Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HCR2 Compare Versions

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11 IV
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION H. CON. RES. 2
55 Establishing the Joint Ad Hoc Committee on Trade Responsibilities to develop
66 a plan under which the functions and responsibilities of the Office of
77 the United States Trade Representative shall be moved to the legislative
88 branch in accordance with article I, section 8 of the Constitution of
99 the United States, and for other purposes.
1010 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
1111 JANUARY3, 2025
1212 Mr. G
1313 RIFFITHsubmitted the following concurrent resolution; which was re-
1414 ferred to the Committee on Rules, and in addition to the Committee on
1515 Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
1616 Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within
1717 the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
1818 CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
1919 Establishing the Joint Ad Hoc Committee on Trade Respon-
2020 sibilities to develop a plan under which the functions
2121 and responsibilities of the Office of the United States
2222 Trade Representative shall be moved to the legislative
2323 branch in accordance with article I, section 8 of the
2424 Constitution of the United States, and for other pur-
2525 poses.
2626 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 1
2727 concurring), 2
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3030 •HCON 2 IH
3131 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
3232 This resolution may be cited as the ‘‘Reclaiming 2
3333 Congress’s Constitutional Mandate in Trade Resolution’’. 3
3434 SEC. 2. JOINT AD HOC COMMITTEE ON TRADE RESPON-4
3535 SIBILITIES. 5
3636 (a) E
3737 STABLISHMENT.—There is established a Joint 6
3838 Ad Hoc Committee on Trade Responsibilities (referred to 7
3939 as the ‘‘Joint Ad Hoc Committee’’). 8
4040 (b) M
4141 EMBERSHIP.—The Joint Ad Hoc Committee 9
4242 shall consist of 14 members, who shall be appointed not 10
4343 later than 60 days after the date of the adoption of this 11
4444 resolution, as follows: 12
4545 (1) Nine Members of the House of Representa-13
4646 tives who shall be members of the Committee on 14
4747 Ways and Means or the Committee on Energy and 15
4848 Commerce, of whom— 16
4949 (A) six shall be appointed by the Speaker 17
5050 of the House of Representatives, one of whom 18
5151 (as designated by the Speaker at the time of 19
5252 appointment) shall serve as the Chair of the 20
5353 Joint Ad Hoc Committee; and 21
5454 (B) three shall be appointed by the minor-22
5555 ity leader of the House of Representatives. 23
5656 (2) Five Senators who shall be members of the 24
5757 Committee on Finance, of whom— 25
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6060 •HCON 2 IH
6161 (A) three shall be appointed by the major-1
6262 ity leader of the Senate, one of whom (as des-2
6363 ignated by the majority leader at the time of 3
6464 appointment) shall serve as the Vice Chair of 4
6565 the Joint Ad Hoc Committee; and 5
6666 (B) two shall be appointed by the minority 6
6767 leader of the Senate. 7
6868 (c) D
6969 UTIES.— 8
7070 (1) P
7171 LAN FOR TRANSFER OF USTR FUNCTIONS 9
7272 TO LEGISLATIVE BRANCH .—The Joint Ad Hoc Com-10
7373 mittee shall develop a plan under which the func-11
7474 tions and responsibilities of the Office of the United 12
7575 States Trade Representative shall be moved to the 13
7676 legislative branch in accordance with article I, sec-14
7777 tion 8 of the Constitution of the United States. 15
7878 (2) C
7979 ONSULTATION WITH ADVISORY BOARD .— 16
8080 In developing the plan under paragraph (1), the 17
8181 Joint Ad Hoc Committee shall consult regularly with 18
8282 the Congressional Advisory Board on Trade Respon-19
8383 sibilities established under section 3. 20
8484 (3) D
8585 EADLINE FOR TRANSFER UNDER PLAN .— 21
8686 Under the plan developed by the Joint Ad Hoc Com-22
8787 mittee under paragraph (1), the functions and re-23
8888 sponsibilities of the Office of the United States 24
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9191 •HCON 2 IH
9292 Trade Representative shall be moved to the legisla-1
9393 tive branch— 2
9494 (A) upon the expiration of the 4-year pe-3
9595 riod which begins on the date the Joint Ad Hoc 4
9696 Committee submits the report described in sub-5
9797 section (e); or 6
9898 (B) on July 1, 2028, 7
9999 whichever is later. 8
100100 (d) A
101101 UTHORITIES; EMPLOYMENT AND COMPENSA-9
102102 TION OFSTAFF.— 10
103103 (1) A
104104 UTHORITY OF COMMITTEE .— 11
105105 (A) I
106106 N GENERAL.—The Joint Ad Hoc 12
