I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1947 

To establish the Trade Agreements Enforcement Trust Fund to take actions 

to enforce free trade agreements to which the United States is a party, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 22, 2015 

Mr. BLUMENAUER (for himself, Mr. KIND, Mr. NEAL, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Ms. LINDA T. SA ́NCHEZ of California, and Mr. MCDERMOTT) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To establish the Trade Agreements Enforcement Trust Fund 

to take actions to enforce free trade agreements to which 

the United States is a party, and for other purposes. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Supplemental Trade 

5 Review, Oversight, Noncompliance and General Enforce6 ment Resources Act of 2015’’ or ‘‘STRONGER Act of 

7 2015’’. 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 1947 IH

1 SEC. 2. TRADE AGREEMENTS ENFORCEMENT TRUST FUND. 

2 (a) ESTABLISHMENT; SOURCE OF FUNDS.—There is 

3 established in the Treasury of the United States a trust 

4 fund, to be known as the Trade Agreements Enforcement 

5 Trust Fund (hereinafter in this section referred to as the 

6 ‘‘Trust Fund’’), consisting of such amounts as are trans7 ferred to the Trust Fund under subsection (b), any inter8 est earned on investment of amounts in the Trust Fund, 

9 and any proceeds from the sale or redemption of any obli10 gations held in the Trust Fund under subsection (c). 

11 (b) TRANSFER OF COUNTERVAILING AND ANTI12 DUMPING DUTIES TO TRUST FUND.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall transfer 

14 to the Trust Fund for each fiscal year that begins 

15 on or after the date of the enactment of this Act an 

16 amount equal to $15,000,000 of the countervailing 

17 duties and antidumping duties received in the Treas18 ury for such fiscal year. 

19 (2) LIMITATION.—The total amount of funds in 

20 the Trust Fund may not exceed $30,000,000. 

21 (c) INVESTMENT OF AMOUNTS; INTEREST AND PRO22 CEEDS.— 

23 (1) INVESTMENT OF AMOUNTS.—The Secretary 

24 shall be responsible for investing such portion of the 

25 Trust Fund as is not, in the judgment of the Sec26 retary, required to meet current withdrawals. Such 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 1947 IH

1 investments shall only be made in interest-bearing 

2 obligations of the United States or in obligations 

3 guaranteed as to both principal and interest by the 

4 United States. 

5 (2) INTEREST AND PROCEEDS.—The interest 

6 on, and the proceeds from the sale or redemption of, 

7 any obligations held in Trust Fund shall be credited 

8 to and form a part of the Trust Fund. 

9 (d) FREQUENCY OF TRANSFERS; ADJUSTMENTS.— 

10 (1) FREQUENCY OF TRANSFERS.—The Sec11 retary shall transfer amounts required to be trans12 ferred to the Trust Fund under subsection (b) at 

13 least quarterly from the general fund of the Treas14 ury to the Trust Fund on the basis of estimates 

15 made by the Secretary. 

16 (2) ADJUSTMENTS.—The Secretary shall make 

17 proper adjustment in the amounts subsequently 

18 transferred to the Trust Fund to the extent prior es19 timates were in excess of or less than the amounts 

20 required to be transferred to the Trust Fund. 

21 SEC. 3. AVAILABILITY OF AMOUNTS FROM TRUST FUND. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President is authorized to 

23 make available such sums as are available in the Trust 

24 Fund, including any amounts not obligated in previous fis25 cal years, to— 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 1947 IH

1 (1) the United States Trade Representative to 

2 take the actions described in subsection (b)(1); and 

3 (2) the United States Trade Representative, the 

4 Secretary of State, the Administrator of the United 

5 States Agency for International Development, the 

6 Secretary of Labor, and the heads of other depart7 ments and agencies with relevant expertise, as ap8 propriate, to take the actions described in subsection 

9 (b)(2). 

10 (b) ACTIONS.— 

11 (1) RELATING TO ENFORCEMENT.—The actions 

12 described in this paragraph are the following: 

13 (A) To seek to enforce and resolve any in14 consistencies with the provisions, commitments, 

15 and obligations of any party made pursuant to 

16 any free trade agreement with the United 

17 States. 

18 (B) To monitor the implementation of 

19 commitments and obligations of any party made 

20 pursuant to any free trade agreement with the 

21 United States for purposes of systematically as22 sessing, identifying, investigating, or initiating 

23 steps to address inconsistencies with such com24 mitments and obligations. 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 1947 IH

1 (C) To investigate and respond to petitions 

2 pursuant to section 301 of the Trade Act of 

3 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2411). 

4 (D) To seek to enforce and resolve incon5 sistencies with the provisions, commitments, 

6 and obligations of World Trade Organization 

7 member countries under the WTO Agreement 

8 (as defined in section 2(9) of the Uruguay 

9 Round Agreements Act) and the agreements 

10 annexed to that Agreement (as specified in sec11 tion 101(d) of the Uruguay Round Agreements 

12 Act). 

13 (2) RELATING TO IMPLEMENTATION ASSIST14 ANCE AND LOCAL CAPACITY BUILDING.—The actions 

15 described in this paragraph are the following: 

16 (A) To ensure capacity-building efforts un17 dertaken by the United States pursuant to any 

18 free trade agreement prioritize and give special 

19 attention to the timely, consistent, and robust 

20 implementation of any labor and environmental 

21 commitments and obligations of any party to 

22 that free trade agreement. 

