I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 471 

To amend the Trade Act of 1974 to provide for a limitation on presidential 

discretion with respect to actions to address market disruption. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 13, 2009 

Mr. ALTMIRE (for himself and Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania) 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 amend the Trade Act of 1974 to provide for a limitation 

on presidential discretion with respect to actions to address market disruption. 

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 ‘‘Supporting America’s 

5 Manufacturers Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. STANDARD FOR PRESIDENTIAL ACTION ON ITC 

2 FINDING OF MARKET DISRUPTION. 

3 Section 421 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 

4 2451) is amended— 

5 (1) in subsection (a)— 

6 (A) by inserting ‘‘any’’ before ‘‘increased 

7 duties’’; and 

8 (B) by striking ‘‘, to the extent and for 

9 such period’’ and all that follows to the end pe10 riod and inserting ‘‘that are recommended by 

11 the International Trade Commission.’’; 

12 (2) in subsection (e), in the second sentence, by 

13 striking ‘‘agreed upon by either group’’ and all that 

14 follows to the end period and inserting ‘‘shall be con15 sidered an affirmative determination under sub16 section (b).’’; 

17 (3) in subsection (f)— 

18 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘ON PRO19 POSED REMEDIES’’ and inserting ‘‘FOR RE20 LIEF’’; 

21 (B) in the first sentence— 

22 (i) by striking ‘‘the President or 

23 Trade Representative may consider as’’ 

24 and inserting ‘‘is to be considered’’; and 


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1 (ii) by striking ‘‘the Commission shall 

2 propose’’ and inserting ‘‘the Commission 

3 shall recommend’’; and 

4 (C) in the second sentence, by striking 

5 ‘‘proposed action’’ and inserting ‘‘recommended 

6 action’’; 

7 (4) in subsection (g)(2)(B)— 

8 (A) by striking ‘‘or may be considered by 

9 the President or the Trade Representative as’’ 

10 and inserting ‘‘or if the determination is consid11 ered to be’’; and 

12 (B) by striking ‘‘on proposed remedies’’ 

13 and inserting ‘‘for relief’’; 

14 (5) in subsection (h)— 

15 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘PROPOSED

16 MEASURE AND RECOMMENDATION TO THE

17 PRESIDENT’’ and inserting ‘‘RECOMMENDED

18 RELIEF AND REPORT BY TRADE REPRESENTA19 TIVE’’; 

20 (B) in paragraph (1)— 

21 (i) by striking ‘‘measure proposed by 

22 the Trade Representative to be taken pur23 suant to subsection (a)’’ and inserting ‘‘re24 lief recommended by the Commission 

25 under subsection (f)’’; and 


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1 (ii) by striking ‘‘proposed measure’’ 

2 and inserting ‘‘recommended relief’’; 

3 (C) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘on the 

4 measure proposed by the Trade Representative’’ 

5 and all that follows to the end period and in6 serting ‘‘, shall transmit a report to the Presi7 dent recommending what action to take under 

8 subsection (k).’’; and 

9 (D) by adding at the end the following new 

10 paragraph: 

11 ‘‘(3) The Trade Representative, after submitting a 

12 report to the President under paragraph (2), shall prompt13 ly make the report available to the public, excluding any 

14 proprietary or confidential information. The Trade Rep15 resentative shall publish a summary of the report in the 

16 Federal Register.’’; 

17 (6) in subsection (i)— 

18 (A) in the flush sentence at the end of 

19 paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘agreed upon by ei20 ther group’’ and all that follows to the end pe21 riod and inserting ‘‘shall be considered an af22 firmative determination of the Commission.’’; 

23 and 

24 (B) by striking paragraphs (2), (3), and 

25 (4) and inserting the following: 


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1 ‘‘(2) On the date on which the Commission completes 

2 its determinations under paragraph (1), the Commission 

3 shall transmit a report on the determinations to the Presi4 dent and the Trade Representative, including the reasons 

5 for its determinations. If the determinations under para6 graph (1) are affirmative or if the determinations are con7 sidered to be affirmative under paragraph (1), the Com8 mission shall include in its report its recommendations on 

9 provisional relief to be taken to prevent or remedy the 

10 market disruption. Only those members of the Commission 

11 who agreed to the affirmative determinations under para12 graph (1) are eligible to vote on the recommended provi13 sional relief to prevent or remedy market disruption. Mem14 bers of the Commission who did not agree to the affirma15 tive determinations may submit, in the report, dissenting 

16 or separate views regarding the determinations and any 

17 recommendation of provisional relief referred to in this 

18 paragraph. 

19 ‘‘(3) The provisional relief referred to in paragraph 

20 (2) may include— 

21 ‘‘(A) the imposition of or increase in any duty; 

22 ‘‘(B) any modification to, or imposition of, any 

23 quantitative restriction on the importation of any ar24 ticle into the United States; or 


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1 ‘‘(C) any combination of actions under subpara2 graph (A) or (B). 

3 ‘‘(4) If the determinations under paragraph (1) are 

4 affirmative or if the determinations are considered to be 

5 affirmative under paragraph (1), the Trade Representa6 tive shall, within 10 days after receipt of the Commission’s 

7 report, transmit a report to the President recommending 

8 what action to take with respect to provisional relief under 

9 subsection (k). 

10 ‘‘(5)(A) The President shall proclaim any provisional 

11 relief recommended by the Commission not later than 10 

12 days after the date on which the President receives the 

13 report described in paragraph (4) from the Trade Rep14 resentative. 

