{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://cramer.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/cramer-house-passes-hr-644-conference-report-to-the-trade-facilitation", "Cramer: House Passes H.R. 644 Conference Report to the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015", "2015-12-11", "2015", "2015-12", "Republican", "House", "ND", "Kevin Cramer", "C001096", "cramer.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C.Congressman Kevin Cramer announced today the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 644Conference Report to the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015. The legislation authorizes U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which has been operating without authorization; provides tools to facilitate legitimate trade; improves trade enforcement; measures progress within CBP; strengthens Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) legislation by prohibiting a trade agreement from changing U.S. immigration policy, or altering U.S. law with respect to greenhouse gases; and bolsters U.S.-Israel trade and commercial ties.\nFree trade is important to North Dakota. 108,340 jobs in our state are dependent upon trade and exports have grown from $1 billion in 2004 to $5.29 billion in 2014, said Cramer. This legislation strengthens our ability to monitor and to enforce our current free trade agreements which ensure our producers and businesses are able to compete on a level playing field in countries across the globe.\nThe conference report includes provisions to protect North Dakotas honey industry from unfair Chinese trading practices. Chinas shipment of honey through other countries to evade duties harms North Dakotas honey producers, said Cramer. I am glad this legislation cracks down on this process and ensures our producers compete on a fair playing field.\nSummary of H.R. 644Conference Report to the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015\nThe bill fosters economic competitiveness and helps create American jobs by stepping up enforcement of our trade agreements, reducing barriers to legitimate trade, making our exports more competitive, and facilitating small business competition in the global marketplace.\nThe bill increases congressional oversight over executive branch nominees and trade negotiations to ensure the U.S. gets the best deal possible for hardworking families and small businesses.\nThe bill strengthens the United States ability to fight human trafficking by enhancing incentives for our trade agreement partners to address this form of modern-day slavery.\nThe bill builds on provisions included in Trade Promotion Authority earlier this year, this conference report will prevent the administration from using TPA procedures to address immigration and climate change, and it will combat efforts to boycott and delegitimize Israel.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://cramer.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/cramer-house-passes-hr-644-conference-report-to-the-trade-facilitation"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.334168180823326, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}