II

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1347

To establish a Congressional Trade Office.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

AUGUST 2, 2001

Mr. BAUCUS (for himself and Mr. BYRD) introduced the following bill; which

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs

A BILL

To establish a Congressional Trade Office.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

4 Congress makes the following findings:

5 (1) Congress has responsibility under the Con6 stitution for international commerce.

7 (2) Congressional oversight of trade policy has

8 often been hampered by a lack of resources.

9 (3) The United States has entered into numer10 ous trade agreements with foreign trading partners,

11 including bilateral, regional, and multilateral agree12 ments.
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1 (4) The purposes of the trade agreements are—

2 (A) to achieve a more open world trading

3 system which provides mutually advantageous

4 market opportunities for trade between the

5 United States and foreign countries;

6 (B) to facilitate the opening of foreign

7 country markets to exports of the United States

8 and other countries by eliminating trade bar9 riers and increasing the access of United States

10 industry and the industry of other countries to

11 such markets; and

12 (C) to reduce diversion of third country ex13 ports to the United States because of restricted

14 market access in foreign countries.

15 (5) Foreign country performance under certain

16 agreements has been less than contemplated, and in

17 some cases rises to the level of noncompliance.

18 (6) The credibility of, and support for, the

19 United States Government’s trade policy is, to a sig20 nificant extent, a function of the belief that trade

21 agreements made are trade agreements enforced.

22 (7) The accession of the People’s Republic of

23 China to the World Trade Organization will create

24 unprecedented challenges and it is important to the

25 world trading system that China comply with the
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1 numerous and significant commitments China makes

2 as part of the accession process. Congress must play

3 a key role in ensuring full and continuous moni4 toring of the People’s Republic of China’s compli5 ance with its commitments.

6 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is established an office in

8 Congress to be known as the Congressional Trade Office

9 (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Office’’).

10 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the Office are as

11 follows:

12 (1) To reassert the constitutional responsibility

13 of Congress with respect to international trade.

14 (2) To provide Congress with additional inde15 pendent, nonpartisan, neutral trade expertise.

16 (3) To assist Congress in providing more effec17 tive and active oversight of trade policy.

18 (4) To assist Congress in providing to the exec19 utive branch more effective direction on trade policy.

20 (5) To provide Congress with long-term, institu21 tional memory on trade issues.

22 (6) To provide Congress with more analytical

23 capability on trade issues.

24 (7) To advise relevant committees on the im25 pact of trade negotiations, including past, ongoing,
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1 and future negotiations, with respect to the areas of

2 jurisdiction of the respective committees.

3 (c) FUNCTIONS.—The functions of the Office are as

4 follows:

5 (1) ASSISTANCE TO CONGRESS.—Provide the

6 appropriate committees of Congress or joint commit7 tees of Congress information which will assist the

8 committees in the discharge of the matters within

9 their jurisdiction.

10 (2) MONITOR COMPLIANCE.—Monitor compli11 ance with major bilateral, regional, and multilateral

12 trade agreements by—

13 (A) consulting with the affected industries

14 and interested parties;

15 (B) analyzing the success of those agree16 ments based on commercial results;

17 (C) recommending actions, including legis18 lative action, necessary to ensure that foreign

19 countries that have made commitments through

20 those agreements with the United States fully

21 abide by their commitments;

22 (D) annually assessing the extent to which

23 those agreements comply with environmental

24 goals; and
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1 (E) annually assessing the extent to which

2 those agreements comply with labor goals.

3 (3) ANALYSIS.—

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—Perform the following

5 analyses:

6 (i) Not later than 90 days after the

7 date the Trade Policy Agenda is delivered

8 to Congress each year, analyze the Admin9 istration’s Agenda, including alternative

10 goals, strategies, and tactics, as appro11 priate.

12 (ii) Not later than 90 days after the

13 date the National Trade Estimates report

14 is delivered to Congress each year, analyze

15 the major outstanding trade barriers based

16 on cost to the United States economy.

17 (iii) Analyze the trade accounts, in18 cluding the global current account, global

19 trade account, and key bilateral trade ac20 counts.

