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handle is hein.crs/govehcr0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Miscellaneous Tariff Bills (MTBs) Background On December 31, 2020, temporary U.S. duty suspensions or reductions on more than 3,000 imported products expired. These duty suspensions were grantedby theMiscellaneous Tariff Bill Act of2018 (P.L. 115-239), enacted in September 2018. The Miscellaneous Tariff Bill Act was enacted following a specific procedure andtimeline enacted in the American Manufacturing Competitiveness Act of 2016 (AMCA, P.L. 114-159). The AMCA authorized the International Trade Commission (ITC) to conduct two MTB cycles, one in 2016 and 2019. On August 10, 2020, the ITC completed the fmal stage in the AMCA process by submitting its final report to the House W ays and Means and Senate Finance Committees. The AMCA contains no requirement that either committee introduce an MTB; rather, the law expres ses a sense of Congres s that Congress should consider a bill within 90 days after the ITCsubmits its fmalreport. Recent dewlopments. Several MTBs have been introduced in the 117' Congress: H.R. 3975, H.R. 4037, and S. 1260. The Senate passed 5. 1260 on June 8, 2021. All three measures would provide temporary duty suspensions or reductions to eligible products petitioned under the second MTB cycle. They would also reauthorize the AMCA for future rounds of MTB cycles in 2022 and 2025. What is the purpose of MTBs? MTBs aim to temporarily suspend or reduce tariffs on certain importedproducts (called duty suspensions). In order to be considered for inclusion in an MTB, each proposed duty suspension must be noncontroversial(e.g., no domestic producerorMember objects); revenue-neutral (forgone tariffrevenues of no more than $500,000 per product); and administrable by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Debate. Many in Congress support MTBs as a relatively low-cost method of providing a competitive edge to U.S. businesses by reducing tariffs on chemicals and other inputs used to manufacture downstreamproducts, thus making end-use products more affordable to consumers. However, the former process by which MTBs were assembled was controversialbecause it involved constituents asking individual Members to introduceduty suspension bills to benefit the constituent's company. MTB Process n AMCA To address these prior concerns, Congress enacted AMCA to reform the process for vetting MTBs. The law also established a process for initiating two MTBs, one in 2016, and the second in 2019. To be included in an MTB, the s ame conditions for duty suspensions are applied as in the previous process (i.e., noncontroversial, revenue-neutral, and administrable). Expanded ITC Role. Prior to passage of the AMCA, the ITC, an independent agency with statutory responsibility to as sist Congress (19 U.S.C. 1332(g)), reviewed duty suspensionbills submittedby Members, made recommendations regarding proper tariffclassification, calculated tariff amounts, and surveyed industries to determine if proposed duty suspensions were controversial. The AMCA expanded the ITC's role to include directly receiving MTB petitions fromindus try representatives, collecting public feedback, gathering inputfromother related agencies, and reporting findings directly to the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committees. The ITC began the MTB process on October 10, 2019, and followed a timeline specifically established in the AMCA (see Table 1).The process began with an ITCFederal Register notice asking members ofthe public who can demonstrate that they are potential MTB beneficiaries to submit petitions within 60 days (October 11-December 10, 2019). Petitioners who wished to continue existing duty suspensions were required to reapply. On January 10, 2020, the ITC published allof the duty suspensionrequests it received on a publicly available website. FromJanuary 10 to February 24, the ITCrequested public comments on the proposed duty suspensions. On March 30, 2020, the ITC announced that allcomments on the duty suspensions were available to the public. Commerce Report. In the next step in the process, the Department of Commerce, in conjunction with CBP and other relevant agencies, was required to areportto the ITC and Congress oneachpetition within 90days of the publication of the MTB petitions. For each proposed duty suspension the report was to include (1) a determination of whether domestic production exists, or if domestic production does exist, whether the producer objects to the MTB petition; and (2) identification of technical changes to the description, if any, necessary forpurposes of CBP administration. ITC Preliminary Report. The ITC's preliminary report, due 120 to 150 days after the publication date of the petitions, must contain, for each petition, (1) the product's Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) heading or subheading; (2) a determination of whether or not domestic production or an objection to the duty suspension existed; (3) any technical changes necessary to the product description; (4) an estimate ofthe amount oflos s in U.S. revenue; (5) a determination of whether the duty s uspension or reduction would be available to any importer of the targetedproduct; and (6) the likely beneficiaries of the duty suspension or reduction. The ITC submitted its preliminary report to Congress onJune9, 2020. Updated December 1, 2021

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