House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-NY) and ranking member Jim McCrery (R-LA) today introduced HR6560 to the US Congress. The legislation establishes a "2 for 1" textile and apparel allowance program to be developed and administered by the Secretary of Commerce. Under the program, when producers purchase a certain quantity of qualifying US fabric (2 square meter equivalents or "SMEs") for apparel production in the DR, they will receive a credit (equivalent to 1 SME). This credit can then be used to ship a corresponding quantity of eligible apparel (pants and other bottoms) from the DR to the US duty-free regardless of the origin of the fabric from which the apparel product is made. The provision included in the Rangel-McCrery bill is an expansion of the US-DR-CAFTA trade agreement and has the broad support of US textile manufacturers. DR1 had erroneously reported that the program was already being implemented.
"This is truly win-win legislation," Chairman Rangel said. "This long overdue program will create incentives for the purchase of US textiles, supporting businesses and workers here at home while also providing valuable benefits to apparel producers and workers in the Dominican Republic. It is easy to see why industries in both countries have been supportive of this initiative."
"The United States economy has already benefited significantly from CAFTA, and our trade deficit with the region before the agreement went into effect has now become a trade surplus," said McCrery. He forecast that the new legisslation will provide another opportunity to grow US textile exports and add to the US trade surplus with the CAFTA-DR region."
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/news.a...release&id=677
View the text of HR6560 at http://waysandmeans.house.gov/media/pdf/110/bill157.pdf

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