21 (B) ANALYSIS REQUESTED BY COM22 MITTEE.—Perform analyses as directed by any

23 committee which will assist the committee in

24 the discharge of the matters within the commit25 tee’s jurisdiction.
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1 (4) DISPUTE SETTLEMENT DELIBERATIONS.—

2 Perform the following functions with respect to dis3 pute resolution:

4 (A) Participate as observers on the United

5 States delegation at dispute settlement panel

6 meetings of the World Trade Organization.

7 (B) Evaluate the results obtained by the

8 United States in dispute settlement at the

9 World Trade Organization, including the com10 mercial results.

11 (C) Evaluate the results obtained by the

12 United States in dispute settlement under the

13 North American Free Trade Agreement, includ14 ing the commercial results.

15 (5) PARTICIPATION IN TRADE NEGOTIATIONS.—

16 Participate as observers in selected bilateral, re17 gional, and multilateral trade negotiations.

18 (6) OTHER FUNCTIONS OF THE OFFICE.—

19 (A) Provide the Committee on Finance and

20 the Committee on Ways and Means with quar21 terly reports regarding the activities of the Of22 fice.

23 (B) Be available for consultation with con24 gressional committees on trade-related legisla25 tion.
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1 (C) Receive and review classified informa2 tion and participate in classified briefings in the

3 same manner as the staff of the Committee on

4 Finance and the Committee on Ways and

5 Means.

6 (D) Consult nongovernmental experts and

7 utilize nongovernmental resources.

8 (E) Perform such other functions as the

9 Chairman and Ranking Member of the Com10 mittee on Finance and the Chairman and

11 Ranking Member of the Committee on Ways

12 and Means may request.

13 (d) DIRECTOR AND STAFF.—

14 (1) DIRECTOR.—

15 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Office shall be

16 headed by a Director. The Director shall be ap17 pointed by the Speaker of the House of Rep18 resentatives and the President pro tempore of

19 the Senate after considering the recommenda20 tions of the Chairman and Ranking Member of

21 the Committee on Finance of the Senate and

22 the Chairman and Ranking Member of the

23 Committee on Ways and Means of the House of

24 Representative. The Director shall be chosen

25 without regard to political affiliation and solely
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1 on the basis of the Director’s expertise and fit2 ness to perform the duties of the Director.

3 (B) TERM.—The term of office of the Di4 rector shall be 5 years and the Director may be

5 reappointed for subsequent terms.

6 (C) VACANCY.—Any individual appointed

7 to fill a vacancy prior to the expiration of a

8 term shall serve only for the unexpired portion

9 of that term.

10 (D) REMOVAL.—The Director may be re11 moved by either House by resolution.

12 (E) COMPENSATION.—The Director shall

13 receive compensation at a per annum gross rate

14 equal to the rate of basic pay, as in effect from

15 time to time, for level III of the Executive

16 Schedule in section 5314 of title 5, United

17 States Code.

18 (2) STAFF.—

19 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall ap20 point and fix the compensation of such per21 sonnel as may be necessary to carry out the du22 ties and functions of the Office. All personnel

23 shall be appointed without regard to political

24 affiliation and solely on the basis of their fit25 ness to perform their duties. The personnel of
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1 the Office shall consist of individuals with ex2 pertise in international trade, including exper3 tise in economics, trade law, various industrial

4 sectors, and various geographical regions.

5 (B) BENEFITS.—For purposes of pay

6 (other than the pay of the Director) and em7 ployment, benefits, rights and privilege, all per8 sonnel of the Office shall be treated as if they

9 were employees of the House of Representa10 tives.

11 (3) EXPERTS AND CONSULTANTS.—In carrying

12 out the duties and functions of the Office, the Direc13 tor may procure the temporary (not to exceed 1

14 year) or intermittent services of experts or consult15 ants or organizations thereof by contract as inde16 pendent contractors, or, in the case of individual ex17 perts or consultants, by employment at rates of pay

18 not in excess of the daily equivalent of the highest

19 rate of basic pay payable under the General Sched20 ule of section 5332 of title 5.

