By PETER COHN, CongressDaily
The Senate Finance Committee will vote Thursday on the nomination of former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk to be U.S. Trade Representative, Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., announced today.
Kirk appeared before the panel in a rapid-fire hearing Monday evening that was cut short due to votes on amendments to the FY09 omnibus appropriations bill. There appear to be no impediments to his confirmation, although the hearing Monday was sparsely attended. There was little reference to Kirk's tax troubles, which include nearly $10,000 in underpayments uncovered by Finance investigators.
Across the Capitol, House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Sander Levin, D-Mich., held an organizational meeting for the 111th Congress, outlining a broad agenda ranging from a hearing on the trade aspects of climate change March 24 to renewal of expiring trade preferences programs granting numerous developing nations duty-free access to U.S. markets.
Levin said he was heartened by Kirk's testimony Monday, which signaled a shift away from negotiating new trade agreements and toward enforcement of existing ones. He said he hopes to move trade enforcement legislation that he introduced with Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., in January "expeditiously," but said the bill could be revamped in talks with Kirk and the Obama administration.
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