23 (B) To ensure capacity-building efforts un24 dertaken by the United States pursuant to any 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 1947 IH

1 free trade agreement are self-sustaining and 

2 promote local ownership. 

3 (C) To ensure capacity-building efforts un4 dertaken by the United States pursuant to any 

5 free trade agreement include performance indi6 cators against which the progress and obstacles 

7 for implementation of environmental and labor 

8 commitments can be identified and assessed 

9 within a meaningful timeframe. 

10 (D) To monitor and evaluate United 

11 States capacity-building efforts described in 

12 subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C) in a manner 

13 consistent with section 4. 

14 (c) LIMITATION.—Amounts made available in the 

15 Trust Fund may not be used to negotiate any new free 

16 trade agreements on or after the date of the enactment 

17 of this Act. 

18 (d) REPORT.—Not later than 18 months following 

19 the entry into force of any new free trade agreement, the 

20 United States Trade Representative, together with the 

21 other parties taking actions under section 3(b)(2) pursu22 ant to that free trade agreement shall issue a report to 

23 Congress detailing those actions. 

24 SEC. 4. COORDINATION AND ACCOUNTABILITY. 

25 (a) INTERAGENCY COMMITTEE.— 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 1947 IH

1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The President shall establish 

2 a permanent interagency committee to ensure ac3 tions taken under section 3(b)(2) are effectively 

4 prioritized, targeted, coordinated, and implemented. 

5 (2) MEMBERS.—The committee shall consist of 

6 the following: 

7 (A) The Deputy United States Trade Rep8 resentative of the Office of the United States 

9 Trade Representative, who shall serve as the 

10 chair of the committee. 

11 (B) The Under Secretary for Economic 

12 Growth, Energy, and the Environment of the 

13 Department of State. 

14 (C) The Assistant Administrator for Eco15 nomic Growth, Education, and Environment of 

16 the United States Agency for International De17 velopment. 

18 (D) The Deputy Undersecretary for Inter19 national Affairs of the Department of Labor. 

20 (E) Such senior representatives from other 

21 departments and agencies with relevant exper22 tise, as appropriate, to be appointed by the 

23 chair of the committee. 

24 (3) AD HOC MEMBERS.—The United States am25 bassador to any country receiving United States asVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:13 May 01, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1947.IH H1947

SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 1947 IH

1 sistance by reason of actions taken under section 

2 3(b)(2) shall serve as an ad hoc member of the com3 mittee for the period of time during which the plan4 ning, budgeting, and implementation of such assist5 ance is carried out. 

6 (4) CONSULTATION.—The head of any depart7 ment or agency that is taking actions under section 

8 3(b)(2) shall consult with the committee during the 

9 drafting of any action plan, program, or effort led 

10 by the United States for purposes of taking such ac11 tions. 

12 (b) ACCOUNTABILITY.—The United States shall pro13 mote aid effectiveness and accountability through trans14 parency, monitoring, evaluation, and learning, and fos15 tering local ownership and implementation of U.S. assist16 ance carried out pursuant to section 3(b)(2) in the fol17 lowing manner: 

18 (1) INCREASE TRANSPARENCY.—The inter19 agency committee established under section 4(a) 

20 shall publish timely, comprehensive, and detailed in21 formation regarding the implementation assistance 

22 and local capacity building described in section 

23 3(b)(2) on a quarterly basis in IATI XML format, 

24 consistent with the United States commitment to 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
9 

•HR 1947 IH

1 full compliance with the International Aid Trans2 parency Initiative. 

3 (2) STRENGTHEN EVALUATION.—The inter4 agency committee established under section 4(a) 

5 shall conduct evaluations that are independent, 

6 methodologically rigorous, made public in their en7 tirety, and transmitted to the International Aid 

8 Transparency Initiative Registry as appropriate. 

9 (3) PROMOTE LEARNING.—The interagency 

10 committee established under section 4(a) shall de11 velop and implement procedures for ensuring that 

12 data and evaluation results inform decisionmaking 

13 and lead to the revision and promotion of best prac14 tices among relevant executive branch agencies. 

15 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

16 In this Act: 

17 (1) ANTIDUMPING DUTY.—The term ‘‘anti18 dumping duty’’ means an antidumping duty imposed 

19 under section 731 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 

20 U.S.C. 1673). 

21 (2) COUNTERVAILING DUTY.—The term ‘‘coun22 tervailing duty’’ means a countervailing duty im23 posed under section 701 of the Tariff Act of 1930 

24 (19 U.S.C. 1671). 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
10 

•HR 1947 IH

1 (3) SECRETARY.—Except as otherwise provided, 

2 the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary of the 

3 Treasury. 

Æ 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS