The House on Tuesday will vote under suspension of the rules to renew the Generalized System of Preferences for three years and retroactively apply the program’s tariff cuts to duties paid since the GSP lapsed at the end of December 2017, according to Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) schedule for Feb. 13.
Sources have told Inside U.S. Trade that the bill, H.R. 4979, is expected to easily pass. It has bipartisan support, and slotting in a bill to move under suspension of the rules indicates no significant opposition to it, sources said.
On Monday, the American Apparel & Footwear Association issued a key vote alert for the bill.
Ways & Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) and ranking member Richard Neal (D-MA), along with trade subcommittee Chairman Dave Reichert (R-WA), ranking member Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) and Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN), introduced the bill on Feb. 8.
A successful House vote would tee up action for the Senate, although the timing for that chamber to take up GSP renewal is unclear, sources said.
