Congress is back in session today after a brief campaign recess (even though the campaigns weren't so brief). One of the first orders of business is the permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) status with Russia. Regarding this topic, this evening the House Rules Committee is expected to take up a rule for floor consideration. Since this is a trade issue that has to do with trade status, and thus tariffs and duties, it is considered to be a revenue bill and must first pass the House. The Senate Finance Committee already unanimously passed the measure in July. The bill would repeal the Jackson-Vanik law that provided for higher tariffs tied to the amount of Russian Jews that were allowed to emigrate (Jackson-Vanik dated back to the 1970s a...

TAGS – Energy