II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1585

To establish a Congressional Trade Office.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

SEPTEMBER 15, 1999

Mr. BAUCUS introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Finance

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.
2

•S 1585 IS

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 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE.

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

24 Congress to be known as the Congressional Trade Office

25 (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Office’’).
3

•S 1585 IS

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

2 follows:

3 (1) To reassert the constitutional responsibility

4 of Congress with respect to international trade.

5 (2) To provide Congress, through the Com6 mittee on Finance of the Senate and the Committee

7 on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives

8 with additional independent, nonpartisan, neutral

9 trade expertise.

10 (3) To assist Congress in providing more effec11 tive and active oversight of trade policy.

12 (4) To assist Congress in providing to the exec13 utive branch more effective direction on trade policy.

14 (5) To provide Congress with long-term, institu15 tional memory on trade issues.

16 (6) To provide Congress with more analytical

17 capability on trade issues.

18 (7) To advise relevant committees on the im19 pact of trade negotiations, including past, ongoing,

20 and future negotiations, with respect to the areas of

21 jurisdiction of the respective committees.

22 (c) DIRECTOR AND STAFF.—

23 (1) DIRECTOR.—

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

25 headed by a Director. The Director shall be ap-
4

•S 1585 IS

1 pointed by the Speaker of the House of Rep2 resentatives and the President pro tempore of

3 the Senate after considering the recommenda4 tions of the Chairman and Ranking Member of

5 the Committee on Finance of the Senate and

6 the Chairman and Ranking Member of the

7 Committee on Ways and Means of the House of

8 Representative. The Director shall be chosen

9 without regard to political affiliation and solely

10 on the basis of the Director’s expertise and fit11 ness to perform the duties of the Director.

12 (B) TERM.—The term of office of the Di13 rector shall be 5 years and the Director may be

14 reappointed for subsequent terms.

15 (C) VACANCY.—Any individual appointed

16 to fill a vacancy prior to the expiration of a

17 term shall serve only for the unexpired portion

18 of that term.

19 (D) REMOVAL.—The Director may be re20 moved by either House by resolution.

21 (E) COMPENSATION.—The Director shall

22 receive compensation at a per annum gross rate

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

24 time to time, for level III of the Executive
5

•S 1585 IS

1 Schedule in section 5314 of title 5, United

2 States Code.

3 (2) STAFF.—

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall ap5 point and fix the compensation of such per6 sonnel as may be necessary to carry out the du7 ties and functions of the Office. All personnel

8 shall be appointed without regard to political

9 affiliation and solely on the basis of their fit10 ness to perform their duties. The personnel of

11 the Office shall consist of individuals with ex12 pertise in international trade, including exper13 tise in economics, trade law, various industrial

14 sectors, and various geographical regions.

15 (B) BENEFITS.—For purposes of pay

16 (other than the pay of the Director) and em17 ployment, benefits, rights and privilege, all per18 sonnel of the Office shall be treated as if they

19 were employees of the House of Representa20 tives.

21 (3) EXPERTS AND CONSULTANTS.—In carrying

22 out the duties and functions of the Office, the Direc23 tor may procure the temporary (not to exceed 1

24 year) or intermittent services of experts or consult25 ants or organizations thereof by contract as inde-
6

•S 1585 IS

1 pendent contractors, or, in the case of individual ex2 perts or consultants, by employment at rates of pay

3 not in excess of the daily equivalent of the highest

4 rate of basic pay payable under the General Sched5 ule of section 5332 of title 5.

6 (4) RELATIONSHIP TO EXECUTIVE BRANCH.—

7 The Director is authorized to secure information,

8 data, estimates, and statistics directly from the var9 ious departments, agencies, and establishments of

10 the executive branch of Government and the regu11 latory agencies and commissions of the Government.

12 All such departments, agencies, establishments, and

13 regulatory agencies and commissions shall furnish

14 the Director any available material which he deter15 mines to be necessary in the performance of his du16 ties and functions (other than material the disclo17 sure of which would be a violation of law). The Di18 rector is also authorized, upon agreement with the

19 head of any such department, agency, establishment,

20 or regulatory agency or commission, to utilize its

21 services and facilities with or without reimburse22 ment; and the head of each such department, agen23 cy, establishment, or regulatory agency or commis24 sion is authorized to provide the Office such services

25 and facilities.
7

•S 1585 IS

1 (5) RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER AGENCIES OF

2 CONGRESS.—In carrying out the duties and func3 tions of the Office, and for the purpose of coordi4 nating the operations of the Office with those of

5 other congressional agencies with a view to utilizing

6 most effectively the information, services, and capa7 bilities of all such agencies in carrying out the var8 ious responsibilities assigned to each, the Director is

9 authorized to obtain information, data, estimates,

10 and statistics developed by the General Accounting

11 Office, the Library of Congress, and other offices of

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

13 their services and facilities with or without reim14 bursement. The Comptroller General, the Librarian

15 of Congress, and the head of other offices of Con16 gress are authorized to provide the Office with the

17 information, data estimates, and statistics, and the

18 services and facilities referred to in the preceding

19 sentence.

20 (d) FUNCTIONS.—The functions of the Office are as

21 follows:

22 (1) ASSISTANCE TO CONGRESS.—Provide the

23 Committee on Finance of the Senate and the Com24 mittee on Ways and Means of the House of Rep25 resentative and any other appropriate committee of
8

•S 1585 IS

1 Congress or joint committee of Congress information

2 which will assist the committees in the discharge of

3 the matters within their jurisdiction.

