The Chinese currency bill, which passed the Senate this week, has already made life difficult for House Republicans. Nancy Pelosi?s tactic of using the bill in a motion to recommit on the Colombia trade deal means that every House Republican, including the 63 co-sponsors of the measure, has now voted against it. That will certainly be used in the 2012 elections. And those lawmakers want the chance to go on the record in favor of cracking down on China?s artificial currency suppression, but John Boehner will not allow a vote.
Also involved in this issue is Mitt Romney. His economic plan, released a month ago, said he would as President brand China a currency manipulator. So you would think he would endorse a process in the Senate that would facilitate such an action. But he has to be the one to accomplish this in his eyes, not Congress, so he threaded the needle by claiming that the Senate passed an irrelevant measure:
Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney touted his plan to confront the Chinese government over currency manipulation and pirating of American products Thursday.
But he dismissed the currency bill passed by the Senate Wednesday as ?political theater, one more occasion of deceiving the American people into thinking something is being done when nothing is being done.?
He argued that the president already has the power to impose additional duties on the products of nations that manipulate their currencies to gain a trading advantage.
?We don?t need new legislation; we need a new president,? Romney added, a line that drew applause from the audience at the Microsoft corporate headquarters. He spoke there after appearing at a Seattle fundraiser earlier in the day.
Now that?s some slippery speechmaking. Yes, the Treasury could declare China a currency manipulator in their next report, which is actually due tomorrow. But the bill would add additional powers to the Commerce Department and to domestic industries, which would allow duties to be imposed based on currency manipulation. So Romney is vowing to be tough on China, while dismissing efforts from Congress that would? be tough on China. I also think we?re about two days from hearing about Romney?s version of Austan Goolsbee reassuring a Chinese diplomat that his boss was just engaged in overheated campaign rhetoric and that they have nothing to worry about.
Boehner has similarly hid behind the President on this issue, saying that he won?t bring up the bill until the President clarifies whether or not he would veto. And actually, that?s a fair question. But Boehner also has to answer to the members of his own party who want an up or down vote.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/FdlNewsDesk/~3/XYNwjERSt74/
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