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Senator Coburn vows to block unanimous consent vote on bill to assist African economies
Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.) argued on the floor Thursday about how to pay for a bill to assistant African economies.
The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) provides aid to economies of sub-Saharan Africa and trade incentives.
Coburn has a problem with the fact that the $200 million bill is paid for over 10 years rather than this year and said he would block unanimous consent passage until he gets his way.
“It’s kicking the can down the road,” Coburn said. “I’m for the AGOA package, but I want to pay for it … we need to pay for what we’re doing now and that’s the whole point of this exercise.”
Coburn said he won’t let any unanimous consent agreement on the bill if it has a “pay-go” measure that doesn’t pay for the bill the same year it takes effect.
“If we’re not going to pay for it this year then we’re not going to pass it by unanimous consent,” Coburn said. “To say we can’t pay for something that’s $200 million right now, it just says we’re not worthy of being here.”
Baucus said Coburn should no stop the bill since the House supports it and people are losing jobs as a result of the stalling.
If Congress doesn't act before leaving for recess, lesser-developed sub-Saharan countries will lose duty-free access for their apparel goods that are manufactured domestically with yarn and fabric imported from abroad. Also import restrictions on Burmese goods expired Thursday.
“This is not a perfect world, this is a world where we try to do our best and get this legislation past,” Baucus said. “This bill is fully paid for, it’s just the senator would like it paid for in a different way.”
Coburn disagreed that the bill is paid for.
“If you went to Wendy’s today and said give me a double cheese burger and I’ll pay for it over 10 years, most Americans would not say that is paid for,” Coburn said.
A democratic aide said Coburn had voted for "pay goes" and has not objected to other measures with that funding mechinism in the past. But Coburn said lawmakers shouldn't vote for things now because they were considered "business as usual."
The bill also would modify the rules of origin for apparel and textile goods under the Dominican Republic and Central America Free Trade Agreement.
Later Thursday Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) tried to pass just the Burma sanctions that expired Thursday.
Coburn wasn’t threatening to block that part of the trade package. But Baucus objected to that as well.
“The Obama administration is opposed to splitting the package,” Baucus said. “And I think for good reason because they favor both Burma and AGOA.”
McConnell accused Baucus and Democrats of making the Burmese sanctions a partisan issue for the very first time.
“I don’t want the impression left here today that this is a partisan issue,” Baucus said in his defense. “Both issues are wholly bipartisan.”
Baucus suggested that Coburn work with him to find an agreement before the August recess.
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Latest Updates
 
21 AGOA FORUM 2013: Ethiopia will host the 2013 US-Africa AGOA Forum. AGOA.info has been informed that the Forum will not take place as envisaged on 28 June - 1 July, but at a later date. According to information available to AGOA.info, these dates will be 12-13 August 2013. The theme for this year’s Forum is “Trade and Technology for sustained change”“
21 December 2012: Guinea-Bissau and Mali lose AGOA eligibility
APRIL 2013: Monthly data has been updated to include February 2013 data, quarterly includes full year 2012 data.
New US strategy towards Africa: White House Factsheet on new strategy towards Africa, plus overview of past US engagement with Africa. Click here for the file and this link for a summary article.
02 August 2012: Bill to extend third country fabric provision passes Congress Download the House of Reps. Bill at this link
South Sudan declared AGOA-eligible on 26 March 2012. Earlier, Cote d'Ivoire, Niger and Gambia declared AGOA eligible on 25 October 2011. See news item, presidential declaration and trade overview at this link (S Sudan) and here (others).
US GSP extended and GSP benefits to be applied retrospectively for the year 2011 since expiry of previous GSP. See AGOA.info legal documents section at the following link.
AGOA at 10: Reflections on US-Africa trade with a focus on SACU: Tralac Working Paper that can be downloaded at this
link.
December 2010: The Democratic Republic of Congo loses its AGOA eligibility status. See proclamation here (pdf download available at this link
ITC investigation of textiles and apparel: Further details at this link
AGOA IV – Changes to AGOA explained
For disaggregated trade data covering each AGOA country, follow the relevant link in the Country Sections (left column) or click here.
 For detailed AGOA maps click here
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