The Association of Industries of Haiti (ADIH) announces that on Thursday, May 14, 2015 the U.S. Senate passed a reauthorization of the Haiti HOPE/HELP program in an important vote on U.S. trade preferences policy.

The bill, S. 1267, contained a five-year extension of the Haiti program as well as a three year retroactive reauthorization of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) and ten year renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The bill passed on a vote of 97 to 1. Only Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma voted no.

A bitter partisan fight over the process for considering Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) on Tuesday, May 12th delayed consideration of that bill in addition to the preferences bill and a Customs enforcement bill. However a compromise was reached on yesterday, May 13th for the Senate to consider all three bills.

The first step in that agreement was an up-or-down vote with a 60-vote threshold for passage of the preferences bill, followed by a 60-vote threshold vote on a Customs and trade enforcement bill. The Customs bill also passed, 78-20. No amendments were allowed.

The bills now move to the House of Representatives for consideration. While the preferences bill could pass the House quickly, the Republican majority will likely delay voting on the preferences bill until the Senate also passes the TPA bill it is now debating. The Senate could complete its work on the TPA bill as early as May 22nd, the beginning of a week-long recess around the U.S. Memorial Day holiday. The Senate is more likely to complete deliberations in June.

The bill must be passed by both chambers to become enacted into U.S. law.

HL/ HaitiLibre