2) A duty proclaimed pursuant to any other 11 provision of law if in reports or other public state- 12 ments regarding the duty the President or another 13 cabinet-level official identifies national security as a 14 significant reason for proclaiming the duty. 15 SEC. 3. CONDITIONS ON USE OF AUTHORITY BY UNITED 16 STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE TO IMPOSE 17 DUTIES OR OTHER IMPORT RESTRICTIONS. 18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 301(c) of the Trade Act 19 of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2411(c)) is amended by adding at the 20 end the following: 21 ‘‘(7)(A) The Trade Representative may take ac- 22 tion pursuant to paragraph (1)(B) only if— 23 ‘‘(i) the Trade Representative submits to 24 the International Trade Commission a proposal 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Jul 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3477.IH H3477 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 3477 IH for duties or other import restrictions under 1 that paragraph, including— 2 ‘‘(I) a description of each article cov- 3 ered by that proposal; 4 ‘‘(II) the proposed new or additional 5 duty rate; and 6 ‘‘(III) the proposed duration of that 7 rate; 8 ‘‘(ii) the Trade Representative submits to 9 Congress a notification of intent to impose du- 10 ties or import restrictions under that para- 11 graph, including— 12 ‘‘(I) the proposal submitted under 13 clause (i); and 14 ‘‘(II) a report by the International 15 Trade Commission assessing the likely im- 16 pact of the proposal on the economy of the 17 United States as a whole and specific in- 18 dustry sectors; 19 ‘‘(iii) after submitting the notification 20 under clause (ii), the Trade Representative 21 consults with the Committee on Finance of the 22 Senate and the Committee on Ways and Means 23 of the House of Representatives and, if the pro- 24 posal affects agricultural products, the Com- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Jul 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3477.IH H3477 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 3477 IH mittee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 1 of the Senate and the Committee on Agri- 2 culture of the House of Representatives; 3 ‘‘(iv) a period of 60 calendar days, begin- 4 ning on the date on which the Trade Represent- 5 ative has completed consultations under clause 6 (iii), has passed; and 7 ‘‘(v) no disapproval resolution under sub- 8 paragraph (B) is passed during the period de- 9 scribed in clause (iv). 10 ‘‘(B)(i) In this subparagraph, the term ‘dis- 11 approval resolution’ means a joint resolution the sole 12 matter after the resolving clause of which is as fol- 13 lows: ‘That implementation of the proposal by the 14 Trade Representative to impose duties or other im- 15 port restrictions submitted to Congress on 16 llllllllllllllll is not in the 17 interest of the United States.’, with the blank space 18 being filled with the date on which the Trade Rep- 19 resentative submitted to Congress the material de- 20 scribed in subsection (A)(ii). 21 ‘‘(ii) Paragraph (2) of section 106(b) of the Bi- 22 partisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Ac- 23 countability Act of 2015 (19 U.S.C. 4205(b)) applies 24 to a disapproval resolution under this subparagraph 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Jul 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3477.IH H3477 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 3477 IH to the same extent that such paragraph applies to 1 a procedural disapproval resolution under such sec- 2 tion 106(b).’’. 3 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Paragraph (1)(B) 4 of such section is amended by inserting ‘‘subject to para- 5 graph (7),’’ before ‘‘impose duties’’. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Jul 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3477.IH H3477 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS