House Ways and Means Committee Approves Short-Term ATPA Extension
Provided by Jeff Levin - Saul Ewing LLP
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Friday, February 15, 2008
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The House Ways and Means Committee yesterday approved by voice vote a 10-months extension of the Andean Trade Preferences Act (ATPA). If the bill is approved by Congress and signed by the President in its current form, the expiration of the program would be pushed back to December 31, 2008. This deadline is consistent with that which was envisioned by the President’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2009. However, it falls significantly short of the 31-months extension (i.e., until September 30, 2010) initially sought by the Committee’s Chairman, Charles Rangel (D-NY).
With Congress leaving town today for a week-long President’s day recess, the extension bill will need to move quickly – first to the House floor, then to the Senate, and finally to the President for his signature – if it is to be enacted prior to the scheduled February 29th expiration of the ATPA. All indications are that this is likely to occur.
As we reported earlier this week, Chairman Rangel’s initial legislation, introduced last week in the U.S. House of Representatives, would not only have extended the ATPA until September 30, 2010, but would also have extended the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) and the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) to that same date. However, opposition from Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee and from several factions within the Senate to a longer-term ATPA extension and to any action on the CBI and GSP programs at the present time forced Chairman Rangel to accept what he can get for now (the short-term ATPA extension), and save his fight on the remaining issues for a later day.
We will continue to keep Members advised.
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