Urgent action on tariff bill sought

Midnight-hour negotiations aimed at passing legislation to amend HeadNote 3(a) are scheduled immediately after the lame-duck congressional session begins Monday in Washington, D.C. [Tuesday on Saipan], according to Richard A. Pierce, special assistant for trade relations.

Senate Bill No. 1954, the “Insular Possessions Act of 2005,” remains a possibility for passage in the Senate version of a miscellaneous tariff bill that is perhaps headed to the House for consideration—part of some of the last pieces of business before Congress adjourns for 2006, Pierce said.

That bill will allow for a reduction in the value-added requirement for products so they could enter the U.S. domestic market duty-free. It effectively aims to preserve the remaining apparel factory operations on Saipan, the revenue the industry brings to the CNMI government, and the jobs it creates on the islands.

Other trade measures under consideration for passage in the lame duck session include permanent normal trade relations status for Vietnam, the Andean Trade Preference Act and the Generalized System of Preferences, have been identified as “vehicles” for S. 1954.

House Ways and Means Committee ranking member Charles Rangel, D-NY, who is expected to assume the Ways and Means committee chair position in the 100th Congress, has indicated a strong desire to extend free trade agreements during the short session before year’s end.

Rangel committed to the CNMI in 2005 that he supports finding ways to keep the CNMI’s apparel industry on a level field with foreign countries’ free trade agreements with the United States.

“We have been encouraged to meet with Interior to address U.S. administration concerns as S. 1954 would affect current international trade policy, and have reached a better position with powerful domestic textile concerns,” Pierce said.

Meetings are scheduled to begin Monday with Senate and House committees and White House administrative offices, including Commerce, USTR, Labor and the Department of the Interior.

CNMI Customs Service records show that user fee collections for October 2006 totaled $1.38 million, representing sales for the factories of $37.5 million.

October 2006 sales of $37 million have dropped drastically, translating to lost government revenue, as compared with October 2005’s $45 million, October 2004’s $61 million and October 2001’s $86 million. [B][I](PR)
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