107107 Committee may— 13
108108 (i) subject to subparagraph (B), sit 14
109109 and act at such places and times as the 15
110110 Joint Ad Hoc Committee determines are 16
111111 appropriate during the sessions, recesses, 17
112112 and adjourned periods of Congress; and 18
113113 (ii) require the attendance of wit-19
114114 nesses and the production of books, pa-20
115115 pers, and documents, administer oaths, 21
116116 take testimony, and procure printing and 22
117117 binding. 23
118118 (B) M
119119 EETINGS.—Beginning on the date 24
120120 that is 90 days after the date of the adoption 25
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123123 •HCON 2 IH
124124 of this resolution, the Joint Ad Hoc Committee 1
125125 may meet at the call of the Chair or a majority 2
126126 of its members that are appointed as of such 3
127127 date. 4
128128 (2) A
129129 PPOINTMENT AND COMPENSATION OF 5
130130 STAFF.—(A) The Joint Ad Hoc Committee may ap-6
131131 point and fix the compensation of such experts, con-7
132132 sultants, technicians, and clerical personnel as it 8
133133 deems necessary, but shall utilize existing staff to 9
134134 the extent possible. Staff shall be compensated and 10
135135 reimbursed in accordance with current rules, stat-11
136136 utes, practices, and procedures under which congres-12
137137 sional staff are currently compensated and reim-13
138138 bursed for their official expenses. 14
139139 (B) The Joint Ad Hoc Committee may utilize 15
140140 such voluntary and uncompensated services as it 16
141141 deems necessary and may utilize the services, infor-17
142142 mation, facilities, and personnel of other agencies of 18
143143 the legislative branch. 19
144144 (3) W
145145 ITNESSES.—Witnesses requested to ap-20
146146 pear before the Joint Ad Hoc Committee shall be re-21
147147 imbursed for travel, subsistence, and other necessary 22
148148 expenses incurred in traveling to and from Joint Ad 23
149149 Hoc Committee proceedings. 24
150150 (4) E
151151 XPENSES.— 25
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154154 •HCON 2 IH
155155 (A) HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES .—There 1
156156 shall be paid out of the applicable accounts of 2
157157 the House of Representatives such sums as may 3
158158 be necessary for the portion of the expenses of 4
159159 the Joint Ad Hoc Committee which are allo-5
160160 cable to the House. Such payments shall be 6
161161 made on vouchers signed by the Chair of the 7
162162 Joint Ad Hoc Committee and approved in the 8
163163 manner directed by the Committee on House 9
164164 Administration of the House of Representatives. 10
165165 Amounts made available under this paragraph 11
166166 shall be expended in accordance with regula-12
167167 tions prescribed by the Committee on House 13
168168 Administration of the House of Representatives. 14
169169 (B) S
170170 ENATE.—There shall be paid out of 15
171171 the contingent fund of the Senate such sums as 16
172172 may be necessary for the portion of the ex-17
173173 penses of the Joint Ad Hoc Committee which 18
174174 are allocable to the Senate. Such payments 19
175175 shall be made on vouchers signed by the Vice 20
176176 Chair of the Joint Ad Hoc Committee. 21
177177 (e) R
178178 EPORT.—Not later than 16 months after the 22
179179 date on which all members of the Joint Ad Hoc Committee 23
180180 are appointed under subsection (b), the Committee shall 24
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183183 •HCON 2 IH
184184 submit to Congress a report that contains the plan de-1
185185 scribed in subsection (c). 2
186186 (f) T
187187 ERMINATION.—The Joint Ad Hoc Committee 3
188188 shall terminate upon the expiration of the 1-year period 4
189189 which begins on the date the Joint Ad Hoc Committee 5
190190 submits the report required under subsection (e). 6
191191 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL ADVISORY BOARD. 7
192192 (a) E
193193 STABLISHMENT.—There is established a Con-8
194194 gressional Advisory Board on Trade Responsibilities (re-9
195195 ferred to as the ‘‘Advisory Board’’). 10
196196 (b) M
197197 EMBERSHIP.—The Advisory Board shall consist 11
198198 of 21 members, who shall be appointed not later than 60 12
199199 days after the date of the adoption of this resolution, as 13
200200 follows: 14
201201 (1) Four members appointed by the Speaker of 15
202202 the House of Representatives, of whom— 16
203203 (A) one member shall be appointed from 17
204204 among the individuals described in subsection 18
205205 (c)(1); and 19
206206 (B) three members shall be appointed from 20
207207 among the individuals described in subsection 21
208208 (c)(2). 22
209209 (2) Four members appointed by the majority 23
