• November 24, 2010 – The Committee on Ways and Means posts the draft of the second MTB bill.
  
  
• The Committee has prepared an updated on-line matrix of all bills introduced for consideration in the process to provide access to all publicly-available information about the bills in one place. Click here to view the new MTB Matrix.

• August 11, 2010 - Became Public Law No: 111-127

• July 27, 2010 - The Senate passed H.R. 4380 by voice vote.

• July 21, 2010 - the House passed H.R. 4380 the U.S. Manufacturing Enhancement Act of 2010, by a vote of 378-43.

• Click here for bill text, CBO scores, and additional information on H.R. 4380.

• Click here to read the Committee's press release upon passage of H.R. 4380.

• Due to delays in the vetting process, the Committee will move provisions of H.R. 4380 in two parts. The first MTB was contained in a Manager’s Amendment to H.R. 4380 and included: (1) vetted House-introduced extensions of existing duty suspensions/reductions; (2) vetted Senate-introduced extensions of existing duty suspensions/reductions; and (3) vetted new duty suspensions/reductions introduced in both the House and Senate.

• The first MTB was enacted into law on August 11, 2010 as the United States Manufacturing Act of 2010, P.L. 111-227. 
  

• The second MTB includes: (1) new House bills included in H.R. 4380 (as introduced), but not included in the Manager’s Amendment to H.R. 4380, enacted as P.L. 111-227 (Title I); (2) new and existing Senate bills (Title II); (3) re-liquidation provisions (Title III); and (4) technical corrections (Title IV).   Bills extending expired provisions are subject to retroactive treatment effective January 1, 2010.

• All bills included in the second MTB have been cleared through the MTB process.  In particular, provisions included in Title I are included pursuant to the House process set forth here, and provisions in Title II and III are included pursuant to the Senate process, set forth here.

• Technical corrections are approved by the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committees, as well as the relevant administering agencies.
  

• The MTB Matrix has been updated to reflect changes made to the individual MTBs included in the second MTB. Additional information on bills included in Title II and III is available on the Senate Finance Committee’s website. 

• Click here for the Administration's review letter and supporting spreadsheet.

• The Committee is posting this bill for the purpose of increased transparency in the MTB process, and is seeking comments and feedback on the proposed legislation. The next step in the process will be scheduling the bill for House consideration.

• December 15, 2009 - H.R. 4380 the Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Bill of 2009 was introduced.  

• In drafting the legislation, the Committee received public and interagency comments that were submitted concerning the 800 plus individual bills proposed for inclusion in the legislation. While the underlying bills were introduced in the 110th Congress, they were rolled into an omnibus bill for introduction in the 111th Congress.
   
• Over the last several months, the Committee has received additional information from the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), and from proponents' and Members' offices.  This information includes additional objections to bills as well as withdrawals of previously filed objections.  The Committee has used this additional information to adjust bill nomenclature and tariff rates, and to include or exclude bills.  This new information is contained in the last six columns of the Committee's MTB matrix. 
   
• The U.S. Department of Commerce has sent in the Administration's review letter and supporting spreadsheet. 
   

• Additionally, the Committee has excluded bills that involved liquidations and reliquidations, and has removed retroactivity from bills that requested it, or withdrawn the bills. 

• The Committee has prepared an on-line matrix of all bills introduced for consideration in the process to provide access to all publicly-available information about the bills in one place. Click here to view the MTB Matrix.  

• Click here for more information on the MTB Senate process.
  

The MTB Process

The Committee on Ways and Means has jurisdiction over legislation to amend the U.S. tariff schedule and to make corrections to trade legislation. The primary purpose of the Committee developing an MTB Omnibus bill is to help U.S. manufacturers compete at home and abroad by temporarily suspending or reducing duties on inputs or finished products that are not made domestically, or where there is no domestic opposition. Such suspensions or reductions reduce costs for U.S. business and ultimately increase the competitiveness of their products.

Under the Committee's MTB process, to be included in the MTB Omnibus, Members must introduce individual bills which reduce or eliminate tariffs on specified products. Each individual MTB bill must: (1) cover a product where there is no domestic production or domestic opposition; (2) cost under $500,000 per year; and (3) be administrable by Customs and Border Protection upon entry of the merchandise.

Each bill is vetted against these criteria through a public comment process and an interagency review and analysis, to determine cost, domestic production or opposition and administrability.  With respect to the public comment process, on February 25, 2008, and April 18, 2008, the Committee published requests for individual comment on a list of 800 plus bills. The comment periods expired on April 10, 2008, and June 2, 2008, respectfully. Comments received on each bill included in the MTB Omnibus can be found through the MTB matrix. With respect to the interagency review, the U.S. International Trade Commission (an independent government agency) and the Administration (including the Department of Commerce, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the United States Trade Representative) review each individual bill, including by doing outreach to the potentially affected domestic industries, and provide comments. Administration comments on each MTB bill included in the MTB Omnibus can be found on the MTB matrix. Finally, each bill will be individually scored by the Congressional Budget Office. CBO scores are available for H.R. 4380 and the draft Manager's Amendment.

The MTB Omnibus may also include noncontroversial technical corrections or other noncontroversial miscellaneous trade provisions. 

Member Disclosure Requirement

Members are advised that the Rules of the House of Representatives require that Members provide a written disclosure statement to the Ways and Means Committee Chairman and Ranking Member for any bill that contains a “limited tariff benefit,” which is defined as a “a provision modifying the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States in a manner that benefits 10 or fewer entities.” See rules XXI and XXIII.  The Committee is required to maintain these written disclosures and make them open for public inspection for limited tariff benefits that are included:  (1)  in any measure reported by the Committee;  (2)  a measure voted on without Committee consideration but referred to the Committee;  (3)  or any conference report filed by the Committee or any subcommittee thereof.

For more information on this requirement, see MTB Guidance and Member Disclosure Documents.

Information at a Glance

• Initiation of MTB Process and Request for Comments (110th Congress)
• MTB Guidance and Member Disclosure Documents
• MTB Matrix of Bills Introduced for Consideration

Questions - If you have any questions about any of these bills, or the MTB process in general, please contact the Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee at MTB@mail.house.gov.