Rep. Smucker’s ‘Good Actor Act’ Adopted by House Ways and Means Committee

Washington-Rep. Lloyd Smucker (PA-11), a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, offered comments during a trade package markup that would strengthen supply chains and combat China. Smucker's legislation, H.R. 7967 the Good Actor Act, advanced as a part of H.R. 7986, the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) Reform Act, which passed the House Ways and Means Committee by a vote of 25-17.

Click here for additional information on GSP.

Click here to watch Rep. Smucker's comments as delivered.

Below are Rep. Smucker's comments, as prepared for delivery:

"I want to express my strong support for the GSP Reform Act.

GSP is a great example of a program we can leverage to strengthen our supply chains out of China and use trade as a tool for good.

By helping developing countries compete in the global economy in exchange for adopting or working towards better worker rights, eliminating child labor, agreeing to higher IP protections, and more, we can achieve both goals and create more American jobs at home.

I am pleased to see the bill before us make improvements to the GSP program by creating the first-ever agriculture-specific eligibility criteria.

PA-11 is a large agricultural district, and expanding market access abroad is crucial to creating jobs in my district.

The reforms in the bill before us today make huge strides in expanding market access by conditioning U.S. duty preference on eliminating non-science-based barriers on U.S. agricultural products and reducing unfair subsidies.

Each of these reforms will help open new markets for American farmers.

I also strongly support the long-term reauthorization this bill will advance.

A large driver behind the decision-making process for American businesses investing in our GSP partner countries hinges on the GSP benefits being predictable, and a ten-year renewal will allow for longer term planning.

But expiration is not the only factor impacting GSP benefits. At times, enforcement actions can also jeopardize the development goals of the GSP program.

I strongly support the President's authority to withdraw, limit, or suspend GSP benefits to countries that are not meeting the criteria expected of them to maintain duty-free treatment.

But I also believe we should understand the potential harm to individuals and businesses if a GSP enforcement action is taken."

Which is why I am grateful for the inclusion of legislation I recently introduced, the Good Actor Act, which simply encourages the President to consider the impact on labor standards or other development initiatives when weighing adjustments to a beneficiary's GSP status.

Many 'Good Actors' have leveraged GSP benefits abroad to create better labor, health, environmental, and overall living standards through increased investment, and this provision seeks to ensure we understand how a sudden imposition of duties may have an adverse impact or harm the populations GSP is intended to help.

I believe these good actor provisions will encourage a race-to-the-top both between and within countries."

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.