210210 leader of the Senate, of whom— 24
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213213 •HCON 2 IH
214214 (A) one member shall be appointed from 1
215215 among the individuals described in subsection 2
216216 (c)(1); and 3
217217 (B) three members shall be appointed from 4
218218 among the individuals described in subsection 5
219219 (c)(2). 6
220220 (3) Three members appointed by the minority 7
221221 leader of the House of Representatives, of whom— 8
222222 (A) one member shall be appointed from 9
223223 among the individuals described in subsection 10
224224 (c)(1); and 11
225225 (B) two members shall be appointed from 12
226226 among the individuals described in subsection 13
227227 (c)(2). 14
228228 (4) Three members appointed by the minority 15
229229 leader of the Senate, of whom— 16
230230 (A) one member shall be appointed from 17
231231 among the individuals described in subsection 18
232232 (c)(1); and 19
233233 (B) two members shall be appointed from 20
234234 among the individuals described in subsection 21
235235 (c)(2). 22
236236 (5) Six members appointed by the United 23
237237 States Trade Representative, of whom— 24
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240240 •HCON 2 IH
241241 (A) three members shall be appointed from 1
242242 among the individuals described in subsection 2
243243 (c)(1); and 3
244244 (B) three members shall be appointed from 4
245245 among the individuals described in subsection 5
246246 (c)(2). 6
247247 (6) The United States Trade Representative (or 7
248248 the Trade Representative’s designee). 8
249249 (c) I
250250 NDIVIDUALSELIGIBLE FORAPPOINTMENT.— 9
251251 The individuals eligible for appointment to the Advisory 10
252252 Board under subsection (b) are the following: 11
253253 (1) Individuals with expertise on the constitu-12
254254 tional roles of the President and Congress regarding 13
255255 United States trade policy and the development, ne-14
256256 gotiation, implementation, and administration of bi-15
257257 lateral and multilateral trade agreements. 16
258258 (2) Individuals who are representatives of non- 17
259259 Federal governments, labor, industry, agriculture, 18
260260 small business, service industries, retailers, non-19
261261 governmental environmental and conservation orga-20
262262 nization, and consumer interests. 21
263263 (d) D
264264 UTIES.—The Advisory Board shall advise the 22
265265 Joint Ad Hoc Committee on Trade Responsibilities estab-23
266266 lished under section 2 in its development of the plan de-24
267267 scribed in section 2(c). 25
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270270 •HCON 2 IH
271271 (e) EXPENSES.—Members of the Advisory Board 1
272272 shall serve without pay, but each member who does not 2
273273 reside in the Washington Metropolitan Area shall receive 3
274274 travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, 4
275275 in accordance with applicable provisions under subchapter 5
276276 I of chapter 57 of title 5, United States Code. In this sub-6
277277 section, the term ‘‘Washington Metropolitan Area’’ means 7
278278 the District of Columbia, the counties of Montgomery and 8
279279 Prince Georges in Maryland, and the counties of Arling-9
280280 ton, Fairfax, Loudon, and Prince William and the cities 10
281281 of Alexandria and Falls Church in Virginia. 11
282282 (f) A
283283 VAILABILITY OFSTAFF OFJOINTADHOCCOM-12
284284 MITTEE.—The Advisory Board may not appoint staff, but 13
285285 upon request of the Advisory Board, the Joint Ad Hoc 14
286286 Committee on Trade Responsibilities may detail any of its 15
287287 personnel to assist the Advisory Board in carrying out the 16
288288 Advisory Board’s duties under this Act. 17
289289 (g) T
290290 ERMINATION.—The Advisory Board shall termi-18
291291 nate upon the expiration of the 1-year period which begins 19
292292 on the date the Joint Ad Hoc Committee on Trade Re-20
293293 sponsibilities submits the report required under section 21
294294 2(e). 22
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297297 •HCON 2 IH
298298 SEC. 4. ASSISTANCE OF UNITED STATES TRADE REP-1
299299 RESENTATIVE. 2
300300 The United States Trade Representative and other 3
301301 heads of offices in the executive branch, shall make avail-4
302302 able to the Joint Ad Hoc Committee on Trade Responsibil-5
303303 ities established under section 2 and the Congressional 6
304304 Advisory Board on Trade Responsibilities established 7
305305 under section 3 such information and assistance the Joint 8
306306 Ad Hoc Committee and the Advisory Board may reason-9
307307 ably require to carry out their activities. 10
308308 Æ
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