II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 998 

To establish a process for the consideration of temporary duty suspensions 

and reductions, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 16, 2015 

Mr. PORTMAN (for himself, Mrs. MCCASKILL, and Mr. TOOMEY) introduced 

the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 

on Finance 

A BILL 

To establish a process for the consideration of temporary 

duty suspensions and reductions, 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 ‘‘American Manufac5 turing Competitiveness Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON THE NEED FOR A MIS7 CELLANEOUS TARIFF BILL. 

8 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find9 ings: 


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1 (1) As of the date of the enactment of this Act, 

2 the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United 

3 States imposes duties on imported goods for which 

4 there is no domestic availability or insufficient do5 mestic availability. 

6 (2) The imposition of duties on such goods cre7 ates artificial distortions in the economy of the 

8 United States that negatively affect United States 

9 manufacturers and consumers. 

10 (3) It is in the interests of the United States 

11 to update the Harmonized Tariff Schedule every 3 

12 years to eliminate such artificial distortions by sus13 pending or reducing duties on such goods. 

14 (4) The manufacturing competitiveness of the 

15 United States around the world will be enhanced if 

16 Congress regularly and predictably updates the Har17 monized Tariff Schedule to suspend or reduce duties 

18 on such goods. 

19 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con20 gress that, to remove the competitive disadvantage to 

21 United States manufactures and consumers resulting from 

22 an outdated Harmonized Tariff Schedule and to promote 

23 the competitiveness of United States manufacturers, Con24 gress should consider a miscellaneous tariff bill not later 

25 than 180 days after the United States International Trade 


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1 Commission and the Department of Commerce issue re2 ports on proposed duty suspensions and reductions under 

3 this Act. 

4 SEC. 3. PROCESS FOR CONSIDERATION OF DUTY SUSPEN5 SIONS AND REDUCTIONS. 

6 (a) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this section to 

7 establish a process by the appropriate congressional com8 mittees, in conjunction with the Commission pursuant to 

9 its authorities under section 332 of the Tariff Act of 1930 

10 (19 U.S.C. 1332), for the submission and consideration 

11 of proposed duty suspensions and reductions. 

12 (b) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than October 15, 

13 2015, and October 15, 2018, the appropriate congres14 sional committees shall establish and, on the same day, 

15 publish on their respective publicly available Internet 

16 websites a process— 

17 (1) to provide for the submission and consider18 ation of legislation containing proposed duty suspen19 sions and reductions in a manner that, to the max20 imum extent practicable, is consistent with the re21 quirements described in subsection (c); and 

22 (2) to include in a miscellaneous tariff bill those 

23 duty suspensions and reductions that meet the re24 quirements of this Act. 

25 (c) REQUIREMENTS OF COMMISSION.— 


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1 (1) INITIATION.—Not later than October 15, 

2 2015, and October 15, 2018, the Commission shall 

3 publish in the Federal Register and on a publicly 

4 available Internet website of the Commission a no5 tice requesting members of the public to submit to 

6 the Commission during the 60-day period beginning 

7 on the date of such publication— 

8 (A) proposed duty suspensions and reduc9 tions; and 

10 (B) Commission disclosure forms with re11 spect to such duty suspensions and reductions. 

12 (2) REVIEW.— 

13 (A) COMMISSION SUBMISSION TO CON14 GRESS.—As soon as practicable after the expi15 ration of the 60-day period specified in para16 graph (1), but not later than 15 days after the 

17 expiration of such 60-day period, the Commis18 sion shall submit to the appropriate congres19 sional committees the proposed duty suspen20 sions and reductions submitted under para21 graph (1)(A) and the Commission disclosure 

22 forms with respect to such duty suspensions 

23 and reductions submitted under paragraph 

24 (1)(B). 


