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China Trade Bill May Hit Rough Patch in Senate

After passing by a comfortable margin in the House, the bill to establish permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) with China may hit a bit of a rough patch in the US Senate, though eventual passage is all but assured. Opponents of PNTR with China from both the left and right have served notice that they intend to use delaying tactics in order to scrutinize the bill and introduce a number of amendments. On the left, Senators Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) and Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) appear poised to introduce numerous amendments supported by organized labor, which has waged an extensive and vigorous campaign against the bill. On the right, Senators Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) and Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.), along with Robert Torricelli (D-N.J.), have indicated that they will seek to modify the bill to establish some sort of monitoring process to slow Chinese weapons proliferation. Although the Finance Committee has approved the Senate's version of the bill 8-1, significant delaying tactics or numerous amendments could actually force the Administration to resort to the old practice of extending China's trade benefits on an annual basis as an interim measure. Once the Senate passes the bill, a House-Senate conference committee will be formed to resolve the differences, after which both chambers would have to approve the finished bill. With the party conventions and campaign season rapidly approaching, however, time may very well become a pressing factor, and could potentially affect the bill's passage in a number of ways.
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Date of Scout Publication
May 26th, 2000
Date Of Record Creation
April 3rd, 2003 at 12:39pm
Date Of Record Release
April 3rd, 2003 at 12:39pm
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