15 ‘‘(B) Any provisional relief proclaimed by the Presi16 dent pursuant to a determination of critical circumstances 

17 shall remain in effect for a period of not more than 200 

18 days. 

19 ‘‘(C) Provisional relief shall cease to apply upon the 

20 effective date of relief proclaimed under subsection (a), 

21 upon a decision by the President not to provide such relief 

22 under subsection (k), or upon a negative determination by 

23 the Commission under subsection (b).’’; 

24 (7) in subsection (j)— 


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1 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘which 

2 the Trade Representative considers to be’’ and 

3 inserting ‘‘that is considered to be’’; and 

4 (B) by striking paragraph (2) and insert5 ing the following: 

6 ‘‘(2) If no agreement is reached with the People’s Re7 public of China pursuant to consultations under para8 graph (1) in the time required for Presidential action 

9 under subsection (k), or if the President determines that 

10 an agreement reached pursuant to such consultations is 

11 not preventing or remedying the market disruption at 

12 issue in the time required for Presidential action under 

13 subsection (k), the President shall provide import relief 

14 in accordance with subsection (a).’’; 

15 (8) in subsection (k)— 

16 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘STAND17 ARD FOR PRESIDENTIAL ACTION’’ and inserting 

18 ‘‘TIMING FOR PRESIDENTIAL ACTION; EXCEP19 TIONS’’; 

20 (B) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘a rec21 ommendation from the Trade Representative’’ 

22 and all that follows to the end period and in23 serting ‘‘a report from the Trade Representa24 tive under subsection (h)(2), the President 


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1 shall, pursuant to subsection (a), proclaim the 

2 relief recommended by the Commission.’’; and 

3 (C) by amending paragraph (2) to read as 

4 follows: 

5 ‘‘(2) The President may decline to proclaim relief 

6 pursuant to subsection (a), may proclaim relief pursuant 

7 to subsection (a) that differs from the relief recommended 

8 by the Commission, may decline to proclaim provisional 

9 relief pursuant to subsection (i), or may proclaim provi10 sional relief pursuant to subsection (i) that differs from 

11 the relief recommended by the Commission— 

12 ‘‘(A) only in extraordinary cases; and 

13 ‘‘(B) only if the President determines that pro14 viding relief or provisional relief pursuant to sub15 section (a) or (i) or providing relief recommended by 

16 the Commission pursuant to subsection (a) or (i) 

17 would cause serious harm to the economic interests 

18 or to the national security of the of the United 

19 States.’’; 

20 (9) in subsection (l), by amending paragraph 

21 (1) to read as follows: ‘‘(1) The President shall, 

22 within 15 days after the President’s decision under 

23 subsection (k) is made, submit the decision to the 

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1 resentatives and publish the decision in the Federal 

2 Register. In the submission to the committees and 

3 the publication in the Federal Register, the Presi4 dent shall include the reasons for the decision and 

5 the scope and duration of any action taken. If the 

6 President takes action that differs from the action 

7 recommended by the Commission under subsection 

8 (f) or declines to take action under subsection 

9 (k)(2), the President shall state in detail the reasons 

10 for such action or inaction.’’; 

11 (10) by redesignating subsections (m) through 

12 (o) as subsections (n) through (p), respectively; 

13 (11) by inserting after subsection (l) the fol14 lowing new subsection: 

15 ‘‘(m) IMPLEMENTATION OF ACTION RECOMMENDED

16 BY COMMISSION.—(1) If the President takes action that 

17 differs from the action recommended by the Commission 

18 under subsection (f) or declines to take action under sub19 section (k)(2)(B), the action recommended by the Com20 mission under subsection (f) shall take effect (as provided 

21 in subsection (n)(2)) upon the enactment of a joint resolu22 tion described in paragraph (2) within the 90-day period 

23 beginning on the date on which the President’s decision 

24 is transmitted to the Congress pursuant to subsection (l). 


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1 ‘‘(2) A joint resolution described in this paragraph 

2 is a joint resolution of the 2 Houses of the Congress, the 

3 sole matter after the resolving clause of which is as fol4 lows: ‘That the Congress does not approve the action 

5 taken by, or the determination of, the President under sec6 tion 421 of the Trade Act of 1974, notice of which was 

7 transmitted to the Congress on XXXXXX.’, with the 

8 blank space being filled with the appropriate case number 

9 and date. 

10 ‘‘(3) The provisions of section 152(b), (c), (d), (e), 

11 and (f) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2192(b), (c), 

12 (d), (e), and (f)) shall apply to joint resolutions under this 

13 section.’’; 

14 (12) by amending subsection (n), as redesig15 nated, to read as follows: 

16 ‘‘(n) EFFECTIVE DATE OF RELIEF.—(1) Except as 

17 provided in paragraph (2), import relief under this section 

18 shall take effect not later than 15 days after the Presi19 dent’s determination to provide such relief. 

20 ‘‘(2) If the action recommended by the Commission 

21 takes effect pursuant to subsection (m), the President 

22 shall, within 15 days after the date of the enactment of 

23 the joint resolution referred to in subsection (m), proclaim 

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1 section (f). Such action shall take effect not later than 

2 15 days after the date of the President’s proclamation.’’; 

3 (13) in subsection (o), as redesignated— 

4 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘6- 

5 month’’ and inserting ‘‘1-year’’; and 

6 (B) in paragraph (3), by inserting ‘‘or 

7 (m)’’ after ‘‘subsection (k)’’; and 

8 (14) in subsection (p), as redesignated— 

9 (A) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘or 

10 (m)’’ after ‘‘subsection (k);’’; and 

11 (B) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘sub12 section (m)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (n)’’. 

Æ 


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