Unanimous Consent Agreement-- S. 295
UNANIMOUS CONSENT AGREEMENT--S. 295 -- (Senate - November 16, 2005)
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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I thank my friend and colleague Senator Graham, who has been a pleasure to work with on this issue, for his help and support.
This extends the privilege we have been granted by the majority leader and minority leader to bring our bill, our proposal, on Chinese currency up at a later date. After our bill on April 6 got 67 votes on a procedural motion, Senator Graham and I agreed to an up-or-down vote on our bill, S. 295, before the August recess.
In July, at the behest of Treasury Secretary Snow and Federal Reserve Chairman Greenspan, we agreed to delay our vote on our bill until the end of the first session of the 109th. Well, that may well be this week. We are finishing up business while the President is, in fact, going to be in China. Senator Graham and I do not think it would be appropriate to vote on this bill while the President is there so we have agreed to delay.
Senators may recall that back on July 21, China promised to let market forces work and they revaluated their currency by a small but significant 2.1 percent. But they said the market should allow the currency to rise or fall about .3 percent a day. Unfortunately, that has not happened. Since the original 2.1 percent revaluation of the yuan, the currency has moved as much in nearly 4 months as China said it would allow it to move in a single day. So in the whole 4 months, it has not even moved a day's worth. Senator Graham and I, frankly, are disappointed in the progress so far. We said at the time it was a good first baby step, but we need additional steps. Thus far, none have been taken.
We are hopeful the President's trip to China will produce positive results. We are willing to forestall our amendment to see what happens on the President's trip.
Under the new agreement, Senator Graham and I can call up the bill in early December, when Congress returns for votes, or early in the second session, with a promise that the bill will be considered no later than March 31, 2006.
We hope and pray China will move. We do not want to dictate anything to the Chinese. We do not want to tell them how quickly they should move or to what degree, but we do need to see some more movement on something that just about everyone agrees ought to happen. The delay of this resolution will be salutary, we believe, to bringing some results.
I yield back my time to my colleague Senator Graham for some concluding remarks. I would also yield the 5 minutes I have been ceded to Senator Graham so he may finish.
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