WASHINGTON — October 11, 2011 — The Fair Currency Coalition praised the U.S. Senate’s passage of S.
1619, the Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act of 2011, by a bipartisan 63-35 vote early
this evening.
Hailing passage of S. 1619 as a pro-jobs victory for American business, agriculture and
labor,
the Fair Currency Coalition immediately called upon the U.S. House of Representatives
to follow the Senate’s lead and move currency legislation too.
The Fair Currency Coalition thanked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) for his
leadership in bringing S. 1619 to a vote. In addition, the Fair Currency Coalition also delivered a
special thanks to Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Lindsey Graham (R-SC),
Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Robert Casey (D-PA), and
Richard Burr (R-NC) for their bipartisan leadership that was so instrumental in winning Senate
passage of the measure.
China’s ongoing and substantial undervaluation of the renminbi, contrary to its international
obligations, only reinforces the need for prompt House action. While China refuses to honor its
World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments, millions of American jobs lost to subsidized Chinese
competition have gone unrecovered, and the U.S. debt continues to soar. American businesses,
farmers, and workers cannot afford more delay. They need action now by the U.S. government to stop
currency undervaluation.
S. 1619 tackles the currency problem in a pro-jobs, pro-growth, and pro-investment fashion.
It clarifies the responsibility of the U.S. Department of Commerce to investigate alleged currency
subsidies, to establish facts on a case-by-case basis, and to determine the existence and magnitude
of the undervaluation using the same methods as the International Monetary Fund. This is a similar
approach to the bipartisan legislation (H.R. 2378) passed by the U.S. House of Representatives by a
vote of 348 to 79 in the 111th Congress. S. 1619 also addresses the shortcomings in Treasury’s
exchange rate oversight process, a proven failure since 1994.
S. 1619 is WTO-compliant and would provide no grounds for retaliation by any trading
partner. The bill is a targeted remedy that sends an across-the-board message.
Enactment of the bill would have a positive impact on the U.S. economy without incurring any new
public debt or significant budgetary expenditures.
Posted on October 18, 2011
Source: Fair Currency Coalition
