II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2226

To establish a Congressional Trade Office.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 9, 2000

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 2226 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 (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
3

•S 2226 IS

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, through the Com15 mittee on Finance of the Senate and the Committee

16 on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives

17 with additional independent, nonpartisan, neutral

18 trade expertise.

19 (3) To assist Congress in providing more effec20 tive and active oversight of trade policy.

21 (4) To assist Congress in providing to the exec22 utive branch more effective direction on trade policy.

23 (5) To provide Congress with long-term, institu24 tional memory on trade issues.
4

•S 2226 IS

1 (6) To provide Congress with more analytical

2 capability on trade issues.

3 (7) To advise relevant committees on the im4 pact of trade negotiations, including past, ongoing,

5 and future negotiations, with respect to the areas of

6 jurisdiction of the respective committees.

7 (c) DIRECTOR AND STAFF.—

8 (1) DIRECTOR.—

9 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Office shall be

10 headed by a Director. The Director shall be ap11 pointed by the Speaker of the House of Rep12 resentatives and the President pro tempore of

13 the Senate after considering the recommenda14 tions of the Chairman and Ranking Member of

15 the Committee on Finance of the Senate and

16 the Chairman and Ranking Member of the

17 Committee on Ways and Means of the House of

18 Representative. The Director shall be chosen

19 without regard to political affiliation and solely

20 on the basis of the Director’s expertise and fit21 ness to perform the duties of the Director.

22 (B) TERM.—The term of office of the Di23 rector shall be 5 years and the Director may be

24 reappointed for subsequent terms.
5

•S 2226 IS

1 (C) VACANCY.—Any individual appointed

2 to fill a vacancy prior to the expiration of a

3 term shall serve only for the unexpired portion

4 of that term.

5 (D) REMOVAL.—The Director may be re6 moved by either House by resolution.

7 (E) COMPENSATION.—The Director shall

8 receive compensation at a per annum gross rate

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

10 time to time, for level III of the Executive

11 Schedule in section 5314 of title 5, United

12 States Code.

13 (2) STAFF.—

14 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall ap15 point and fix the compensation of such per16 sonnel as may be necessary to carry out the du17 ties and functions of the Office. All personnel

18 shall be appointed without regard to political

19 affiliation and solely on the basis of their fit20 ness to perform their duties. The personnel of

21 the Office shall consist of individuals with ex22 pertise in international trade, including exper23 tise in economics, trade law, various industrial

24 sectors, and various geographical regions.
6

•S 2226 IS

1 (B) BENEFITS.—For purposes of pay

2 (other than the pay of the Director) and em3 ployment, benefits, rights and privilege, all per4 sonnel of the Office shall be treated as if they

5 were employees of the House of Representa6 tives.

7 (3) EXPERTS AND CONSULTANTS.—In carrying

8 out the duties and functions of the Office, the Direc9 tor may procure the temporary (not to exceed 1

10 year) or intermittent services of experts or consult11 ants or organizations thereof by contract as inde12 pendent contractors, or, in the case of individual ex13 perts or consultants, by employment at rates of pay

14 not in excess of the daily equivalent of the highest

15 rate of basic pay payable under the General Sched16 ule of section 5332 of title 5.

17 (4) RELATIONSHIP TO EXECUTIVE BRANCH.—

18 The Director is authorized to secure information,

19 data, estimates, and statistics directly from the var20 ious departments, agencies, and establishments of

21 the executive branch of Government and the regu22 latory agencies and commissions of the Government.

23 All such departments, agencies, establishments, and

24 regulatory agencies and commissions shall furnish

25 the Director any available material which he deter-
7

•S 2226 IS

1 mines to be necessary in the performance of his du2 ties and functions (other than material the disclo3 sure of which would be a violation of law). The Di4 rector is also authorized, upon agreement with the

5 head of any such department, agency, establishment,

6 or regulatory agency or commission, to utilize its

7 services and facilities with or without reimburse8 ment; and the head of each such department, agen9 cy, establishment, or regulatory agency or commis10 sion is authorized to provide the Office such services

11 and facilities.

12 (5) RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER AGENCIES OF

13 CONGRESS.—In carrying out the duties and func14 tions of the Office, and for the purpose of coordi15 nating the operations of the Office with those of

16 other congressional agencies with a view to utilizing

17 most effectively the information, services, and capa18 bilities of all such agencies in carrying out the var19 ious responsibilities assigned to each, the Director is

20 authorized to obtain information, data, estimates,

21 and statistics developed by the General Accounting

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

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

24 their services and facilities with or without reim25 bursement. The Comptroller General, the Librarian
8

•S 2226 IS

1 of Congress, and the head of other offices of Con2 gress are authorized to provide the Office with the

3 information, data estimates, and statistics, and the

4 services and facilities referred to in the preceding

5 sentence.

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

7 follows:

8 (1) ASSISTANCE TO CONGRESS.—Provide the

9 Committee on Finance of the Senate and the Com10 mittee on Ways and Means of the House of Rep11 resentative and any other appropriate committee of

12 Congress or joint committee of Congress information

13 which will assist the committees in the discharge of

14 the matters within their jurisdiction.

