This morning, the Coalition for GSP joined with 660 organizations to send a letter urging all members of Congress to support passage of the Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015 included in H.R. 1295.

The 661 organizations included 28 associations and 633 companies. The companies are headquartered in 46 states, 290 congressional districts, and the District of Columbia.  More than 80 percent of companies signing the letter are small businesses with 100 or fewer employees (90 percent are SMEs with 500 or less employees).

Beyond renewing and updating GSP, the legislation would also extend the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which expires on September 30, and special preferences for Haiti, among other things. As the letter notes, “these three programs form the bedrock of U.S. trade policy toward developing countries” and “each enjoy broad bipartisan support.”

The Senate will take at least one – and possibly two – preferences votes today. The first requires 60 “yes” votes to pass, while the second requires 50 “yes” votes to pass.

If both of those pass today, the House could pass final GSP renewal legislation tomorrow.

So we’ll reiterate the call to action from yesterday (though now with the House as well…):

  1. call, tweet, and email your Senators (contact info available here) and Representatives (contact info available here)
  2. urge support for HR 1295, Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015, which would renew GSP and refund nearly $1.25 billion in taxes paid by American companies like yours (state breakdown available here)
  3. mention or share the letter: http://bit.ly/HR1295_Letter
  4. ask whether the Senator/Representative plans to support HR 1295
  5. send any feedback to the Coalition for GSP

Thanks again for helping push this over the finish line!