By Alexander Bolton
Sixty-five House Republican freshmen have come to the defense of a tariff bill that some conservatives say would violate the House moratorium on earmarks.
The freshmen say special tariff relief bills are needed to help manufacturers in their home districts earn profits and hire workers.
“The MTB has been an important tool for making American manufacturing more competitive for 30 years by suspending import taxes on necessary manufacturing inputs not available in this country,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter dated April 20, making reference to a miscellaneous tariff bill that House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) has begun crafting.
“Given the fragile state of our economic recovery, the MTB remains critical to expanding manufacturing employment. In other words, it’s a jobs bill,” they wrote.
The letter from the freshmen could give political cover for moving the trade bill, which critics argue violates a House ban on earmarks.
The miscellaneous tariff bill has been stalled for the past two years because of an internal Republican debate about whether its provisions qualify as limited tariff benefits under House rules.
House rules treat spending earmarks, limited tax benefits and limited tariff benefits as the same. And the earmark moratorium adopted by the Senate Republican Conference after the 2010 election placed a moratorium on earmarked spending, limited tax benefits and limited tariff benefits.
Some experts, such as Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, say these narrow tariff measures are defined as earmarks in the House rules since they are almost always advanced at the request of only one company.
But the House Republican freshmen disputed that miscellaneous tariff measures qualify as limited tariff benefits.
“As fiscal conservatives, we appreciate these concerns. However, we believe it is an error to view duty suspension bills in that manner,” the freshmen wrote. “Unlike spending earmarks, as they are sometimes erroneously characterized, a duty suspension included in the MTB is available to any U.S. manufacturer — including small businesses — importing the covered product because it is not available domestically.”
Camp and Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) touted the letter.
“The letter championed by Congressman Reed and signed by these 65 freshmen members demonstrates their commitment to ensuring the health of the manufacturing sector and job creation in America,” they said in a joint statement with Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.), who initiated it.
A GOP aide, however, said the letter was a classic case of senior Republican lawmakers roping in freshmen to support their old ways of doing business.
“This is what the old guard does, they bring the new guys in and say, ‘It’s a lot more complicated than you thought it was. We can’t change the status quo, we have to do it the way it’s always been done,’” said the aide.
Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), an outspoken critic of earmarks, says the process for approving duty relief needs to be changed.
Sens. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) have introduced legislation that would downsize the role lawmakers play in initiating tariff relief for individual companies. Their bill would empower the trade commission to consider and vet requests for tariff relief and transmit to Congress draft legislation, giving companies less incentive to lobby lawmakers.
The Ways and Means Committee defends the process by noting that lawmakers requesting tariff relief will be required to sign disclosure forms attesting to the benefit to “downstream producers, manufacturers, purchasers and consumers.” The form would also require lawmakers to certify that neither they nor their spouses have any financial interest in a company seeking tariff relief.
GOP freshmen defend tariff bill (The Hill)
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