15 (2) MONITOR COMPLIANCE.—Monitor compli16 ance with major bilateral, regional, and multilateral

17 trade agreements by—

18 (A) consulting with the affected industries

19 and interested parties;

20 (B) analyzing the success of agreements

21 based on commercial results;

22 (C) recommending actions, including legis23 lative action, necessary to ensure that foreign

24 countries that have made commitments through
9

•S 2226 IS

1 agreements with the United States fully abide

2 by those commitments;

3 (D) annually assessing the extent to which

4 current agreements comply with environmental

5 goals; and

6 (E) annually assessing the extent to which

7 current agreements comply with labor goals.

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

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

10 the National Trade Estimates report is deliv11 ered to Congress each year, analyze the major

12 outstanding trade barriers based on cost to the

13 United States economy.

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

15 the Trade Policy Agenda is delivered to Con16 gress each year, analyze the Administration’s

17 Agenda, including alternative goals, strategies,

18 and tactics, as appropriate.

19 (C) Analyze proposed trade legislation.

20 (D) Analyze proposed trade agreements,

21 including agreements that do not require imple22 menting legislation.

23 (E) Analyze the impact of the Administra24 tion’s trade policy and actions, including assess-
10

•S 2226 IS

1 ing the Administration’s decisions for not ac2 cepting unfair trade practices cases.

3 (F) Analyze the trade accounts quarterly,

4 including the global current account, global

5 trade account, and key bilateral trade accounts.

6 (4) DISPUTE SETTLEMENT DELIBERATIONS.—

7 Perform the following functions with respect to dis8 pute resolution:

9 (A) Participate as observers on the United

10 States delegation at dispute settlement panel

11 meetings of the World Trade Organization.

12 (B) Evaluate each World Trade Organiza13 tion decision where the United States is a par14 ticipant. In any case in which the United States

15 does not prevail, evaluate the decision and in

16 any case in which the United States does pre17 vail, measure the commercial results of that de18 cision.

19 (C) Evaluate each dispute resolution pro20 ceeding under the North American Free Trade

21 Agreement. In any case in which the United

22 States does not prevail, evaluate the decision

23 and in any case in which the United States does

24 prevail, measure the commercial results of that

25 decision.
11

•S 2226 IS

1 (D) Participate as observers in other dis2 pute settlement proceedings that the Chairman

3 and Ranking Member of the Committee on Fi4 nance and the Chairman and Ranking Member

5 of the Committee on Ways and Means deem ap6 propriate.

7 (5) OTHER FUNCTIONS OF DIRECTOR.—The Di8 rector and staff of the Office shall perform the fol9 lowing additional functions:

10 (A) Provide the Committee on Finance and

11 the Committee on Ways and Means with quar12 terly reports regarding the activities of the Of13 fice.

14 (B) Be available for consultation with con15 gressional committees on trade-related legisla16 tion.

17 (C) Receive and review classified informa18 tion and participate in classified briefings in the

19 same manner as the staff of the Committee on

20 Finance and the Committee on Ways and

21 Means.

22 (D) Consult nongovernmental experts and

23 utilize nongovernmental resources.

24 (E) Perform such other functions as the

25 Chairman and Ranking Member of the Com-
12

•S 2226 IS

1 mittee on Finance and the Chairman and

2 Ranking Member of the Committee on Ways

3 and Means may request.

4 SEC. 3. PUBLIC ACCESS TO DATA.

5 (a) RIGHT TO COPY.—Except as provided in sub6 sections (b) and (c), the Director shall make all informa7 tion, data, estimates, and statistics obtained under this

8 Act available for public copying during normal business

9 hours, subject to reasonable rules and regulations, and

10 shall to the extent practicable, at the request of any per11 son, furnish a copy of any such information, data, esti12 mates, or statistics upon payment by such person of the

13 cost of making and furnishing such copy.

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

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

16 statistics—

17 (1) which are specifically exempted from disclo18 sure by law; or

19 (2) which the Director determines will

20 disclose—

21 (A) matters necessary to be kept secret in

22 the interests of national defense or the con23 fidential conduct of the foreign relations of the

24 United States;
13

•S 2226 IS

1 (B) information relating to trade secrets or

2 financial or commercial information pertaining

3 specifically to a given person if the information

4 has been obtained by the Government on a con5 fidential basis, other than through an applica6 tion by such person for a specific financial or

7 other benefit, and is required to be kept secret

8 in order to prevent undue injury to the competi9 tive position of such person; or

10 (C) personnel or medical data or similar

11 data the disclosure of which would constitute a

12 clearly unwarranted invasion of personal pri13 vacy;

14 unless the portions containing such matters, information,

15 or data have been excised.

16 (c) INFORMATION OBTAINED FOR COMMITTEES AND

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

18 any information, data, estimates, and statistics obtained

19 at the request of any committee, joint committee, or Mem20 ber unless such committee, joint committee, or Member

21 has instructed the Director not to make such information,

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

23 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

24 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Office

25 for each fiscal year such sums as may be necessary to en-
14

•S 2226 IS

1 able it to carry out its duties and functions. Until sums

2 are first appropriated pursuant to the preceding sentence,

3 for a period not to exceed 12 months following the effec4 tive date of this subsection, the expenses of the Office shall

5 be paid from the contingent fund of the Senate, in accord6 ance with the provisions of the paragraph relating to con7 tingent funds under the heading ‘‘UNDER LEGISLA8 TIVE’’ in the Act of October 2, 1888 (25 Stat. 546; 2

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

Æ