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U.S. House Approves Annual Renewal of Normal Trade Relations with China
U.S. House of Representatives voted 281-147 Tuesday to reject a resolution challenging President Clinton's decision to extend normal trade relations with China for another year.
The House debated and voted on the resolution because the Senate has yet to take up a bill the House passed last May granting permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) status to China.
Republican Representative Bill Archer, the House Ways and Means Committee chairman, said that he was disappointed that the House had to vote on the issue after it approved the bill to grant PNTR status to China.
The House voted 237-197 in May to approve the bill granting PNTR status to China so that the annual debates on normal trade relations with the country could come to an end.
Despite a strong support for the bill in the Senate, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott has refused to schedule a vote on the bill in July.
Lott said that before getting to a debate on the PNTR bill, the Senate must pass several key spending bills and a bill framed by Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson, which would trigger sanctions against China if weapons proliferation was confirmed.
Supporters of the bill on PNTR with China have expressed their concerns that the bill could fall prey to election year politics if it is not passed this month.
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