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1 (B) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF PROPOSED

2 DUTY SUSPENSIONS AND REDUCTIONS.—Not 

3 later than 15 days after the expiration of the 

4 60-day period specified in paragraph (1), the 

5 Commission shall publish on a publicly available 

6 Internet website of the Commission the pro7 posed duty suspensions and reductions sub8 mitted under paragraph (1)(A) and the Com9 mission disclosure forms with respect to such 

10 duty suspensions and reductions submitted 

11 under paragraph (1)(B). 

12 (C) COMMISSION REPORTS TO CON13 GRESS.—Not later than the end of the 90-day 

14 period beginning on the date of publication of 

15 the proposed duty suspensions and reductions 

16 under subparagraph (B), the Commission shall 

17 submit to the appropriate congressional com18 mittees a report on each proposed duty suspen19 sion or reduction submitted pursuant to sub20 section (b)(1) or paragraph (1)(A) that con21 tains the following information: 

22 (i) A determination of whether or not 

23 domestic production of the article that is 

24 the subject of the proposed duty suspen25 sion or reduction exists and, if such proVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:45 Apr 24, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S998.IS S998

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1 duction exists, whether or not a domestic 

2 producer of the article objects to the pro3 posed duty suspension or reduction. 

4 (ii) Any technical changes to the arti5 cle description that are necessary for pur6 poses of administration when articles are 

7 presented for importation. 

8 (iii) The amount of tariff revenue that 

9 would no longer be collected if the pro10 posed duty suspension or reduction takes 

11 effect. 

12 (iv) A determination of whether or not 

13 the proposed duty suspension or reduction 

14 is available to any person that imports the 

15 article that is the subject of the proposed 

16 duty suspension or reduction. 

17 (3) PROCEDURES.—The Commission shall pre18 scribe and publish on a publicly available Internet 

19 website of the Commission procedures for complying 

20 with the requirements of this subsection. 

21 (4) AUTHORITIES DESCRIBED.—The Commis22 sion shall carry out this subsection pursuant to its 

23 authorities under section 332 of the Tariff Act of 

24 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1332). 


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1 (d) DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE REPORT.—Not 

2 later than the end of the 90-day period beginning on the 

3 date of publication of the proposed duty suspensions and 

4 reductions under subsection (c)(2)(B), the Secretary of 

5 Commerce, in consultation with U.S. Customs and Border 

6 Protection and other relevant Federal agencies, shall sub7 mit to the appropriate congressional committees a report 

8 on each proposed duty suspension and reduction sub9 mitted pursuant to subsection (b)(1) or (c)(1)(A) that in10 cludes the following information: 

11 (1) A determination of whether or not domestic 

12 production of the article that is the subject of the 

13 proposed duty suspension or reduction exists and, if 

14 such production exists, whether or not a domestic 

15 producer of the article objects to the proposed duty 

16 suspension or reduction. 

17 (2) Any technical changes to the article descrip18 tion that are necessary for purposes of administra19 tion when articles are presented for importation. 

20 (e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—A proposed duty sus21 pension or reduction submitted under this section by a 

22 Member of Congress shall receive treatment no more fa23 vorable than the treatment received by a proposed duty 

24 suspension or reduction submitted under this section by 

25 a member of the public. 


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1 SEC. 4. REPORT ON EFFECTS OF DUTY SUSPENSIONS AND 

2 REDUCTIONS ON UNITED STATES ECONOMY. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than May 1, 2018, and 

4 May 1, 2020, the Commission shall submit to the appro5 priate congressional committees a report on the effects on 

6 the United States economy of temporary duty suspensions 

7 and reductions enacted pursuant to this Act, including a 

8 broad assessment of the economic effects of such duty sus9 pensions and reductions on producers, purchasers, and 

10 consumers in the United States, using case studies de11 scribing such effects on selected industries or by type of 

12 article as available data permit. 

13 (b) RECOMMENDATIONS.—The Commission shall also 

14 solicit and append to the report required under subsection 

15 (a) recommendations with respect to those domestic indus16 try sectors or specific domestic industries that might ben17 efit from permanent duty suspensions and reductions or 

18 elimination of duties, either through a unilateral action of 

19 the United States or though negotiations for reciprocal 

20 tariff agreements, with a particular focus on inequities 

21 created by tariff inversions. 

