Members Who Will Negotiate Trade Title in China Package Named
The Democratic and Republican leadership in the House of Representatives selected members to serve on a massive conference committee with the goal of working out a compromise between the Senate and House visions for a China package. The trade titles of the two bills diverge significantly, and the members who will represent House points of view on trade are:
- Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal of Massachusetts
- Trade Subcommittee Chairman Earl Blumenauer of Oregon
- Ways and Means ranking member Kevin Brady of Texas
- Trade Subcommittee ranking member Adrian Smith of Nebraska
- Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash.
- Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich.
- Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif.
- Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill.
- Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif.
- Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla.
- Rep. Carol Miller, R-W.Va.
- Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Ill.
The Democratic and Republican leadership in the Senate also named their conferees before the two-week break from Washington. Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., noted that the Senate bill started as the Endless Frontier Act he and Sen.Todd Young, R-Ind., introduced in 2019.
“As the House and Senate begin the conferencing process, Senate conferees will push for swift, good-faith negotiations on behalf of the American people and look forward to passing the final bill very soon,” Schumer said.
The conferees represent a broad spectrum of attitudes on trade liberalization and regulation. Both the sponsors of ambitious trade remedy legislation in the Senate, a Republican and a Democrat, were chosen as negotiators, but Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., a staunch opponent of what he describes as protectionism, is also on the committee.
Senate Finance Committee members who were named to the conference committee are:
- Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore.
- Ranking member Mike Crapo, R-Idaho
- Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.
- Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J.
- Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio
- Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio
- Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa.
- Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va.
- Sen. John Cornyn. R-Texas
- Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa
- Sen. John Barasso, R-Wyo.
- Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind.