I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 884

To require prior congressional approval before the United States supports

the admission of the People’s Republic of China into the World Trade

Organization, and to provide for the withdrawal of the United States

from the World Trade Organization if China is accepted into the WTO

without the support of the United States.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 1, 1999

Mr. GEPHARDT (for himself, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. BONIOR, Mr. SMITH of New

Jersey, Mr. FROST, Mr. WOLF, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr.

OBEY, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. HUNTER, Ms.

KAPTUR, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mr. SHOWS, Ms. KILPATRICK, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. VENTO, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. TRAFICANT, Mr.

BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. BORSKI, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. PASCRELL, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. STARK, Mr.

KLINK, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr. ALLEN, and Mr. STUPAK) 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 concerned

A BILL

To require prior congressional approval before the United

States supports the admission of the People’s Republic

of China into the World Trade Organization, and to

provide for the withdrawal of the United States from

the World Trade Organization if China is accepted into

the WTO without the support of the United States.
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1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. PRIOR CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL FOR SUP4 PORTING ADMISSION OF CHINA INTO THE

5 WTO.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The United States may not sup7 port the admission of the People’s Republic of China as

8 a member of the World Trade Organization unless a provi9 sion of law is passed by both Houses of Congress and en10 acted into law after the enactment of this Act that specifi11 cally allows the United States to support such admission.

12 (b) PROCEDURES FOR CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL

13 OF UNITED STATES SUPPORT FOR ADMISSION OF CHINA

14 INTO THE WTO.—

15 (1) NOTIFICATION OF CONGRESS.—The Presi16 dent shall notify the Congress in writing if he deter17 mines that the United States should support the ad18 mission of the People’s Republic of China into the

19 World Trade Organization.

20 (2) SUPPORT OF CHINA’S ADMISSION INTO THE

21 WTO.—The United States may support the admis22 sion of the People’s Republic of China into the

23 World Trade Organization if a joint resolution is en24 acted into law under subsection (c) and the Congress

25 adopts and transmits the joint resolution to the
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1 President before the end of the 90-day period (ex2 cluding any day described in section 154(b) of the

3 Trade Act of 1974), beginning on the date on which

4 the Congress receives the notification referred to in

5 paragraph (1).

6 (c) JOINT RESOLUTIONS.—

7 (1) JOINT RESOLUTIONS.—For purposes of this

8 section, the term ‘‘joint resolution’’ means only a

9 joint resolution of the 2 Houses of Congress, the

10 matter after the resolving clause of which is as fol11 lows: ‘‘That the Congress approves the support of

12 the United States for the admission of the People’s

13 Republic of China into the World Trade Organiza14 tion.’’.

15 (2) PROCEDURES.—(A) A joint resolution may

16 be introduced at any time on or after the date on

17 which the Congress receives the notification referred

18 to in paragraph (1), and before the end of the 90-

19 day period referred to in subsection (b)(2). A joint

20 resolution may be introduced in either House of the

21 Congress by any member of such House.

22 (B) Subject to the provisions of this subsection,

23 the provisions of subsections (b), (d), (e), and (f) of

24 section 152 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C.

25 2192(b), (d), (e), and (f)) apply to joint resolutions
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1 to the same extent as such provisions apply to reso2 lutions under such section.

3 (C) If the committee of either House to which

4 a joint resolution has been referred has not reported

5 it by the close of the 45th day after its introduction

6 (excluding any day described in section 154(b) of the

7 Trade Act of 1974), such committee shall be auto8 matically discharged from further consideration of

9 the joint resolution and it shall be placed on the ap10 propriate calendar.

11 (D) It is not in order for—

12 (i) the Senate to consider any joint resolu13 tion unless it has been reported by the Commit14 tee on Finance or the committee has been dis15 charged under subparagraph (C); or

16 (ii) the House of Representatives to con17 sider any joint resolution unless it has been re18 ported by the Committee on Ways and Means

19 or the committee has been discharged under

20 subparagraph (C).

21 (E) A motion in the House of Representatives

22 to proceed to the consideration of a joint resolution

23 may only be made on the second legislative day after

24 the calendar day on which the Member making the
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1 motion announces to the House his or her intention

2 to do so.

3 (3) CONSIDERATION OF SECOND RESOLUTION

4 NOT IN ORDER.—It shall not be in order in either

5 the House of Representatives or the Senate to con6 sider a joint resolution (other than a joint resolution

7 received from the other House), if that House has

8 previously adopted a joint resolution under this sec9 tion.

10 SEC. 2. WITHDRAWAL OF UNITED STATES FROM THE WTO.

11 (a) NOTIFICATION TO CONGRESS OF ADMISSION OF

12 PRC TO THE WTO.—If the People’s Republic of China

13 becomes a member of the World Trade Organization with14 out the support of the United States, the President shall

15 immediately so notify the Congress and shall, by no later

16 than the date on which the membership of the People’s

17 Republic of China in the World Trade Organization be18 comes effective, submit written notice of the withdrawal

19 of the United States from the WTO Agreement pursuant

20 to Article XV of the WTO Agreement.

21 (b) WITHDRAWAL OF UNITED STATES APPROVAL OF

22 THE WTO AGREEMENT.—The approval of the Congress,

23 provided under section 101(a) of the Uruguay Round

24 Agreements Act, of the WTO Agreement shall cease to

25 be effective on the date that is 6 months after the date
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1 on which the President submits written notice of the with2 drawal of the United States from the WTO Agreement

3 under subsection (a).

4 (c) DEFINITION.—As used in this section, the term

5 ‘‘WTO Agreement’’ means the Agreement Establishing

6 the World Trade Organization, entered into on April 15,

7 1994.

8 SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENT.

9 Section 125(b)(1) of the Uruguay Round Agreements

10 Act (19 U.S.C. 3535(b)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘, and

11 only if,’’.

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