21 (4) RELATIONSHIP TO EXECUTIVE BRANCH.—

22 The Director is authorized to secure information,

23 data, estimates, and statistics directly from the var24 ious departments, agencies, and establishments of

25 the executive branch of Government and the regu-
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1 latory agencies and commissions of the Government.

2 All such departments, agencies, establishments, and

3 regulatory agencies and commissions shall furnish

4 the Director any available material which he deter5 mines to be necessary in the performance of his du6 ties and functions (other than material the disclo7 sure of which would be a violation of law). The Di8 rector is also authorized, upon agreement with the

9 head of any such department, agency, establishment,

10 or regulatory agency or commission, to utilize its

11 services and facilities with or without reimburse12 ment; and the head of each such department, agen13 cy, establishment, or regulatory agency or commis14 sion is authorized to provide the Office such services

15 and facilities.

16 (5) RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER AGENCIES OF

17 CONGRESS.—In carrying out the duties and func18 tions of the Office, and for the purpose of coordi19 nating the operations of the Office with those of

20 other congressional agencies with a view to utilizing

21 most effectively the information, services, and capa22 bilities of all such agencies in carrying out the var23 ious responsibilities assigned to each, the Director is

24 authorized to obtain information, data, estimates,

25 and statistics developed by the General Accounting
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1 Office, the Library of Congress, and other offices of

2 Congress, and (upon agreement with them) to utilize

3 their services and facilities with or without reim4 bursement. The Comptroller General, the Librarian

5 of Congress, and the head of other offices of Con6 gress are authorized to provide the Office with the

7 information, data estimates, and statistics, and the

8 services and facilities referred to in the preceding

9 sentence.

10 SEC. 3. PUBLIC ACCESS TO DATA.

11 (a) RIGHT TO COPY.—Except as provided in sub12 sections (b) and (c), the Director shall make all informa13 tion, data, estimates, and statistics obtained under this

14 Act available for public copying during normal business

15 hours, subject to reasonable rules and regulations, and

16 shall to the extent practicable, at the request of any per17 son, furnish a copy of any such information, data, esti18 mates, or statistics upon payment by such person of the

19 cost of making and furnishing such copy.

20 (b) EXCEPTIONS.—Subsection (a) of this section

21 shall not apply to information, data, estimates, and

22 statistics—

23 (1) which are specifically exempted from disclo24 sure by law; or
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1 (2) which the Director determines will

2 disclose—

3 (A) matters necessary to be kept secret in

4 the interests of national defense or the con5 fidential conduct of the foreign relations of the

6 United States;

7 (B) information relating to trade secrets or

8 financial or commercial information pertaining

9 specifically to a given person if the information

10 has been obtained by the Government on a con11 fidential basis, other than through an applica12 tion by such person for a specific financial or

13 other benefit, and is required to be kept secret

14 in order to prevent undue injury to the competi15 tive position of such person; or

16 (C) personnel or medical data or similar

17 data the disclosure of which would constitute a

18 clearly unwarranted invasion of personal pri19 vacy;

20 unless the portions containing such matters, information,

21 or data have been excised.

22 (c) INFORMATION OBTAINED FOR COMMITTEES AND

23 MEMBERS.—Subsection (a) of this section shall apply to

24 any information, data, estimates, and statistics obtained

25 at the request of any committee, joint committee, or Mem-
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1 ber unless such committee, joint committee, or Member

2 has instructed the Director not to make such information,

3 data, estimates, or statistics available for public copying.

4 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

5 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Office

6 for each fiscal year such sums as may be necessary to en7 able it to carry out its duties and functions. Until sums

8 are first appropriated pursuant to the preceding sentence,

9 for a period not to exceed 12 months following the effec10 tive date of this section, the expenses of the Office shall

11 be paid from the contingent fund of the Senate, in accord12 ance with the provisions of the paragraph relating to con13 tingent funds under the heading ‘‘UNDER LEGISLA14 TIVE’’ in the Act of October 2, 1888 (25 Stat. 546; 2

15 U.S.C. 68), and upon vouchers approved by the Director.

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