“My view and the view of most of my colleagues today is, as the saying goes: ‘Better late than never.’
“The last time Congress passed an MTB bill was in 2010, when Democrats were in the majority. The MTB was a legitimate exercise of congressional authority, and the process we had in place worked very well. It had been developed over the years on a bipartisan basis.
“We received input directly from the public, from the Administration, and from the independent International Trade Commission. That input ensured, first and foremost, that there was no domestic production in competition with the imported products included in the bill. Not only was the process rigorous, it was transparent. The Sunlight Foundation praised our work as ‘transparency done right.’
“I remember the vote in 2010 very well. The Republican leadership objected to the MTB and didn’t want it to come to the Floor. When we brought the bill to the Floor, the support was overwhelming. Many Republican Members switched their votes to ‘yes,’ I think voting based on their constituent needs, not the argument over process. Three hundred and seventy eight Members voted for the bill. Only 42 Republicans and one Democrat voted no.
“So it is unfortunate that, almost six years later, we are just beginning to put in place a process for considering a future MTB bill. If everything goes according to plan, Congress will pass the next MTB bill before the end of 2017 - almost five years after the last MTB expired.
“That delay has been bad for U.S. manufacturers and U.S. manufacturing competitiveness. According to the National Association of Manufacturers, U.S. companies have had to pay $748 million each year in additional duties. NAM estimates that those additional duties cost our economy $2 billion annually.
“We need to move forward without further delay. In my judgment, this new process may not be preferable to the process in the past. But it is acceptable. I will therefore support this legislation and look forward to finally making progress again on the MTB."
