RepWatch | AHCA redux, NAFTA attacked, APEC promoted … who needs a drink?

Wenatchee World, The (WA)

May 20--The big do-over: U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert (R-8th District) voted against the repeal and replacement of Obamacare. Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-4th) could not vote as he attended his wife, Carol Newhouse, who died of cancer May 12. Both may have another chance, we learned Thursday, after the Congressional Budget Office releases its nonpartisan assessment of the American Health Care Act this week. Bloomberg reports that thanks to the reconciliation protocols between House and Senate, if the CBO determines the bill doesn't meet stated goals for deficit reduction, passage in the Senate would require 60 votes -- near-impossible given the Democrats' 46-seat position. The May 4 vote for passage was already narrow, 217-213, with Reichert one of only 20 House Republicans to defect from the party line. If Speaker Paul Ryan holds back the bill until after the CBO score, it could be revised and then put forward for a new House vote.

Going after NAFTA: President Donald Trump wants to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, the 1994 U.S.-Canada-Mexico pact that, for instance, has pushed the share of U.S. apples exported from 10 percent in 1993 to 17 percent in 2016 -- from $300 million in value to $921 million, according to the U.S. Farm Bureau. Reichert, chairman of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade, said Thursday he agrees with the notion, in principle. "NAFTA has created great opportunities for American consumers, farmers, and businesses, but it has been decades since its signing, and it should be updated to reflect 21st century trade issues," Reichert said in a statement. "With a seamless transition to an updated NAFTA, there is great potential for our agricultural producers, manufacturers, and services providers to sell more, expand, and create more good-paying jobs in Washington State and across the country." Reichert said he looks forward to working closely with Trump -- whose position on NAFTA has evolved since the campaign, when he called it "one of the worst deals our country has ever made, from an economic standpoint." Reichert was also a signatory last week to a House resolution endorsing greater economic cooperation with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, a trade group of 21 nations bordering the Pacific Ocean including the U.S.

Fuel view: The state transportation budget signed Tuesday by Gov. Jay Inslee features a brainchild of 12th District Rep. Cary Condotta. The Condotta amendment, which began life as a stand-alone bill facing long odds, requires a sticker on all Washington fuel pumps displaying current federal and state fuel tax rates per gallon. Right now Washington taxes 49.4 cents per gallon, the feds 18.4 cents. "This gives us the transparency we should have when it comes to taxation," Condotta said in a statement. With Inslee's signature, the measure takes effect in July.

Although the Legislature continued grappling with the state budget in its special session, it was a big week for other Condotta-sponsored legislation, with Inslee signing off on the legislator's bill to increase the number of tasting rooms a winery may operate under a so-called "domestic" license. Currently, a winery making its own Washington vintage is limited to two tasting rooms off-premises from their production facility; the new law expands that to four. Another new law pushed by Condotta will exempt police and other law enforcement officers from taking the field firearms skills portion of any hunter education course completed online. Both bills take effect July 22.

Reach Jefferson Robbins at 509-664-7123 or robbins@wenatcheeworld.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JRobbinsWW. Contact him securely by PGP key.

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