Senate Negotiating Priorities to Get Votes Include Section 301 Exclusion Process

Among the 28 motions to instruct for negotiations that will be considered next Tuesday and Wednesday in the Senate, five would affect trade, including one that supports the establishment of an inspector general for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced April 27 that there would be 28 votes next Tuesday and Wednesday on motions to instruct senators who will be negotiating with House members on the Senate's priorities for the compromise China package. These instructions are non-binding, but if any of them get at least 60 votes, they lay down important markers about what either can or cannot be in the final bill if it is going to pass the Senate.

"Tonight’s agreement is very good news for America, for good paying jobs in America, for economic strength in America, for investments in the kinds of science and technology that will help us grow as a country and provide great futures for the next generation," Schumer said on the floor of the Senate. "This bill represents the next major step towards finally sending a jobs and competition bill to the President’ desk."

A list of the motions provided by a Senate staffer includes one from Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., that supports the part of the Senate's trade title that asks the USTR to establish a process to exclude products on the Section 301 duty list. That plank is not in the House's trade title.

It also includes a motion from Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, which would prohibit the purchase of materials, technology or critical minerals "mined, produced, processed, or refined in China or Russia." According a press release on a previous effort on this subject, 80% of the processing of rare earth minerals imported by the U.S. is now done in China. The motion to instruct description does not say whether there would be a transition period, given the dominance of Chinese participation in the market.

Some of the motions to instruct just support core parts of the bill, such as federal investment in the domestic semiconductor industry and federal investment in supply chain resilience.

One motion, from Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., is aimed at knocking out a House provision that would ban the sale of U.S.mink raised in captivity for fur production (see 2202030085).