22 (c) FORM OF REPORT.—Each report required by this 

23 section shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may 

24 include a classified annex. 


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1 SEC. 5. JUDICIAL REVIEW PRECLUDED. 

2 The exercise of functions under this Act shall not be 

3 subject to judicial review. 

4 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

5 In this Act: 

6 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT7 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com8 mittees’’ means the Committee on Ways and Means 

9 of the House of Representatives and the Committee 

10 on Finance of the Senate. 

11 (2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

12 means the United States International Trade Com13 mission. 

14 (3) COMMISSION DISCLOSURE FORM.—The 

15 term ‘‘Commission disclosure form’’ means, with re16 spect to a proposed duty suspension or reduction, a 

17 document submitted by a member of the public to 

18 the Commission that contains the following: 

19 (A) The contact information for any known 

20 importers of the article to which the proposed 

21 duty suspension or reduction would apply. 

22 (B) A certification by the member of the 

23 public that the proposed duty suspension or re24 duction is available to any person importing the 

25 article to which the proposed duty suspension 

26 or reduction would apply. 


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1 (4) DOMESTIC PRODUCER.—The term ‘‘domes2 tic producer’’ means a person that demonstrates 

3 production, or imminent production, in the United 

4 States of an article that is identical to, or like or di5 rectly competitive with, an article to which a pro6 posed duty suspension or reduction would apply. 

7 (5) DUTY SUSPENSION OR REDUCTION.— 

8 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘duty sus9 pension or reduction’’ means an amendment to 

10 subchapter II of chapter 99 of the Harmonized 

11 Tariff Schedule of the United States that— 

12 (i)(I) extends an existing temporary 

13 duty suspension or reduction of duty on an 

14 article under that subchapter; or 

15 (II) provides for a new temporary 

16 duty suspension or reduction of duty on an 

17 article under that subchapter; and 

18 (ii) otherwise meets the requirements 

19 described in subparagraph (B). 

20 (B) REQUIREMENTS.—A duty suspension 

21 or reduction meets the requirements described 

22 in this subparagraph if— 

23 (i) the duty suspension or reduction 

24 can be administered by U.S. Customs and 

25 Border Protection; 


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1 (ii) the estimated loss in revenue to 

2 the United States from the duty suspen3 sion or reduction does not exceed $500,000 

4 in a calendar year during which the duty 

5 suspension or reduction would be in effect, 

6 as determined by the Congressional Budg7 et Office; and 

8 (iii) the duty suspension or reduction 

9 is available to any person importing the ar10 ticle that is the subject of the duty suspen11 sion or reduction. 

12 (6) MEMBER OF CONGRESS.—The term ‘‘Mem13 ber of Congress’’ means a Senator or a Representa14 tive in, or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, 

15 Congress. 

16 (7) MISCELLANEOUS TARIFF BILL.—The term 

17 ‘‘miscellaneous tariff bill’’ means a bill of either 

18 House of Congress that contains only— 

19 (A) duty suspensions and reductions 

20 that— 

21 (i) meet the applicable requirements 

22 for— 

23 (I) consideration of duty suspen24 sions and reductions described in sec25 tion 3; or 


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1 (II) any other process required 

2 under the Rules of the House of Rep3 resentatives or the Senate; and 

4 (ii) are not the subject of an objection 

5 because such duty suspensions and reduc6 tions do not comply with the requirements 

7 of this Act from— 

8 (I) a Member of Congress; or 

9 (II) a domestic producer, as con10 tained in comments submitted to the 

11 appropriate congressional committees, 

12 the Commission, or the Department of 

13 Commerce under section 3; and 

14 (B) provisions included in bills introduced 

15 in the House of Representatives or the Senate 

16 pursuant to a process described in subpara17 graph (A)(i)(II) that correct an error in the 

18 text or administration of a provision of the 

19 Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United 

20 States. 

Æ 


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