4 (2) MONITOR COMPLIANCE.—Monitor compli5 ance with major bilateral, regional, and multilateral

6 trade agreements by—

7 (A) consulting with the affected industries

8 and interested parties;

9 (B) analyzing the success of agreements

10 based on commercial results;

11 (C) recommending actions, including legis12 lative action, necessary to ensure that foreign

13 countries that have made commitments through

14 agreements with the United States fully abide

15 by those commitments;

16 (D) annually assessing the extent to which

17 current agreements comply with environmental

18 goals; and

19 (E) annually assessing the extent to which

20 current agreements comply with labor goals.

21 (3) ANALYSIS.—Perform the following analyses:

22 (A) Not later than 60 days after the date

23 the National Trade Estimates report is deliv24 ered to Congress each year, analyze the major
9

•S 1585 IS

1 outstanding trade barriers based on cost to the

2 United States economy.

3 (B) Not later than 60 days after the date

4 the Trade Policy Agenda is delivered to Con5 gress each year, analyze the Administration’s

6 Agenda, including alternative goals, strategies,

7 and tactics, as appropriate.

8 (C) Analyze proposed trade legislation.

9 (D) Analyze proposed trade agreements,

10 including agreements that do not require imple11 menting legislation.

12 (E) Analyze the impact of the Administra13 tion’s trade policy and actions, including assess14 ing the Administration’s decisions for not ac15 cepting unfair trade practices cases.

16 (F) Analyze the trade accounts quarterly,

17 including the global current account, global

18 trade account, and key bilateral trade accounts.

19 (4) DISPUTE SETTLEMENT DELIBERATIONS.—

20 Perform the following functions with respect to dis21 pute resolution:

22 (A) Participate as observers on the United

23 States delegation at dispute settlement panel

24 meetings of the World Trade Organization.
10

•S 1585 IS

1 (B) Evaluate each World Trade Organiza2 tion decision where the United States is a par3 ticipant. In any case in which the United States

4 does not prevail, evaluate the decision and in

5 any case in which the United States does pre6 vail, measure the commercial results of that de7 cision.

8 (C) Evaluate each dispute resolution pro9 ceeding under the North American Free Trade

10 Agreement. In any case in which the United

11 States does not prevail, evaluate the decision

12 and in any case in which the United States does

13 prevail, measure the commercial results of that

14 decision.

15 (D) Participate as observers in other dis16 pute settlement proceedings that the Chairman

17 and Ranking Member of the Committee on Fi18 nance and the Chairman and Ranking Member

19 of the Committee on Ways and Means deem ap20 propriate.

21 (5) OTHER FUNCTIONS OF DIRECTOR.—The Di22 rector and staff of the Office shall perform the fol23 lowing additional functions:

24 (A) Provide the Committee on Finance and

25 the Committee on Ways and Means with quar-
11

•S 1585 IS

1 terly reports regarding the activities of the Of2 fice.

3 (B) Be available for consultation with con4 gressional committees on trade-related legisla5 tion.

6 (C) Receive and review classified informa7 tion and participate in classified briefings in the

8 same manner as the staff of the Committee on

9 Finance and the Committee on Ways and

10 Means.

11 (D) Consult nongovernmental experts and

12 utilize nongovernmental resources.

13 (E) Perform such other functions as the

14 Chairman and Ranking Member of the Com15 mittee on Finance and the Chairman and

16 Ranking Member of the Committee on Ways

17 and Means may request.

18 SEC. 3. PUBLIC ACCESS TO DATA.

19 (a) RIGHT TO COPY.—Except as provided in sub20 sections (b) and (c), the Director shall make all informa21 tion, data, estimates, and statistics obtained under this

22 Act available for public copying during normal business

23 hours, subject to reasonable rules and regulations, and

24 shall to the extent practicable, at the request of any per25 son, furnish a copy of any such information, data, esti-
12

•S 1585 IS

1 mates, or statistics upon payment by such person of the

2 cost of making and furnishing such copy.

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

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

5 statistics—

6 (1) which are specifically exempted from disclo7 sure by law; or

8 (2) which the Director determines will

9 disclose—

10 (A) matters necessary to be kept secret in

11 the interests of national defense or the con12 fidential conduct of the foreign relations of the

13 United States;

14 (B) information relating to trade secrets or

15 financial or commercial information pertaining

16 specifically to a given person if the information

17 has been obtained by the Government on a con18 fidential basis, other than through an applica19 tion by such person for a specific financial or

20 other benefit, and is required to be kept secret

21 in order to prevent undue injury to the competi22 tive position of such person; or

23 (C) personnel or medical data or similar

24 data the disclosure of which would constitute a
13

•S 1585 IS

1 clearly unwarranted invasion of personal pri2 vacy;

3 unless the portions containing such matters, information,

4 or data have been excised.

5 (c) INFORMATION OBTAINED FOR COMMITTEES AND

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

7 any information, data, estimates, and statistics obtained

8 at the request of any committee, joint committee, or Mem9 ber unless such committee, joint committee, or Member

10 has instructed the Director not to make such information,

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

12 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

13 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Office

14 for each fiscal year such sums as may be necessary to en15 able it to carry out its duties and functions. Until sums

16 are first appropriated pursuant to the preceding sentence,

17 for a period not to exceed 12 months following the effec18 tive date of this subsection, the expenses of the Office shall

19 be paid from the contingent fund of the Senate, in accord20 ance with the provisions of the paragraph relating to con21 tingent funds under the heading ‘‘UNDER LEGISLA22 TIVE’’ in the Act of October 2, 1888 (25 Stat. 546; 2

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

Æ