In true Washington form, the expiration of Congressional authority for the GSP (Generalized System of Preferences) on December 31st, 2010 spawned a political circus that is not about to end. On September 22nd, the Senate passed a retroactive extension of GSP until July 31, 2013 by a vote of 70-28 and attached the Trade Adjustment Assistance (with 69 votes) to it. This vote was itself a product of a long and tortuous journey.
As we partly highlight in our blog post ‘Showdown’ on May 18th, getting this bill through has taken wrangling over the TAA extension, cutting through a Senator’s hold (over sleeping bags), and poisonous verbal barbs by both sides.
Thankfully, both parties in the Senate managed to table their differences, albeit momentarily, and approve the GSP with TAA attached. Now, the bill gets sent back to the Republican controlled House, where it faces another challenge. Because the GSP-TAA is in their hands, it is highly unlikely that the bill gets sent to the President without submission of the FTAs to Congress. Once the President sends the FTA’s to Congress they will have to decide over the matter of linking the bills– likely through establishing a rule that will link the fate of these bills together.
